Pickin' Sweet Corn

We grow a couple of heirloom varieties of sweet corn each year like we've done for umpteen years or so.  Sweet corn is one of those things that has at least two rows allocated each spring.  It grows fast and grows tall.  It feeds on the nitrogen in the soil provided by composted chicken litter and that homemade funky smelly fertilizer we've learned to make.

When I said it grows tall, I'm not pulling your leg.  Eleven feet from ground level to the top of the tassel!  The height is impressive, but it's also a curse of sorts.  When spring rains come they're usually accompanied by winds ahead of the thunderstorm.  Those gusts tend to lay the corn on the ground.  In the past, I'd stand them up and press dirt around the base to hold them straight.  That was a time consuming and unsuccessful venture.

For the past several years, I've opted for a better solution, using the "Florida Weave" method that I use for trellising tomatoes, but more simplified.  I drive a t-post on each end of the row and weave baling twine in and out all the way down the row and around the other t-post.  Coming back I weave the twine on the opposite side and cinch it up tight to the t-post on the end.  That way it makes the corn stand up straight again, which is important.  The tassels produce pollen that fertilizes the ears and that pollen uses the wind and gravity to do its job.  If the corn is laying down, my guess is that a lot of the ears will have blanks.  Each silk thread equates to a kernel of corn.  If pollination is not successful the ears will have blank spots.

Just look at that beautiful red silk!

A Beautiful "Red-Head"

Here's how you know when the corn is ready for harvest.  That beautiful red silk will turn brown.  When that happens, you've got to be ready to pick.  If you wait, you are in danger of a big fat worm eating its way through the ear or the corn will not be as juicy as it would have been if picked earlier.

It was a hot, humid morning and by the time I had picked every ear that was ripe, I had soaked my shirt.  I brought the crate of corn into the garage and put it in the refrigerator to cool down.  I wanted to cool down to, but there was still work to do.

I cut the corn stalks and carried to Nicky, the bull.  Nicky was thankful.  Popcorn the buck was grateful as well.

Aww Shucks!

A customary corn harvest day always involves eating a bite-full of raw sweet corn right there in the corn patch.  I want to show you my favorite variety - Country Gentleman.  I like the name of this variety.  I think it sounds noble.  Wouldn't you like to be considered a country gentleman?  This is a white shoepeg corn.  I like it also because the kernels are arranged in random, haphazard fashion unlike the uniform organization of 'normal' corn.  Somehow I can identify with that jumbled, unorganized arrangement!

Here is the other variety - Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn.  These kernels are lined up in neat lines like you're used to eating when you enjoy corn on the cob.

We blanched all the corn on the cob for nine minutes, cooled it in a sink of iced water and then used a sharp knife to cut the corn off the cob, scraping the cobs to get all the juicy corn "milk".  Then I spooned it into quart ziploc bags.  Yes, we re-use bags that are still in good shape!

Later, we'll thaw and make our two favorite dishes with sweet corn - Corn Macque Choux and Elote (Mexican Street Corn).  I think if it ever stops raining, I'm going to go plant a couple more rows of sweet corn.  You can't have too much of this in the freezer or to eat fresh right off the cob.

A Bad Dude in the Back Yard

I walked out to check on the bees.  There is lots and lots of activity.  In fact, I need to open the boxes to see if I need to add more honey supers on top.  I don't want them to run out of room and swarm on me.  Honey Extraction time is about a month and a half away.  As I looked at the bees, there must have been a sizable hatch from the two hives that we split.  Initially, the population in both the split hives was a little low, but now many bees fly in and out, bringing in nectar and pollen.

It was hot and humid so I sat on the swing by the BBQ pit.  The shade of the live oak tree makes it a nice place to sit on hot days.  While sitting, I heard a loud buzzing noise.  It was too loud to be a honeybee, but I couldn't locate the direction it was coming from or what was causing the vibrating noise.  Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement.  A huge hornet-looking creature had a cicada in its clutches and was dragging it along the ground.

This operation was no small feat as I'm positive the cicada was bigger in size and weight than that of the wasp.  I looked it up and this thing is called the eastern cicada killer wasp.  It gets its name honestly, because that's exactly what he's doing.

The cicada killer's fancy name is Sphecius speciosis.  They use their stinger to paralyze the cicada and then they grasp it in it's arms and legs and begins climbing a tree (or a pole, in this instance).  Since the cicada is heavy, the use gravity to assist them.  They climb high and then jump off and fly to their underground nest carrying their prey with them.

Something like Uber-eats or Door Dash, I suppose.  The wasp drags the cicada in her hole in the ground and lays eggs on top of the cicada and then covers her burrow up with dirt.  When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the cicada.  Thanks for the food, mom!  It grows, digs out of the burrow and continues the cycle.

I watched in amazement as the cicada killer was focused on it's task.  As it buzzed by my ear, I ducked.  I read that the males don't have stingers.  It's only the females that sting.  There's a parable in that sentence, I'm sure, but I'll leave that alone.  I wasn't about to try to determine if that big wasp was a male or female, so I just got out of it's way.