Colorado Bob's Hopi Blue Corn Experiment

2011-04-03T08:56:00.000-05:00

A new addition to the Blue Corn list of planters: a handfull of seeds went to Sidi Limehouse at:

Rosebank Farms
Johns Island, SC

Season 3

2011-03-31T15:34:00.002-05:00

Getting ready to begin my 3rd season with HBC. I still have a jug of G1 seeds so I should be fine.I was hoping for a nice, mild, dry Spring but looks like that's not in the cards, so I'm gearing up for a better cloche on both of my raised and elevated beds. I will post a few pix when I finish policing my garden area.

btw fyi, interesting news:

http://www.pubpat.org/osgatavmonsantofiled.htm

2011-03-06T07:35:00.003-06:00

spring is threatening to have once more sprung fully-budded from the heels of winter's traces....the seeds are ready and the ground is ready and soon, probably before you can say "jack robinson", will be more corn than at which you can shake a schtick.

2010-08-04T20:03:00.002-05:00

Interesting!

"Ancient Pawnee corn is brought back to life"

http://www.khastv.com/news/local/c-99586474.html

Lastest shots from the garden

PNW Update

2010-06-16T15:43:00.008-05:00

Here's a few recent pix from the Olympic Forest patch. I caught thumper eyeing the crop so I had to add some extra fencing. Despite the terrible climate this year I might get knee high by 7/4. BTW, Is it best to cull the sucker shoots?

When I cleared the bigger area this year I ran across several small fir seedlings and a couple four footers. I hated to destroy them although there are thousands around, so I decided to experiment with transplanting with the idea that if they make it I would pass them along to friends for their yards.

The weather wasn't very cooperative for my veggie beds so it looks like I'll just do the container gardening this year and be prepared for next year. I have begun gathering plans and materials for several elevated beds with cloches to extend the season next year. It will probably be the earliest and longest summer on record. Later

Squash blossoms and corn

2010-06-11T09:58:00.004-05:00

Crooked neck

and Spaghetti squash

Planting the Three Sisters - Nelson, Lancs, England

2010-05-30T20:23:00.004-05:00

Today, May 30, we planted out the corn and squash in the Three Sisters Bed. The corn we got from Colorado Bob, half of it, and the other half from a supplier in England. Both kinds are Hopi Indian Blue Corn. I put the beans straight in the ground on the 20th, they are not up yet. I had raised the corn and squash under cover, and today we put them in. More news at http://www.pendlepeople.com/firequeen/gardenblog.htm

Arroyo Moon Rise

2010-05-30T14:25:00.011-05:00

Top photos taken looking east toward the Organ Mountains. The arroyo behind my house (2 palm trees).

Garden.

Building a Fence Redux

2010-05-26T13:01:00.002-05:00

More shots of the job moving along. 4 antenna towers , note the truss across the top.

New Flower Bed in the alley ! Cool huh ?

Building a Fence

2010-05-26T03:21:00.003-05:00

A visitor today -

Trench for rail road tie cribbing in front of "P.J. Belly Memorial Puttin' Green " -

Fence posts along the back of the garden -

Olympia Rain Forest Blue Corn -Redux

2010-05-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

I started my second season as a farmer (gardener) with the seed product from last year. All is well in the rain forest, we just need more Sun and heat and less clouds and rain. Forecast looks bleak for the next few weeks. Reclaiming the ground for a garden is a bear on our property so I've invested a little time and money for a couple large elevated boxes. It means I can place them to maximize the elements. Last year I just agitated the existing soil and enhanced it with a mix. This time around I created a raised bed with a better mix and larger area for the corn. The elevated ones will be for my other veggies.
I've have a couple pix to start the year off on the blog. btw, I forwarded a batch of seeds to some (AmInd) friends in SD, NE and OK . Hopefully they'll have some success and join in here. Cbob, I can't help be reminded what the gov did all those years ago to encourage the tribes to put down the arms and become farmers ;-)

Hippeastrum

2010-05-21T23:22:00.002-05:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hippeastrum (pronounced /ˌhɪpiˈæstrəm/)[2] is a genus of about 90 species and 600+ hybrids and cultivars of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas from Argentina north to Mexico and the Caribbean. Some species are grown for their large showy flowers. These plants are popularly but erroneously known as Amaryllis, a monotypic African genus in the same family.

