Wednesday, August 19, 2009

As Corny As . . .

The squirrels and raccoons have decided that our corn is ready for harvest and have been shamelessly working away at it.

The silks haven't dried up yet, meaning that the ears are not fully mature but the critters don't care about that. "Good enough," they say and every morning finds a few more stalks downed.

So, in a preemptive strike, I've been harvesting the ears that are nearest ripe -- and I have to agree with the critters -- good enough.



I sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and shuck the haul of the day. This is 'natural' grown corn -- no sprays, but that does pretty much insure a corn worm at the tip of each ear.

For those of you not grossed out by caterpillars and such, click on the picture to 'biggify' it and marvel at the intricate coloring and pattern of this guy. I think he's gorgeous.

But that doesn't stop me from dropping him (and all the others,) along with the broken off, munched-on tips of the corn, into a bucket for the delectation of the chickens.















A few of the ears of corn have little undeveloped ears attached. You know those tiny little ears of corn in Chinese cooking? That's what these seem to be. ( I added them to stir-fry for supper and they were delicious.)














All this corn . . . I imagine a taste of summer in the winter -- corn chowder, vegetable soup, corn sauteed in sweet butter, corn fritters, and, of course, those delicious corn pancakes from Sam's Carolina Kitchen.



















"There's a job done!" as the old folks around here used to say. A whole lot of sweet corn, blanched, cut off the cob, and bagged up to go to the freezer.

Where, I think I can say with confidence, it will be safe from squirrels and coons.


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8 comments:

Pat in east TN said...

It was a battle here this year with raccoons and squirrels in our corn and we did like you Vicki ... a simple early harvest and waa-laa the freezer is full of an overwhelming amount of bagged corn!

I'll share to a point with these varmints, but when they just about sit in the garden waving at you with one hand and an ear of corn in the other, it's like enough is enough!

Carol Murdock said...

Good job Vicki! How funny, I made Spicy Corn Chowder for dinner last night and is was devine! Had Garlic Cheese toast with it! I bet the chickens loved that worm dinner!

Vicki Lane said...

I was just thinking as I harvested the corn that this was the first year (knock wood) we hadn't had the cows in the corn. Then later on I found that Marigold and her friends had gotten into Justin and Claui's garden. Fortunately J and C had already harvested much of it.

Into every life . . .

Margie’s daughter Leiny said...

I am amazed to hear about your critters, we don't have them here, there are some squirrels but not where we are, the nearest we get are mink (only because some animal rights people broke into a farm and let them loose over twenty years ago) who will kill the chickens if they get in the coop. Good plan to harvest and get to them first. Hugs, Margie.

Vicki Lane said...

We have minks -- so I'm told though I've never seen one. Rather awful creatures, they seem to kill just for fun.

Victoria said...

Oooh, the sight of all that fresh corn has my mouth watering!

Merisi said...

O mighty summer,
all those treasures
to be saved from all sorts of creatures! :-)

Vicki Lane said...

Victoria -- How can I be angry with the critters? It's just too tempting!

Merisi -- There's an old verse in reference to planting corn:

"One for the worm and one for the crow,
One for the wind, and one to grow."

And it doesn't even mention thee coons and squirrels!