I Want to Feel Corny ...

The combination of rising feed costs, my current job changes/situation, and my desire to make the farm work has me thinking a lot about corn lately. Specifically I'm thinking of growing some of my own corn this year for livestock feed ... at least enough to experiment with that is. I currently have a couple of areas that I'm thinking of planting. One of the areas is where the pigs lived a couple of years ago and where the cows wintered last year. The other area is where the sheep and cows wintered this year. I figured that both of those areas would have a few extra nutrients that might help things along a little bit. Also, both areas have both been "sacrifice" areas that would need to be replanted anyways so I think it makes sense to try my hand at growing corn.

Like everything else on the farm my corn growing knowledge is limited ... very limited actually! Of course I have raised small amount of seed corn in the past, but I've never done anything beyond that. As soon as it is possible in the spring I will need to plow up those areas and disc it all (a few times I'm sure). From there I'll need to get some seed into the ground ... which I haven't quite figured out yet. I do have a single row garden seeder around, but I need to get a belt for it and see if it will work. If that doesn't work out I guess I can always do it by hand. If I'm really good this summer maybe I could even talk my uncle into bringing down one of his Minneapolis Molines with a cultivator.

As you can see I don't have my mind fully around this idea yet other than knowing that I want to do it. I'm very interested in all of the suggestions that you may have. I'm looking for some ideas on finding some good open-pollinated corn, help with planting and cultivating, harvesting ideas (I'm thinking hand picking it), storage (on the cheap), and anything else. This would be a totally new direction for me and one that I didn't really expect to make at this point, but I'm interested in trying it out on an experimental level at least and seeing if I could come up with something in the future.

King Corn ... No, Not That King Corn ... The Contrary Farmer

Yes, this post is about King Corn, but no it is not about the documentary that I have discussed so much lately title, "King Corn". Todays post happens to be about chapter eight in Gene Logsdon's book, "The Contrary Farmer." That chapter just happens to be called "King Corn" ... are you throughly confused yet? Well, this was actually probably one of my favorite chapters in the book yet ... and, Mr. Logsdon is talking about corn being king because it is a good thing! I should note, that this is a chapter that my dad would really resonate with. Since we have brought the cows to the farm he has mentioned a few times that it just seems unnatural to not be feeding them any grain ... almost un-American.

Well, Mr. Logsdon actually speaks highly of corn in this rather informational and practical chapter. I don't know where he lands on the idea of large-scale grain farming, but for the "cottage" farmer he loves the idea of having a small (1-5 acres) plot of corn. He loves the corn because it is reliable and in his own woods, "even a fool can grow it." Corn also has earned a place on his farm because it can easily be harvested by hand (no need for big machinery) when it is done in small amounts. But, his love of corn for the farm is best summed up by these words from the chapter,

"If nature, in her contrariness, dries up the pasture grass, I will feed corn. If she hurls hail on the corn, I will feed oats. If she blows down the oats, I will feed wheat. If she floods out the wheat, the grass will be lush."

Basically, he sees corn as a piece of the bigger picture on his diverse farm where everything needs to earn is keep whether through monetary value or plain aesthetics.

As I mentioned just a moment ago this is one of the more practical chapters in the book. Mr. Logsdon talks about how he prepares the land for corn, plants it, cares for it, and harvests it. In each of those little sections of they chapter I learned interesting little tidbits about how he still has a place for the mold board plow, how open pollinated corn can be used, how to harvest by hand, and so much more.

I must admit that after reading this chapter I'm thinking a little more about the place corn could have on a farm that we have. I'm not so sure that I will go so far as to say that I'm ready to feed it to my cattle, but on a small-scale it could be something useful for any hogs or chickens that we had on the farm ... and we plan on having both. Plus, I must admit the open invitation to use a plow (with a proper field rotation of course) and the opportunity to hand husk corn is almost a little to enticing to pass up.

I'm going to look into some open pollinated corn for this springs planting season. I know that I could get my dad to plow up some ground and put some corn in. I bet I could even get him to cultivate it if I let him drive his prairie gold tractor! But, more importantly I would like to experiment with it a little bit. Hey, if we could get any that would just be that much less that we needed to buy to feed the chickens.

I'll let you know when the corn picking party is!

**Greenfield Farms is a place that sells open pollinated corn if you are interested in ordering online ... Reid's Yellow Dent is what Mr. Logsdon mentioned ... I'm going to check around my area**