Submitted by Aurora1 on Wed, 08/26/2020 - 7:00am
Corn -- our lives seem to be centered about this humble veggie and that was true on the home front last weekend. You see, my significant other William and his family have pretty much consistently planted a patch of sweet corn since I first met him.
When we first started dating I was never able to make it out to help put the corn up for the summer. Then when I was finally in a position to help grow and pick the corn we had bad luck year after year.
Last year was a breaking point when Japanese beetles killed most of the corn before maturity. I was devastated after all the hard work we all put in. Then finally everything fell into place this year and a field of corn ready for the picking lay before us. It was time to rally the family before the corn got too ripe.
The morning began for the three hardest workers at 6 a.m. when they started walking the rows, picking the ears and putting them on a trailer. I rolled in at about 7 a.m., which I consider to be a pretty solid effort on my part.
My task was to start husking the ever-growing pile of corn before me in an attempt to keep pace for the day. As more family trickled in and the last of the ears had been picked we broke down into teams. Will and his father got a fire burning and water boiling in the giant cast iron pot while they prepped their station to cook and cool the ears.
His sisters, mother and I took up the task of getting the corn to them in the first place. Husks and silk were flying as giant plastic trash cans were filled to the brim.
Finally, we were able to start cooking. Now the husking team broke down again as two of them went off to start cutting the finished corn off the cob so that it could be measured out and bagged on its journey to the freezer and eventually our dinner plate.
I remained at the trailer. The mantra of “I’ll husk one more, then take a break” ran on repeat as I just kept grabbing more corn. Then a victory scream came from my lips of “CORN” as I held up the final ear.
With the trailer clear, I went to join the rest of the family that was cutting the corn. Nervously I held a knife and my first cut -- too shallow. I left most of the corn of the cob. Next cut -- you guessed it, I cut and got chunks of cob with my corn.
After some reassurance from Will’s sisters that no one was going to cut the corn perfectly we kept trucking along.
Hands became sticky, thumbs ached and the cobs began to pile up as we sliced our way through the pile. Pretty soon we were in a race with the corn cooking team, going from cutting too fast for them to catch up, to cutting too slow to make room.
Finally, after hours of work, the fire was put out, the corn was put in the freezer and everyone settled in for some victory pizza because I think we all had our fill of corn from the bites that were stolen between cuts.
It may have taken 10 years with Will’s family for me to finally get to help them put up corn but there was something amazing about starting the day at the crack of dawn with a clear set of tasks before me.
Having a group work toward a shared goal all while sharing laughs together was a balm to the soul during the unusual time we’re in right now and the 100 bags of corn sitting in my freezer right now doesn’t hurt either.
JENI MOELLENBERNDT can be reached at features@ hamilton.net
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August 26, 2020 at 07:37PM
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Putting up corn a welcome new tradition - Aurora News Register
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