It’s getting that time of year at my house - "Corn Time" - our annual family tradition to freeze sweet corn for the winter. Early in the day, a crew gathers and while some head out to the corn patch in the Ranger to fill it with corn ears, others begin covering my kitchen with newspapers.
The Monroe News festoons my kitchen, taped to cupboard doors, back splashes, cupboard tops and the floor -- and two huge pots are set to boiling on the stove, with filtered water in them. We can’t use the well water -- ugly brownish foam churns up and that does not look nice on those golden ears.
A circle of lawn chairs appears under a tree with brown grocery sacks standing in readiness for the husked ears. Laughter erupts as a teen-aged granddaughter "Euuu’s!" at a fat worm in the ear, but he is quickly dispatched with a paring knife cutting away his living quarters -- chunks of ice are removed from cardboard orange juice cartons that have been filled with water and frozen during the winter in view of our "Corn Time." The ice is put into two sinks of cold water for quick cooling of the cooked ears of corn.
Those cutting the corn slice it off the cooled ears and then scrape the cobs to get every last bit of goodness! Someone else bags up the corn, spooning it into quart-size freezer bags and filling them over half-full, flattening them to make stacking in the freezer much easier. As the filled bags are taken to the freezers, we count them. Some years, we have done as many as 60 bags in a day, depending on how much help we have and how tired we become.
The work halts at noon as we gather around the table loaded with platters of steaming corn, butter and salt, and we just dig in. We usually have to quit by three, since the freezers are loaded with corn bags and we are all just plain tired. I can no longer stand in the kitchen for four hours, cutting off corn. It takes longer to rest up than to get tired! We repeat this process, spending perhaps 3 to 5 days total, getting the corn frozen for winter-time enjoyment. Is it worth all the work? Oh, yes, it is!
When we finish for the day, the newspapers are rolled up and discarded - no sticky corn residue remains. The pots are washed up and readied for the next time. We have had people come to get a few dozen ears and stay for lunch on ‘corn day.’ The more, the merrier!
We all enjoy the fun, the laughter, the togetherness as we work toward a common goal. The youngsters call it "Grandma’s corn" when it is served during winter. It is really "God’s corn" because He is the One who provides it so bountifully for us.
The older I get, the more thankful I am becoming for the smaller things we take for granted each day -- hot, running water; sparrows splashing in the birdbath; my morning cup of coffee; a great-grandchild’s impulsive hug; a friend who calls to chat; the ability to see well after cataract removal; a hug from my pastor’s wife; the killdeer in the driveway (they must have a nest nearby); a rosy sunset in the West.
We spend too much time groaning about life, don’t we? The Bible says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right..whatever is lovely…if anything is worthy of praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8 We have SO much for which to be thankful!
Margaret Klump lives in Ottawa Lake. She can be reached at dmklump@gmail.com.
The Link LonkAugust 03, 2020 at 07:14PM
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Margaret Klump: Being thankful for hugs, laughter and Corn Time - Monroe Evening News
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