If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere. ~Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter

Happy Thursday!

The corn, as you can see, has tasseled. This is a crop of field corn near where I live. It’s NOT sweet corn, which features full, round, white and light yellow kernels and is planted for human consumption.

Did you know only about one percent of the corn grown on American farms is sweet corn? I didn’t either. But yes, the bulk of our corn is field corn, which you wouldn’t want to eat.

Field corn has dryer, more golden kernels (often with a small dent) and is processed for use in foods with corn ingredients (cereals, chips, etc.), as animal feed, or saved as seed for next year’s crop. It’s also used for non-food things like ethanol.

Sweet corn is generally available July through September, weeks before field corn. In fact, field corn stalks must completely dry out, the silks at the top of each ear turn dark brown, and the ears flip down with the silks toward the ground before a plant is ready for harvest (October-November, usually).

It’s a delicate balance, with farmers sometimes having to rush to get their crops harvested before winter sets in.

Speaking of time, I’m going to take a few days off — the Domer has promised to visit, and I understand there’s a birthday cake with my name on it! Don’t forget me — I’ll be back soon!