Nice! I’ve been pondering starting a popcorn landrace. My sons really like popcorn (even though one of my daughters is allergic to it!). If it’s quite productive for a small space, that may be a great tip.
I can definitely see rye and sorghum growing great for you. I’ve seen sorghum from birdseed volunteering in a neighbor’s unirrigated front yard, and I’ve seen a whole field of rye growing feral next to a highway. Rye has poky seed heads, so I wouldn’t want it growing feral in my back yard, but I wouldn’t mind sorghum as part of my ground cover polyculture. Actually, I kind of already have sorghum, since I have lots of johnson grass back there.
If grains would be all quail need to eat, that would definitely make quail an interesting possibility for a laying flock in a back yard that grows all their feed.