After a long summer of touch and go, I discovered yesterday that we actually had some mature Glass Gem popcorn! Some friends stopped by and we were giving the “tour” of our gardens and while in the berry patch, I browsed through some brown stalks of Glass Gem corn with the ears still on. Surprise! I got color. Wow! We didn’t think it had made it but obviously it went on and ripened after the first frosts nipped the plants. Tomorrow I’ll go out and pick all that I can find. But the ears I did find in just a few minutes were simply gorgeous with brilliant, unusual colors on four- to six-inch cobs. We may not have enough to sell next year but at least we can replant with the seed we save and know it’ll make a crop here even though it’s a long-season corn (about 110 days).
Will laid the last of the rock on the new barn foundation yesterday and today he spent hours pulling the tomato cages and stakes in the garden while I spent hours on the phone at the nursing home where Javid is, talking and waiting to talk to a Social Security representative as he is on SSI and needs to get his information changed over from Montana to Minnesota. Why is it that all government agencies make everything so complicated and HARD? Wow, a study in frustration, for sure.
Hopefully, tomorrow I can start canning carrots. They’re so big and juicy they just beg to go in jars! In fact, if you just toss them in a bucket, they split down the side they’re so crisp. Mmmmm. — Jackie
Jackie…I hope you know I didn’t mean they WERE gmo. The colors are so beautiful and unusual. What a treat to it must have been to find them!
I read an article in “The Farm Show” regarding the person who developed the Glass Gem Corn. He saw kernels that he liked and he saved those to use for seed. This project took him a decade plus of selective selection of seed to stabilize the corn!!!!!
Pat Rizzi,
The nursing home does have a social worker but as Javid is mentally competent, we pretty much have to handle it. But they are very good at helping out. I THINK we’re getting somewhere.
Stef,
This corn is definitely NOT a GMO corn! In fact it was developed from old Cherokee corns. We wouldn’t dream of growing any GMO crops and are so lucky to be so far removed from any commercial growers that our crops can not become contaminated accidently.
Jackie, doesn’t the nursing home have a social worker that can help you with placement? When my Dad was in a
nursing home they has social workers to help. The social worker got results quicker the we did.
Stef, if you will Google history of glass gem corn you’ll find a number of articles about the life and work of Carl Barnes, the man who developed it. It did develop and grow naturally over many years and due to the selection choices Carl made. Corn is an amazing plant.
Beautiful corn!!!!
I had a suprize in my corn patch this week, too. My earliest patch of corn was a rare variety of flour corn, Magic Manna. I’d been trying to get hold of it for a few years and finally got some. And then one day I went out, and the raccoons had shredded the entire patch!!! Nothing survived, I checked every plant.
There was so much other stuff that needed done, that I just left the stalks where they were, some standing and some on the ground. Well, this weekend I decided to use that spot to plant my garlic in, which meant cleaning up all the dead corn debris. While pulling up a dead stalk, I thought to myself “This empty husk I’m holding feels awfully chubby.” Lo and behold, there was a tiny stub of an ear of corn, with perfect little kernels on it and everything!
All in all, I found 8 little stubby ears, the biggest was all of 3 inches long. They had not only survived the coon rampage, but they also got through 3 months of being rained on without spoiling or sprouting. That, plus what I held back, means I’ll be able to plant that variety next year. With a better fence this time!
Stef: Yes, corn like that CAN be bred naturally. It’s the more modern varieties that are boring.
I’ve never seen anything like this. I showed my DH and he said your corn looks like Indian corn. ??
I would love to grow some of this just to display it in a basket on the kitchen table. I can see why it’s called Glass Gem popcorn. It looks like jewels. Just stunning.
And your Patty Pan squash is just as pretty with all the lovely colors. This would be pretty displayed in a basket too.
Ugh, we had to call Medicare today too. We were stuck on recordings… from one to the next for almost an hour. When we finally reached a live person, we could hardly understand what they were saying because their accent was so strong. I feel your pain, that’s for sure.
The corn is too pretty to eat! Wow! Beautiful! Javid is lucky to have you and yes, dealing with Medicare can be so frustrating and time consuming. Maybe things will come together soon – hope all is well. Good luck this winter – I am praying the water line will not freeze up! Our local weather man said tonight snow flurries for your area. The Texas drought is still very much with us. Stay safe.
Your corn is beautiful!! So pretty. Yes government is that way. Do not call medicare either. How are the beavers? Ready for winter? Just think the seed catalogs will be along in another month or so!!!
Jackie, that corn is beautiful. I’m curious how it is propagated since in most of your writing you stress that you stay away from genetically modified crops. (I’m assuming that this kind of corn does not grow naturally…but what do I know? LOL)
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