My really big one, these leaves are 4 feet long. This bulb made a daughter this spring.

I see Mexico from my house...

2010-05-17T08:32:00.008-05:00

When I see 'Tres Hermanas" mountain peaks in the distance, Mexico is just to south of that formation. The three sisters...and we have expanded our garden this year to have not only squash, corn and beans, but also peas, tomatoes, radish, parsley, basil, chile peppers, habaneros, jalapenos, onions, chives, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, sun flower, marigolds. Our garden is 27 ' X 9'. We made our own soil from compost, peat and manure. Although we did get a late start in April, we have had one radish to eat.

You are our inspiration, C-bob!

One of the Amigos Bloomed !

2010-05-03T23:47:00.003-05:00

If you go west out of Ft. Summer, New Mexico towards Vaughn, New Mexico there is a forest of these things. They will bloom this month.

Upside Down Tomatoes

2010-05-01T22:18:00.005-05:00

So after 2 years of " Topsy - Turvey Tomato " ads at 3 A.M. ........ I bit .
I planted an Upside Down Tomato tonight.

It's a pain in the ass, and after I finished watering the transplant, I asked myself. " Why did I do this ? " It's a " Bush Goliath ", from Home Depot. $3.50 each, and a new bucket and lid for $2.34 and $0.98 ea. Plus 5 gallons of soil made by me, (the best part of the deal). After some thought I see the point of this ......... no cage, because tomatoes need to stay off the ground. A few weeks in the greenhouse, and outside she goes, if I can figure out how to move 5 gallons of wet soil, & not crush the " Bush Goliath ".

Larry's Nodders and a New Dr. Pepper Paint Job

2010-05-01T17:17:00.000-05:00

The Sage is Peeking Through the Marker

2010-04-26T14:32:00.002-05:00

Hi from Firequeen

2010-04-17T17:29:00.002-05:00

Hi Bob, thanks for the invite, managed to sign in an all so here I am! Planning a special bed on our land to plant Three Sisters - a friend brought two sacks of rabbit manure over today, to fertilise it. I'm recording everything in my garden blog on my website at http://www.pendlepeople.com/firequeen/gardenblog.htm

Pendle refers to the area where I live, it's called Pendle after the big hill round which the towns are dotted. It's a very rural area, pretty, with small rolling slopes and lots of trees - green everywhere, with lambs skipping everywhere at the moment. We are in Lancashire, that's in the North of England, and the towns are the old industrial cotton towns, but the countryside is beautiful with lots of cycling and walking. Our land is beside the Leeds-Liverpool canal, it is a piece of farmland, cut off from the rest of the farm when the railway went through over a hundred years ago, and not cultivated for a very long time.

I love your blog Bob, and am so glad I found you and your corn.

Geraldine (Firequeen)

Planting the 3 Sisters

2010-04-15T13:45:00.004-05:00

From the Fire Queen :

Hi Bob, thanks for the corn which arrived yesterday. A friend in Texas wrote me that :
Corn the Indian way was to plant a couple of seeds,a dead fish in the same hole and a few beans very close (or in the same hole.?)

Any comments? Sounds like it would be fun to do, so plan to get a few pounds of sprats down the fishmongers for when we plant out. Being Britain, going to plant and raise first indoors then outside under cover until strong enough to face the weather. (plants that is not me!)

Thanks so much for this gift across the divide.

