Golden Sweetness

This summer I had some of the most exquisite corn I have ever eaten.   The corn they call Ambrosia is my new favorite.  It is the perfect color of yellow and dotted with white kernels.  It is a sweet corn but not too sweet and had an incredible amount of flavor.  This home grown corn was among two varieties that my father had planed earlier this year.  When I sat down with him to talk about why he planted this particular variety he said because the guy that sells him his seeds, said that it is great corn with long ears.   Although the ears did not seem to be much larger than the other varieties they tasted like candy.    After doing a little research I have come to know that the variety is hybrid sugar-enhanced sweet corn.  The history of sweet corns goes way back to native days many centuries ago.  Although the sweet corn has been around a long time, the sugar-enhanced corns are less than a century old.  According to Debra Larson of the University of Illinois, sometime in the 1960's a man by the name Rhodes discovered the "sugary enhancer" trait.  The corn was a cross between Illinois sweet corn and a corn from Bolivia. "This trait modified normal sugary sweet corn, resulting in about twice as much sugar content and extremely tender kernels."  Corn is really a neat thing to garden since it cross pollinates from the surrounding corn.  When one variety is grown next to another it can result in a new variety.  This is how there are so many different kinds.  Another nice trait of sweet corn is that it grows well anywhere there is enough sunlight.  From my experience with watching and helping with my fathers' garden, I have learned that the spacing is a critical part of a healthy corn harvest.  When the seeds are planted 6 inches apart and the rows are 18 inches apart, the ears of corn seem to be larger and fuller.  Resulting in delicious corn.  This is one of my most favorite summer treats.  Take some corn right out of the garden with some butter, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper, wrap it up in some foil and throw it on the grill or in the camp fire.  I don't know if there is anything better!  Oh my goodness!!  

Larson, Debra. "Inside Illinois." News Bureau. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 7 Aug. 2003. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.

My Farming Roots

Luckily I don't have to dig very deep to get in touch with my family farming roots.  Fact I don't have to look before my own generation.   My maternal grandfather came from a steady line of farmers.  My grandfather Henry Doyle Lewis grew up in the Oxford Idaho area and was a farm boy threw and threw.  When he was older he had his own farm raising hay, corn, sugar beets and cattle.  In 1983 my parents and grandparents decided to be co-owners of a dairy farm in Petersboro Ut.   After struggling to find financing for the dairy and the cows, the only option was ridiculously high interest loans.  Taking the gamble they borrowed the money and went to work to build the dairy.  Because  of the high interest rates and the and economic challenges, the payments were getting hard to make.  My dad, a cabinet maker and my grandpa a postman, both were working full time plus the dairy on the side.  This was becoming more and more taxing.   They  decided to have someone step in and run the dairy for a while.  When that didn't work out my grandpa  returned to the dairy to find out the cows had mastitis and were not producing milk.  This is not very good for a dairy farm.  Another struggle came when they bought a new herd of cows only to find out that they too had mastitis.  By 1989 the bank was tired of the empty promises and reclaimed the dairy along with taking our home and my grandparents home to recoup their investment.  This was a very trying time for our family.  

In looking at the timeline ( http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1980.htm ), the economic factors played a big part of the struggles of the farm.   The interest rates on the loans in the 1980's were really high.  For starting or small scale farmers, this was a big hurdle to get over.   Many farms like my family's, never really recovered.  The droughts may have played a part in the costs of feed for the cows.  I don't think our area was really effected by the drought but it may have been.   When I was born in 1986, the farm values had reached the bottom of the economic slump.   I wish this was a success story about how the small farmer made it through rough times but it is not.  The reality is that farming is a gamble.  Some years you win and some you lose.  We had just lost to many in a row.  

The changing of the leaves.

  With the summer nights cooling down and the color of the leaves starting to change I can't help but turn my thoughts to the harvest.  The corn ready to be striped from the stock and the squash tender on the vine.  Even the smell of the air brings with it the farmers doing the fall burning to prepare for winter.  Living in Cache Valley is delight in the fall.  The aroma of the fields, the cooler air and the beautiful colors of the mountain sides.  This valley truly has been blessed with fertile soil.  For many generations, the residents here have enjoyed the gifts of this rich dirt.  I can imagine the early settlers digging, tilling and harrowing this wonderful valley floor. Oh the heritage of this great place!  This blog will be a tribute to the forefathers of this Cache Valley and an invitation to just dig it.