Glass Gem Corn | 365 Days of Me

Whew, this has been a busy week around here, even though I have been on vacation from work. In fact, I think I have worked more this week than normal, and I can sure tell it. I need a vacation!

Before I get to the accomplishments of the week, let me share a few pictures I have taken of some seed I was sent a week or so ago:

Dutch Brown (Bean) Cross

Harmony Flour Corn

Joseph’s Popcorn 2014

Glass Gem Corn

Unnamed Popcorn from Roadside Stand

All of this except the last picture came from Joseph Lofthouse, who I consider to be one of the premier Landracing Proponents right now. The last popcorn came from another gardener in Indiana who happened to pick the popcorn cobb up from a roadside stand in Kentucky.

The big activity regarding homesteading this week has been the 2014 popcorn trials. Yes, I know it is 2015, but I was doing popping trials on my 2014 popcorn. I am almost done now, and there will be a post later this week or next week telling all about it; however, the most important part is I am happy how well things are popping.

You may be wondering why I am doing the popcorn trials. There will be more details, I am sure, in an upcoming post, but basically I am trying to find which of the corn cobbs pop the best for selectively saving seed. The point being to improve the crop year over year, ultimately getting to the point I am growing a great popping corn that tastes much better than what you might get in the store.

The other big homesteading activity of the week has been garden planning. Our garden is many times larger this year than it was last year, which is going to allow me to do a number of things, not the least of which is have a more viable population for seed saving. I still have a little work to do on my garden plan for the year, but I should be able to share how it looks in a week or two.

Speaking of gardening, can you believe it will be time to start growing some cold weather crops like peas in just a couple of months! Wow, how time flies! More to come on that too.

One of my favorite things to do, usually, is walk through the garden in the morning. I love the cool of the morning, the dew on the ground, and the quiet. It is a real source of enjoyment for me. However, I do NOT like walking through the garden at 7:00 AM when the humidity is high and the temperature is already warm. Unfortunately, that happens sometimes, and Saturday was no exception. I knew I had some work to do in the garden, and I was so hoping for a cool morning, but alas, that was not to be.

The tomatoes seem to be on their last leg now. The plants are looking quite haggard, and the tomatoes themselves are not even as appealing. In fact, the chickens were able to dine on several of them today.

The corn is getting most of my attention this year, and today I harvested several ears I hope pop well, as I would love to get their coloration worked prominently into the popcorn seed. Let me show you four of them:

Look at this beautiful white kernel licked with flame-like colors!

More of the flame-licked colors on this cob, and I love the variety of colors.

I am confident this one has some glass-gem corn mixed in with it, and I like it. I love the greens – they are a rare treat in my seed stock.

More flame-licked colors. This one looks a lot like some seed stock I saved last year, which I am sure is what has pollinated all of these. I sure hope this pops well.

Look at that last picture a little closer. See the red kernel just to the right of the middle? See the spots? I wonder what they are. If you look at the one below it, the purple one, it has the same spots. Even so, these kernels are things of beauty!

Believe it or not, we have a winter squash plant that is growing like gangbusters! I doubt anything will come from it, as it has yet to set fruit, but it was a late starter, and it happens to be the only winter squash I have that survived the squash bugs and squash vine borers. I sure would love to get some seed stock from it.

Sweet potatoes are a new crop for me, and even though I grew some last year, I cannot remember for the life of me when to harvest them. I think it may be after the first frost, but I need to look it up. I am so hopeful that I have a good crop of sweet potatoes. I grew purple and white sweet potatoes, which taste very similar, though the purple ones are generally more dry. Even so, I enjoy them.

Usually at this time of year I am not yet thinking about next year, but it sure is on my mind this year. I think it is because I didn’t do such a good job getting the garden out on time this year, and I am hoping to redeem myself a little next year. 🙂 It won’t be long until I start planning. Until then, I have a few other projects I am working on which I will be sharing here, including a homemade smoker and a homemade dehydrator.

Tag: glass gem corn

Happenings Around the Homestead

Happenings Around the Homestead