Fire -
You're on to 2/3's of what is called " The 3 Sisters ". Check out this video I shot , I'm planting seedlings, but the technique is the way the Indians of the southwest farmed the dry river beds. Corn was planted in a "hill" usually a circle 2 to 3 feet across. Mixed in with the corn, they planted squash, and beans. Digging out the hill, and adding manure, mulch, fish, and other fertilizers was done widely. I'd let the fish sit in the ground a few days before I planted on top of it. Corn loves nitrogen, and the beans the Indians were using probably had legume properties. I.E. nitrogen fixing bacteria in their roots.
Try a circle with 5 or 6 corn plants in it, space out the plantings. In different holes plant 3 or 4 beans, 3 or 4 squash.
Corn and beans combine to make complete protein needs in humans. This is how the peoples of Mexico achieved such large populations.
Image credit

David Sadler

2010-04-14T11:03:00.002-05:00

A big thank-you to David Sadler of Hobbs, New Mexico, for carving this wonderful monument for our garden.
Sadler & Son Monument Works

Spring Planting 2010

This Month's Booth

2010-04-10T12:46:00.004-05:00

Sold some Airplane Plants .... Woo Hoo .

Scouts toasting mellows at Tony's Fire Table.

Blue Corn Goes Global & Other Assorted Things

2010-04-07T15:14:00.003-05:00

The Mexican White Masa Corn
One week every seed up , all 76 of them.
Again thank-you Clare in Benson.

Pretty interesting emails this season, I was able to help Joel at Tuthilltown Sprits. He was looking for enough seed to make a batch of whiskey. Blue Corn Lighting ! I remembered these guys, Sunny State Products, from when I was setting up this thing last year.

Around the same time, a fellow in Paris contacted me for some ears with the seed still on the cob. Adrien was working with a French artist named Camille Henrot. I sent them a dozen ears yesterday, shucks and all.

I had a request from Geraldine in Nelson, Lancashire, UK. The first time for the UK.
James in Hamden, CT
Travis in Salt Lake, Ut
Valerie in Grinnell, IA
Bill in Grass Valley, Ca

I'll send invites to post on the site to you all. Now I guess I'll work on the map, lots of pins to add.

My Friends Made Me Cry Today

2010-04-03T01:57:00.003-05:00

I found this little strip on Buddy Holy Ave. , and I tried to green it up, like my mother taught me.
I'll say more , when I stop crying.

Planting Mexican White Masa Corn & Walking Stick Cactus

2010-03-30T18:34:00.003-05:00

I got my seed from Clare in Benson , and planted it in peat pots & small seed packs, 76 of them, with 1 seed each.

Built a planter in my mother's garden downtown, moving the " 3 Amigos " down there soon.

The 3 Amigos

The pear tree across the alley, we just might make a crop this year.

An Anniversary , and the 1st Year's Experiment's Results

2010-03-27T21:17:00.006-05:00

My seed corn from last season. Some of this corn was grown on Buddy Holly Ave. in downtown Lubbock , Texas.

Last March , on the 11th . I launched this site with the following post :

Last night March 9, 2009 I offered to buy Hopi Blue Corn seeds for anyone who would plant them , regardless of their location. My email is posted on the right, just under the corn grinders.
Drop me an email, with your screen name , and mailing address, and I'll send you a package of:

Zea mays Tender Annual Hopi Blue Dent is an ancient flint corn, a traditional staple of the Hopi Indians of Northern Arizona. The 5' bushy plants have 8"—10" ears each. The ears have smooth blue kernels which dry to royal blue which can be eaten fresh, dried for cornmeal, or used for decorative purposes.

Last fall, when the crop came in I was asked for the results of the season. At the time it was too soon to tell really. I posted some answers, but not the results of the experiment.
Here are the results of Colorado Bob's Hopi Blue Experiment :
There is Big Medicine in Blue Corn.

I have changed the policy tonight ( It's under the email on the right).

You get 24 seeds , not 15 .

Swapping Seeds

2010-03-22T12:58:00.003-05:00

I got a note from Clare at Benson, Ariz. She offered to swap seeds. How could I refuse ???
This is White Mexican Masa, pretty cool stuff.

