This past weekend, we harvested a quarter of our Red Flint Heirloom Floriani Corn.
Now, it is hanging from the kitchen ceiling to dry. We will grind it to use in place of flour, making flatbreads, cornbread, pizza dough and such. Our son Jude has celiac, so we have all gone gluten-free, and growing our own safe grain is one of the best things we have done, I think! I say 'we' but really, Jason did all of it.
He planted 300 seeds by hand, weeding periodically, and also putting up a fence halfway through the season to keep out deer and sheep. Quite a few stalks were knocked down by something, so we started stationing the dog (Matilda) outside from dusk until dawn to bark away the marauders. She did a great job! We never lost any more stalks or corn once she started helping out.
We also had to eradicate stinkbugs from the corn, as they cause a lot of damage. There were quite a few of them, but we squished them. We will harvest the remaining ears in the coming weeks - There is going to be a ton of corn hanging from the ceiling! It reminds me of the gorgeous kitchen illustrations from the Brambley Hedge books. I have studied those pictures many, many times and wished my kitchen could look so warm and well-stocked (:
Wow....a crop to be proud of! Well done Jason :-))
ReplyDeleteThat is a sweet illustration and makes you wish for a warm and homey kitchen and pantry. With that corn, I think you're well on your way! Squashing stink bugs - no thank you. I just fling the outside - but I don't have corn to worry about.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful. I have written down this variety in my notebook and will plan on planting it next spring.
ReplyDeleteI also love the illustrations in those book.
Thank you for sharing,
Tonya
Hello Tonya (: Good luck with growing your own in the spring! It's just so beautiful, those colours! We have yet to bring in the remaining 2/3rds. I would say the harvest is a good one, even if the corn doesn't produce as much as your standard yellow corn. (:
Delete