Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Let Them Eat Corn

I can only dream . . .
I’ve never been able to grow corn.
The planets are aligned against it.
Why am I thinking of this in the middle of winter?
Because it’s the middle of winter.
Moving on . . .
For over thirty years, I’ve kept a garden.
Oh, it has changed in that time.
Mostly gotten smaller.
For many, many of those years, I attempted to grow corn.
Corn-on-the-cob just says summer to me.
Most of the time, my tidy little corn plants merely peeked above ground.
Sighed.
And died.
Twice, they grew to maturity.
Developed ears, even.
And then . . .
Well, let me tell you about it.
I had a large garden behind our mobile home just outside of Orton, Alberta. (Near Fort MacLeod)
It was growing beautifully.
The weather had cooperated.
The rains had come when they were needed.
Plenty of sun.
For the first time, ever, I had mature corn plants.
Nearly ready to harvest mature corn plants.
Then, one sunny, but slightly breezy day, the county sprayer drove by.
Spraying the ditches.
For weeds.
Now, if there is any wind, the county sprayers are supposed to be cautious. Not spray near homesteads. Avoid people.
This sprayer . . . wasn’t.
Cautious, that it.
And the next day, I walked out into my garden and noticed that everything looked . . . wilted.
My first thought was frost.
Okay, it was July, the only month of the year when frost is . . . uncommon.
Then I remembered the sprayer.
Long story short – the weed-killer had lived up to its name.
My garden – and my beautiful corn – was dead.
Sigh.
A couple of years later, in a different small house and with a different garden patch, I again saw my efforts to grow corn rewarded.
Saw ears develop.
And then . . . grasshoppers.
In 1983, in Southern Alberta, we had a ‘plague of locusts’. A real plague – look it up. They were so numerous that cars were known to slip in the tide that constantly flowed across the roads. They devoured crops and hay.
And my corn. Drilled holes right through those babies.
Another sigh.
Oh, I didn’t give up.
I tried.
And tried.
And tried.
But never again did my corn amount to anything more than tall, attractive (earless) plants.
I still eat corn.
And corn-on-the-cob still shouts summer to me.
But, alas, someone else has to do the growing.
I will stick with the appreciating .
And devouring.
The two things I’m obviously best at.


16 comments:

  1. I'm really good at devouring, as well. Yum! And the farmers around here make growing it look so easy! Better luck to you next summer, if you attempt it again. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm afraid my corn-growing days are done. My tomato-growing days, however . . .

      Delete
  2. I give you credit for trying to grow corn! The bears, woodchucks, deer or some other animal would eat ours up. But I do love corn!

    Nice post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darn those pests! Yours are larger and furry. Mine, small and six-legged. Ick.

      Delete
  3. Interesting about corn and how some cultures don't go near it. We had a German immigrant working for us years ago and he called corn 'pig feed.'

    We live in the south so we've got copious amounts of 'Taber Corn.' Besides, we couldn't grow it in our garden because I've got a '42 Ford parked on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Husby was told the same thing when he lived in France. Taber corn is world famous! So are '42 Fords. What sort of seeds did you plant to get yours?

      Delete
  4. Out our way the corn culprits are raccoons.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Raccoons in our neck of the woods, too! My father was able to grow mini-corns a couple of years, though. The ears just wouldn't develop past half-way. But they tasted full-size :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. My parents used to grow corn, but guess who had to go weed the garden...yep, me the little slave.

    Happy eatins!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mom tried that with me, too. I don't remember her ever succeeding . . .

      Delete
  7. I once grew a tiny stand of corn and got to eat a couple of tiny ears fresh from the stalk, so sweet!
    But never since and I've never ever managed to grow pumpkins.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Have just read George's comment and remember that my mum (German) thought of corn as pig food and lettuce was rabbit food. Her dad raised prize winning rabbits. That woman never ate a green salad in her whole life. Plenty of potato and bacon salad though.

    ReplyDelete

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