" Mark the Oak "

2010-03-18T14:13:00.004-05:00

3 seasons ago, thanks to Don Calwell , and the Tornadoes, I was lucky enough to plant a little garden on Buddy Holly Ave., along the south wall of the Cactus Theater. I named it after my mother , Peggy Chapman. Last year, when Lubbock lost Joe Don Davidson, I had just bought a fig tree for the garden, when I learned the news of Joe Don. So there is a fig there for him. In the fall , when Lubbock lost Mark, I couldn't plant anything till spring. This is an oak I've been nursing along since last summer. Tornado Larry helped me dig a hole for it the other day, to replace our poor old elm someday. So look for " Mark the Oak " west of "Joe Don the Fig".

My Quince is flowering. It's the best thing about spring.

Salad Bars Become Salad Machines

2010-03-09T22:30:00.004-06:00

Growing in tubes seemed like the best way to pot a lot of plants, cheaply & cleanly. My first one of these was 10 feet of wheat grass. ( On the right )

But only last fall, when I planted a salad mix in 4 different smaller test tubes, did the following occur to me .........
A very simple machine, that grows salad greens, and herbs for 2 - 4 people. Less than 6 feet long, fits on a small apt. balcony .

The only moving part is a ball valve.

The Buiding of My Pit Greenhouse

2010-03-06T13:58:00.004-06:00

I had a conversation with an old friend from Salida the other day. It prompted me to get into my pictures. I came across these, the construction of my green house back in 1985. The backyard, was already paved with bricks, stones, etc. I dug a 3 foot deep trench where the flower bed was next to the house, and lined it with steel rib panel. The concrete stem wall is 2 feet high, and sits 4 feet from the edge of the pit.

When I re-built this in 2007, I added a solar heat collector at the base of the stem wall.
After I got it skinned , I cut the door into the back porch.

About the same time, I added a thermal solar collector to the roof of the porch. The box is full of beer cans , that act as baffles and surface area. Cool air was circulated with a fan in the bottom, and warm air was blown into a thermal water battery buried in the floor. I used 300 1 gallon plastic milk jugs to store the water.

Tortoise Awake Feb. 27th

2010-03-02T07:35:00.007-06:00

Tortoise emerges from hibernation. It is earlier than last year, but he is eating well and up everyday to sun. He has moved from his hibernation spot to his usual summertime place. He was very light when I picked him up to examine him. He has already put on weight. I blame his early awakening on El Nino as the bees, coyotes and birds are also off of their typical behavior. I have a hibernating turtle, but she usually comes out of hibernation in April.

The Big Salad Bar Movie

2010-02-26T14:07:00.002-06:00

Planting some more " Salad Bars". Thought a shot of one being charged with dirt might be helpful. Got this email today :

You say you are out of seeds, does that go for the Hopi *Blue* Dent hard corn? I would like to trade White Mexican Masa corn seed. It grows to 13ft. and we grind it for delicious corn bread and corn meal mush. It has large ears and is non-GMO. Is your Hopi Blue Dent non-GMO? I would be happy to trade 50 seeds for 15 of yours.
Clare Lawrence
Sounds like a swap I can't refuse.

The Salad Bars

2010-01-26T10:39:00.003-06:00

My salad bars are 3" pvc with a drain hole in the bottom of one end. These were planted at the end of Oct. Now, with the sun rising higher they are really starting to grow. These are not hydroponic, just the soil I make here.

After the picking -

The 09" gourd crop from " Peggy Chapman's Garden ", on Buddy Holly Ave.

Sharing the corn

2010-01-09T10:51:00.002-06:00

I kept one ear of the blue corn for seed and put the rest out for the wild critters. It is 5 degrees out and this young squirrel has found the corn and is chowing down.

Snow in Las Cruces

2009-12-29T09:42:00.002-06:00

Snow Bologna

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T11:05:00.006-06:00

The BIG Snow

First we got an inch of rain and then we got this -

After a little scrapping, the sun started to peak back in.
I went back into the greenhouse in September, after stopping for the summer. This is my second winter since Larry helped me rebuild her. In addition to the salad stuff, I have jade cuttings , airplane plants, Dutch irises, lilies, aloes, and my brave little Norfork pine.
All of it is growing just off the sunlight . No extra heat at all. We have already seen nearly a week solid, of cloudy weather with back to back 13 F degree nights in that spell. That's when my irises were starting to sprout.

