Sweet Corn

In spite of the fact that we already have a huge garden in our north pasture, last spring this little guy asked his Daddy and his grandaddy, DaddyDon, if he could have his own corn patch right outside his bedroom window. Guess what they said? Of course.

Together, they hoed up a square of the lawn, hauled in compost, planted, and watered. They placed a big cage around the corn to keep the chickens from scratching the plants up while they grew. They watered some more, hoed some more. And he watched that corn grow, right before his very eyes. Right outside his bedroom window.

For weeks, we all watered and weeded, and he charted the corn's growth in a nature journal. At one point I found myself individually pollinating the silk of each corn cob (yes, I'm serious), just because I couldn't bear the idea that the corn might not fill out because the wind wasn't doing it's job of spreading the golden pollen around evenly. When the raccoons threatened to eat the corn as it ripened, dear husband built a sturdy top on the corn cage. DaddyDon set traps and caught some of the threatening varmints, and we kept our fingers crossed that after all the anticipation, surely the boy would get to eat some of his corn.

Thankfully, it survived. When the corn was finally ready, all the kids had fun picking, shucking, and cooking the corn. It was totally worth the wait. Now they have big plans for an even larger corn patch next year, because eldest son would like to grow enough corn outside his window that he can "eat corn on the cob for breakfast, too!"