South Durham Sorghum Society

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Exploring growing and using sorghum in south Durham, North Carolina, USA

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About

The South Durham Sorghum Society is a group of folk in the south part of Durham, North Carolina, who grow and use sorghum.

What's sorghum?
- Its botanical name is Sorghum bicolor. It looks a lot like corn when it's growing, except with a big puff of seeds on top, instead of cobs along the side.
What's it used for?
- The seeds can be used like a grain, the stalks can be used to make molasses and - this is cool - the strands the seeds grow on are what brooms are traditionally made from! (Another name for sorghum is "broom corn".)
Why grow it?
- Well, it can be used for lots, it grows pretty easily, and while it isn't that popular these days, it's been grown here since the early days of colonial settlement, which means it grows wild around here, all around I-40 and other highways. That can help us create a grex, a strain of the plant that will have strong diverse genetics, serving as a good base for cultivating variants that have the qualities we want (good molasses for some, good grain for others...).

The South Durham Sorghum Society does two seed swaps - once in early March, and once in early November. In addition to sharing cultivated variants, we also ask participants to contribute a portion to our grexing mix, which will also include seed gotten from elsewhere around the world. We're also planning to organize a few events to talk about things like processing sorghum grain and making molasses.

How do I join?
- You can just show up to any of our events, but if you want to help organize those events, we do that on OpenCollective so message us there!