The Winter Solstice - 2009

2009-12-21T21:28:00.005-06:00

I got a package of seeds for Christmas, from Las Cruces, New Mexico . Thank Bart & Blonde.
I'll start these in the greenhouse tomorrow.

I started my " salad bars " at the end of October. The first cuttings were in the chicken salad tonight. pictures to follow. My greenhouse is going a super job this fall.
Salad Bars

2009-11-26T07:14:00.000-06:00

" One Good Meal a Week "

2009-11-18T22:20:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow's Chicken and Rice soup -

When I was a very young man in Austin, in the spring of 69' a girl named Susann cooked spaghetti once a week for people from Lubbock. Some Mondays she had 20 people in her place. We'd all kick in a few bucks for the next week's food, and we all had at least " One Good Meal a Week " . I can still hear the " Nazz " on the record player.

There's something about people breaking bread together.

Tacoma Harvest

2009-09-27T14:57:00.000-05:00

It's not much, but rather amazing considering the weather we have had. What do I do with it now? Is there a process for letting it become seed for next year?

The Harvest Rolls In

2009-09-17T11:28:00.005-05:00

My harvest from the big garden I worked on.

From Chester in New Mexico -
YOUR CORN HAS BEEN GROWING WELL. I WILL SEND YOU SOME WHEN IT IS READY......... IT HAS BEEN PLANTED WITH ABOUT 150 OTHER PLANTS OF BLUE CORN BUT AS YOU REMEMBER, IT IS ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS BEHIND SCHEDULE. TOO DATE 4 CORNIES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED ON THE PLANT. THEY WERE PLANTED THE OLD NATIVE AMERICAN STYLE.... IN A CLUMP MIXED WITH BEANS.......

WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.......... CHEERS

From Julie here in Lubbock -

Hello Bob,

Yesterday Darin and I pulled the corn and unwrapped beautiful blue kernels. This year was sparce in the garden. As you can see, there was no much of a bounty but what there was is gorgeous. This is my favorite shade of blue.

Please see attached and add to your blog as you see fit. Back to the 'rillo, look out for Darin!

Regards,

Julie

Seed Harvesting in the Great NW

2009-09-13T15:34:00.004-05:00

Here's a ear I pulled because I was worried about some bugs. I cut the stalk and husked this one. The other few plants/ears appear insect free from the outside. I'm drying this one in the sun hoping to obtain some seeds. I'll be lucky to have four good mature ears. I read that it's best to let ears dry out of the stalk and then harvest, husk, kernel and save them in a cool dry spot. Can I get an "amen" or "you're screwed"on this from all you farmers :-) TIA

2009-09-02T19:18:00.002-05:00

summer's done......the spiders are croaking in their webs and the horrendous heat, while not over, is at least tempered now and then by tolerable winds........this particular summer's hand was dealt by Cbob's Blue Corn-a-palooza with joedon for musical acrompinerance.........it, for one thing, made for one of the more pleasing heat spells i've ever had to endure here in this mosquito infested festerously humid paradise.........checking the corn.......

times was when at the onslaught of this heat you'd find any number of rogues, blackguards, crabbers, farmers and musicians mysteriously appearing at Hart's shrimp dock.........there would be mason jars............with ice....and shrimp......and crabs.......and geetars.......

The shrimp dock of course has been sold and mr hart has gone to be with his chicago ancestors......I assume that's the price one pays for dying..........

Blue corn as opposed to white corn and next year it's gonna be a whole damn field.............

Salute Corno

Corn harvest, the first hill

2009-08-22T16:19:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of the Blue corn I grew in my back yard. Next week I will harvest the corn planted next door on the bank owned house.

