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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I even Dreamed about Corn.

Corn, it's mornings like these that I could live out my remaining days and be happy to never lay my eyes on an ear of corn again. My hands are very sore this morning after almost a full day of harvesting, shucking and de-kernelizing corn. I pulled in a full bushel, and still have a least one more bushel out in the garden.

I have also recently learned that corn nuts equals parched corn. { I tried to find a link on how to make parched corn, but none of them are the same as what one of my books says, I will write it up later} I had no idea what they were call besides corn nuts. Now that I have discovered this little tidbit of information, I feel more confident in moving forward with this project. {The hominy will have to wait as I am a little uncomfortable about working with lye, maybe during the winter I will try my hand at lye soaps, just to have the experience with it}
My sweet hickory corn is soaking in water for 18 hours. Once that is completed, they will be dried in a low heat oven until slightly brown, tossed with a little oil and salt. If this first batch works out, I will play with the flavorings.

We have a serious problem with corn earworms. Covering the tips of the forming corn with mineral oil or cutting the exposed silk is suppose to help. It did not help that much. Maybe with a little more research I can find another way to deal with them. As it is now, I could not save any whole cobs.

The chicks spent their first full night out in the nursery. They were very happy to see me this morning. Though the geese and the turkey seem to bother them. The geese are very protective when it comes to any chicks in the nursery. Which is fine, as they keep predators away.

Speaking of turkeys, ours has been making me uneasy lately. I know he is in desperate need of a female as he is now coming into his own. Every time he sees me, he goes about displaying his feathers and strutting around. Of course I am very flattered, but if he decides he is just going to attempt to make a move on me, I could end up hurt. He is very large, and very strong. He jumped off the feed storage bin and hit me with a wing one day. Took me a moment to catch my breath. But last night as I was feeding the chicks, he sat in the corner just staring at me, it was slightly unnerving

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So now I can say I like parched corn and I won't get so many comments about being trashy. *grin*

I think you should have a heavy stick when you are within reach of that turkey....

Phelan said...

I do have a heavy stick, it's called my STICK O'DOOM. It's actually to keep the rooster off my back.

The Unusual Farmchick said...

And I actualy rooted for his saving. Oh well. Your Thanksgiving should be delicious...
~Tammie

Cheryl said...

Love the photo of the geese.
I love corn nuts too - can't wait to hear how they turn out!

Justin said...

I never thought turkeys could be so creepy.

Anonymous said...

That is a big turkey! A handsome one, too. Can you spell t-h-a-n-k-s-g-i-v-i-n-g?

owlhaven said...

We got done with corn a few weeks ago thankfully. Now we are in the heart of apple season. Picked SEVEN bushels today-- outa control. I need more jars now!

Mary, mom to many

Phelan said...

Tammie, I agree, Thanks giving will be yummy.

Cheryl. the corn nuts! I knew I was forgetting something. I will take some ppics and post about it Tomorrow.

Justin, nor did I. ~shiver~

Fancy, he is a good looking bird.

owlhaven, we tried growing corn at 3 different intervals so that I won't end up with a harvest to large for me to handle. It did quite work out that way. My apple trees should start producing next year. I look forward to it! But I did find an orchard that's sells pick your own apples for twenty nine cents a pound. Hope I can get over there this weekend.

Dark Spice said...

Ha ha about the turkey. Only with homesteading will you find cross-species flirting....

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