We have grown and used this. It matures super-fast, so you can get at least 2 crops in a season. Just know that if you get a heavy rain during pollination, there will be almost no grain. But at least, if turned under, it make a decent green manure.
I decided to plant a small plot of buckwheat this year as an experiment to see how well it would do. We are in mountains in Nicaragua, so I waited until the wet season to plant it, when temperatures are a little lower and there would not be as much stress on the plants. So far, it has been doing great. I am very impressed. When we bought this farm, it was inundated with a variety of switchgrass that grows in clumps, which can become huge over time. It also has an allelopathic quality that prevents other things from growing around it. This means that the diversity of forage material for our small flock of sheep is inadequate, and I have been slowly trying to dig up the switchgrass and replace it with some other things that will increase diversity. Right now, buckwheat is looking like a good option. As you say, it is not adequate on its own but seems like a good option for a diverse forage pasture.
Just watch out if you have kidney stones, as it is sort of high in oxalates. All of us could probably benefit from reducing intake. I'm interested in it as rabbits feed...thanks for the video.
Probably, most Americans trying to eat healthy need to be aware of it anyway, as they tend to eat a lot of foods high in oxalates and without cooking them in water which u then discard, either. Which brings us to that : reducing oxalate content by doing that or sprouting, rinsing well & etc. . Also, this isn't just about kidney stones but a variety of symptoms. For kidney stones, I have to wonder if the vit. K in animal foods helps with this too, or only with helping prevent Vit. D supplementation from, along with the calcium it's helping absorb (?), go to kidney stones vrs. your bones etc. ( my Dr. told me this about that).
Wow... I've always enjoyed buckwheat; not sure why I don't eat it more often in fact. But I had no idea how high in minerals it is or how easy it is to grow! We're in an area that sounds like the perfect place to grow it, so I'm going to try putting in a patch of the perennial kind. Thanks for sharing!
Any really, alot of. People plant it in between rotational grazing fields after their animals are moved to a new space. The manure they left behind is enough and it grows so fast that the field is harvested when the hogs or the cattle return. It's not finicky. Chicken manure might be a little acidic for most crops if used in excess, but buckwheat can handle more of that acidity than the other grains.
