Around the beginning of September the sweet corn became ripe for the picking. We planted two different varieties to spread out the length of the harvest. They were planted in a small strip next to the pivot road.
The rest of the pivot (roughly 120 acres) was planted with field corn. The pivot of corn is at the bottom of this photo. See the trees way off in the distance? That’s home sweet home, two miles away.
Big pots of water are brought to a boil on a three burner gas stove, fueled by a propane tank. After blanching in the water for 5 minutes the cobs are placed in a cooler with water running from the hose. See how some are floating and others have sunk? The ones floating are hot. They sink when they have cooled enough to have the kernels cut off and bagged. Our cutting station consisted of three foil covered boards that each had a nail sticking straight up the middle, sharp end up. Cobs are stuck on the nails, stripped of their kernels, then placed in a bucket for discarding. Corn strippers make this task easy enough for kids to do!
We filled 15 quart sized ziploc bags with fresh corn off the cob. It’s easier to fill the bags when they are placed inside an empty large pumpkin or peaches can. I wasn’t as prepared as I thought so we ran out of quart sized bags and had to use gallon sized bags for the rest. We filled 12 of those using a large empty formula container to place the bag in. We have enough corn for the next year stacked in our freezer. The other in-law families each did their own corn too. And a pickup load (the whole back of the truck was completely full!) was taken into the church for people to come and help themselves.
MMMmmmm…fresh summer sweet corn all year round.
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A lot of people around here are doing just that too…well already have! Love sweet corn!! Great pictures!
I did mine this year too. I don’t blanch mine first, I cook it with butter in the oven after stripping it. I like the taste better. 🙂
I love corn, on the cob is best, but frozen and dehydrated are my next favorite. (have you tried dehydrating? I think you would like it too…)
I also love that all your kids are involved. I think that is so important. My boys know if they want to eat it, they have to help. 🙂
We got some free corn here too, I love that you give to your ward to help out!
I dehydrated this year. I stuck the corn in a salad spinner to get the corn milk out, it dehydrated in half the time! Just a tip incase you ever do it.
Wow!
The corn looks so gorgeous I can taste it! I love getting my kids working in assembly-line to can or freeze food. We have pears to can this week. Yum!
Love homegrown corn! Sadly, we haven’t been able to put any in the freezer for the last few years…the kids eat it all first! Even if I cook 35 ears for a meal, it is usually all gone. In fact, we’ve been known to eat meals of ONLY corn on the cob.
Sandy
I am jealous. Suddenly, city life seems so anti-climatic! I want to come raid your freezer so I can have my favorite summer salad all year round.
I would have loved to be in your ward that day!
I loved the pictures and the process used for the sweet corn. I love this time of year when the corn is harvested. I lived in a farm; but we had some corn; but mostly potatoes.
Keep enjoying those moments!
We got some corn from the in-laws, reaped the benefits without the work.:) Wish I was still in that church parking lot and could have gotten some corn from you.:)
I enjoyed looking through your posts and photos. Lovely blog.