Oats, Cayuse - Avena sativa
A cool season annual cereal grain. Cayuse Oats are used primarily for cover crop, green chop, hay and forage production. It is common to mix them with legumes and other cereals. Cayuse Oats are larger, mature later and have a larger stem than Montezuma Oats. Cayuse oats should be planted in the Fall/Winter in California and mild climates. In colder area they should be planted in the spring.
Oats can also be grown and harvested in the green, "milk" stage for use as a medicinal tea which has benefits as a nervous system tonic. Milky oats are the oat tops harvested when they are in their milky stage, during which the oat tops release a white, milky sap when squeezed. This stage, which lasts approximately one week, occurs after the oat begins flowering and before the seed hardens and becomes the oat grain we eat as oatmeal. Tincturing the milky oats while fresh preserves their bioactive potency. Alternatively, milky oats can be dried and used as a nutritive tonic, and are a beautiful addition to tea blends.
Organically Grown at Pacific Botanicals in Wilderville, Oregon