June 11, 2019 (Tuesday)
Some of the info in this blog is freely copied from the National Day site. Hope that’s OK.
Sweet Corn originated in Mexico. It dates back to about 9,000 BC.
Millions of people love sweet corn on the cob. As summer nears, we can’t wait to bring out the salt and pepper, and boil, steam or grill some fresh, sweet, corn on the cob. National Corn on the Cob Day encourages us to celebrate and enjoy this tasty summer time treat.
Plainview, Minnesota celebrates National Corn on the Cob Day in a big way. They hold a parade and other festivities. You can celebrate National Corn on the Cob Day by cooking some and eating it heartily.
I was preaching in a revival meeting in Ohio in 1962 when the pastor and I visited a church member in his corn field. I was amazed at what I saw as a big machine went down the rows harvesting the corn and sending the free kernels through a chute into a truck. The machine I saw was a combine harvester, or combine, called such because it combines several jobs into a single machine.
A combine harvester is the tool of choice for harvesting corn and other grains. Combines cut the crop and separate the grain from the plant while processing and spreading the remaining material over the field. The invention of this machine was a major moment in human history that revolutionized the way grain crops were harvested. Wikipedia has a really nice page on its history.But what about corn on the cob? The combine produces kernels of corn by the truck load almost instantly, but the cob, stalk, leaves, etc. are spread over the soil to enrich it.
To get corn on the cob, you have to harvest it with that purpose in mind. You must go about it in a different way. In 1952, I spent the summer in Oletha living with the Powell family. I pastored the church. I helped some around the house. I hauled water to a flock of turkeys. The Powells drew water with a bucket from a well; they also had cistern that collected rain water. I sometimes fed the pigs. I worked a little in the hay field. One day
R.C., who was 42 years old and I, who was 20, harvested corn. R.C. had me driving a small tractor fitted with a bin on the front of it. R.C. walked between two rows of corn and I drove the tractor behind him He was a fast worker. I can see him yet, turning first to his right, then to his left, grabbing and pulling ears of corn from the stalks, then throwing them into the bin attached to the tractor. As I recall, the bin knocked down the empty stalks as we went up the rows. My memories are hazy about that; after all, it took place 67 years ago.What R.C. and I harvested was sold wholesale and then retailed in stores as ears of corn, which would most probably become “corn on the cob.”
My father-in-law loved to plant corn for animal feed. It is called, “field corn” in that part of the country and can be eaten by people but it’s not very good. Animals love it, though.
He and “Miss Berta” always had a vegetable garden, too. The food was always great.
During that same summer, the men of the church planted a field of corn, planning to sell the harvest to provide money for the building fund of the church. When the day came to pull the corn, we discovered to our dismay that raccoons from the woods nearby had raided the corn field a row at a time, and had diminished the crop. Small wonder that “coon hunting” was popular there in that community.
That’s my corny story, and I’m stickin’ to it.