Country Gentleman Corn

A couple of nights ago on my way to the barn, I snapped a few pictures of our corn silhouetted against the western sky as the sun sunk over the horizon.  For some reason it is a pastoral scene that makes me think of simplicity, peace, authenticity, and rest after putting in an honest day's work.  Strange, I know.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Those are just a few words that describe what the picture means to me.

Green Acres is the place to be...

If you try real hard, you can put yourself right in this picture.  There is a slight south wind blowing and although the day was hot (real hot), there is a slight coolness to the evening air, giving human and beast alike respite from the humid pressure cooker that we call July in South Louisiana.

Farm Livin' is the life for me...

Right on the other side of the garden, if you looked hard, you could see all the laying hens habitually lining up on their roosting bars in the chicken tractor after a fun-filled day of roaming around 3 acres eating bugs, scratching through cow patties for anything that might look appetizing (to a chicken).  If you listened closely, you could hear Nellie's bell around her neck ringing as she checks on her baby, Annie, that we locked up in the goat barn so that we would have goat milk for tomorrow morning.  Bully moos for his mama, Daisy, as we have him locked up in the stall separate from Daisy (calf Daycare) so that we'll have cow milk for tomorrow morning. 

Everything seems right with the world and everyone is in their appointed resting place for the evening.



Land stretchin' out so far and wide, Keep Manhattan just gimme that countryside!

Even the dragonfly has found a spot on the corn tassel to rest.

Speaking of the corn, it is tall.  I got out the tape measure and extended it to the top of the tassel.  It measured 10 feet 10 inches tall!  This is Country Gentleman Corn, an heirloom corn I like to grow because it is a little different.  I'll show you why in a minute.  I also like the name - Country Gentleman Corn.  It sounds so genteel, noble.  Gotta be good corn with a name like that, right?

Standing tall.

In the pictures taken in the evening, you might have thought it was a cornfield.  Actually no.  We lost most of our corn crop to a series of storms that came through, laying down the corn and then breaking them.  Then, Nellie the goat, developed a taste for corn and devised a way to stand up on the fence and pull the corn plant to her and eat it.  Doggone goat.  I attempted to discourage her snacking on our corn by hanging sheets of tin against the fence.  It looks unsightly as all get-outs but it does the job.  The corn you see below is all we have left.  But its better than having no corn at all.


Off to the left, Annie is on top of the burn pile - silly goat.

So today we'll harvest the Country Gentleman Corn.  You can tell it is ripe as the silk has turned brown.  A few days ago, the silk was a reddish color.

Ripe and ready for picking

Here is another reason why I like this corn.  It has character.  In most other corn I've eaten, the kernels are organized in orderly rows.  The corn kernels belies the name Country Gentleman Corn.  You'd think a country gentleman would be organized, right?

An ear of Country Gentleman Corn

Well, I'd better get this all picked and inside.  Looks like the birds like my Country Gentleman corn, too!


If not the storm, the goat.  If not the goat, the birds...

One bucket of corn.  Let's go inside, shuck it and put it up. 

Bucket of sweet corn

As I picked the corn, I threw the cornstalks to the girls, who promptly devoured it.

Corn fed beef?  Don't even think about it!  These are our milk cows. They're part of La Familia!

The cows don't get to eat the actual corn - just the stalks.  We will eat the corn and I can't wait!


Fresh Country Gentleman sweet corn, shucked, de-silked and ready to cook.

Good night, everyone!