It was a bit of an unexpected day. Had thought I was going to be doing a mass planting of garlic out at their farm. If I had checked my computer right before I left the house, I might have stayed home, as Katrina had sent me a message that they would not have the area ready for planting today. The computer was not checked, I did not get the message, and Nell, Phoebe and I had a fantastic day out at their farm not planting garlic.
Having no where to plant the garlic, Benjy, Katrina and I went out to where they had planted the Victor Kucyk 2175 corn I have been selecting for years. It was not a great location, or year for that matter, to grow it here, and it even flooded which took out a good number of plants, but it did not kill it all, so was one way to select for growing in adverse conditions.
Katrina hung out with me and Benjy for a while until she had to go with Jerid to pick up a vehicle, then it was just me and Benjy, and a bunch of curious hungry pigs.
Benjy ferried all of the insect or water damaged ears to the pigs.
It started out with just one large Red Wattle pig, but it was eventually joined by its litter mates who patiently and diligently worked their way through any and all of the corn Benjy gave them.
This cob did not make the cut for seed, but we saved it from the pigs just because it was so beautiful.
Simply took this photo to show how other corns can cross even when not planted right next to another. There was a sweet corn planting a few hundred yards away. Apparently this cob was tasseling at the same time the sweet corn was. Again, not saved for seed.
An example of a fully dented cob with multiple colors.
This cob was truly monstrous. 14 inches long, thick,18 rows, and nicely striped.
Just broke it in half to show the cross section of the cob.
Ended up with a good amount of seed for next year. Long, full cobs, no insect damage, set high on plants that did not lodge or have any other issues. Full mix of colors, flinty and dent.
Those big red pigs ate themselves silly, basically passing out in the grass in a semi-circle around where the rest of the corn had been placed by Benjy. I took a few cobs over to one of them, and it pulled them to itself with its lips to gnaw on, but did not get up. They would get up to run off the smaller Black Wattle pigs which are from a younger litter and maybe half their size.
So I took the blacks a few armloads of the corn just for them, well away from the reds, so they could eat in peace.
They are pretty personable for bacon.
It is fun to play with your food sometimes. Food likes a good scratch behind the ears.
Katrina brought out a front end loader to haul out the corn Benjy and I picked but did not feed to the pigs. We segregated that into corn just for grinding into meal for ourselves, and corn for seed the following year (in the boxes).
Katrina made room in her greenhouse, now empty of plants, for the corn to finish drying without any worry of rain, and nicely ventilated. This is the corn for grinding.
The different selections went on opposite sides of the greenhouse so they will not be mixed up. This is the selection for seed.
Nell was pretty attached to this cat, which thankfully we left at the farm.
I had a great time with Benjy.
Phoebe and Bella were inseparable the entire time.
Just, really, a nice warm fall day playing with food and friends.
What a lovely day. Thank you for the wonderful pictures.