Earlier this week when I posted about
staying busy for the next month, I obviously forgot that in addition to everything we have planned, it is time for the corn to be harvested! And corn is not very patient. When it is ready to be picked, you had better be ready to pick it. It will dry out in this July heat in a short period of time. Also, not only do we like to eat fresh, ripe corn, but so do worms and raccoons. It's a fight against time to reap what we sowed before nature does.
I had noticed yesterday that many ears were ready to be harvested, while others were still developing. I temporarily forgot about the corn, as last night ended up being a double header at the ballpark. Well, last night's games ended up being our last for the season, so this morning, when I woke up with no plans for the day, I looked out the window and suddenly remembered....corn. I thought about putting it off a few days, as harvesting corn is a big job. It is not for the weary. However, we are starting school next week, therefore delaying the harvest was not such a good idea.
A summary of our day, in pictures.....
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| Starting early, picking corn off the stalks |
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| Shucking....You now know why we want a large family! |
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| Feeding the cows the husks |
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| Just in case you ever wondered what 261 ears of corn looks like |
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| Oh, how I love my stock pots |
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| One of the best inventions, ever. |
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After the corn is blanched and cooled, we use the scraper pictured above to scrape the kernels off of the cob. The corn falls into the dish below and the empty cob is discarded (to be fed to the cows later). The corn is then measured (loosely), bagged and frozen.
226 cobs were scraped tonight, resulting in 20 quarts of frozen corn, 26 frozen as corn on the cob and 9 were consumed for dinner.
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| Demonstrating one method to eat corn on the cob |
We ended up picking and putting up the first 2 rows of corn today....9 more to go. I am now washing kitchen towels, pots, bowls and utensils....getting ready to start all over again tomorrow.
