Our Wildlife Feeding Program

By Vickilane

We always plant more corn than we really need because something usually gets a lot of it -- worms, crows, cows . . .

This year John put an electric fence around the two tiers of corn it to discourage deer and to keep the dogs from romping through it.

It did not, however, deter the raccoons who, in the past few nights, ate about half of it. 

Still, I was able to harvest  several bushels -- enough to keep me busy shucking. . . and taking pictures.

Corn's (or maize, for you others) has a fascinating history as it evolved, aided by selective breeding  from a wild grass called teosinte by early Americans in what is now Mexico about ten thousand years ago. There's an excellent article on the subject HERE

I'm happy with what we got -- considering that we still have quite a bit in the freezer from last year, we'll be enjoying corn pudding and corn cakes and lots of other good things in the coming year, in spite of the coons inroads.



I can't resist adding that when we were in England a few years ago, I was amazed (see what I did there, Martin?) that the Brits put sweet corn kernels into sandwiches. I remember a prawn and sweet corn sandwich that was really good but I haven't tried to recreate it. I love raw sweet corn in salads -- a sandwich shouldn't be much of a leap.