I cut and shocked the corn or at least I tried to get it in a shock. It takes at least three stalks for a shock to stand. I have only two so I leaned them up against the pitchfork.
Shocking fodder is one of those lost farming arts. I was on the tail end of it and learned it as a child when my father borrowed a corn binder to bind his crop of sorghum. It would cut the long stalks and tie them into a bundle of 8to10 stalks and would lay it on the ground. We would pick up the bundles and shock them. To form a shock you would gather 4 or 5bundles together, tie them at the top with a piece of twine, then spread them out at the bottom so that they would stand. Then you would pickup the surrounding bundles and lay them against the shock being sure to distribute them equally. Think of a tepee looking structure made of corn stalks.

By the time I was in high school a neighbor bought a silage chopper and we had him chop it up into pieces an inch long, put it in a pit in the ground, where it would ferment. Some of the fermented juice would run out and collect at the end of the pit. Our cows would gather there and drink it then stagger up the hill. Bet you didn't know cows could be alcoholics.

Not worthy of being involved in your experiment Bob

2009-08-21T05:13:00.003-05:00

Well after two plantings and building that darn rabbit excluding enclosure, I failed to fertilize my corn. No fish heads, no Miracle Grow, nada. I guess I was hoping the Hopi would do the rest of the work for me. I will have to blame some of it on that rabbit exluding enclosure. It not only kept the rabbits out but it kept me from getting close too. It made it difficult to mow around. Then the grass got really high. Then I was sure some snake would be lurking, waiting for me. And then, the garden was 1.7 miles away and I couldn't see it everyday. I have at least a dozen more excuses if anyone is interested.

Warning, those ears are smaller than they appear.

Bob, I just hope you won't exclude me for any other experiments. Don't make me turn in my project card. I just might be better at the next one.

Carol

Hot Damn, We've Got Tassels!

2009-08-13T18:38:00.005-05:00

Wasn't completely confident I'd see the day. I'm not the photographer you all are, but hopefully you can see the three sisters at work. Additionally in the photo on the left, in the top right hand corner is my new hammock, strategically placed overlooking the harbor and corn. What a combo!

Knee High By The Fourth of July!

2009-08-13T18:15:00.004-05:00

The old adage up here in New England is that the corn should be knee high by the fourth of July. They weren't all knee high, but with my late start and the lousy growing season here, I was pleased as punch to have any that height yet.

We Do It The Old Fashioned Way

2009-08-13T18:01:00.002-05:00

I am trying out a modified Three Sisters planting style, a combination of corn, pole beans and squash. In this symbiotic relationship the beans are planted in the center of the corn hill and the squash should be alternated with the corn hills. I didn't have enough room to plant the squash in between the corn, so it is planted a row over. The corn works as a pole for the beans, the beans help to stabilize the corn from wind, and the squash is a living mulch. I chose this method as I just wanted to see how the ancients did it, and I just plain like the name. Sisterhood and paganism!

The Iroquois Legend of the Three Sisters

Erney, Diana. 1996. Long live the Three Sisters. Organic Gardening. November. p. 37-40.The term “Three Sisters” emerged from the Iroquois creation myth. It was said that the earth began when “Sky Woman” who lived in the upper world peered through a hole in the sky and fell through to an endless sea. The animals saw her coming, so they took the soil from the bottom of the sea and spread it onto the back of a giant turtle to provide a safe place for her to land. This “Turtle Island” is now what we call North America.

Sky woman had become pregnant before she fell. When she landed, she gave birth to a daughter. When the daughter grew into a young woman, she also became pregnant (by the West wind). She died while giving birth to twin boys. Sky Woman buried her daughter in the “new earth.” From her grave grew three sacred plants—corn, beans, and squash. These plants provided food for her sons, and later, for all of humanity. These special gifts ensured the survival of the Iroquois people.

It Gets Better- Sorry, Just Catching Up

2009-08-13T17:44:00.003-05:00

The problem with my camera and computer has been resolved for now and am finally able to load photos. Here is how it all looked the day I planted the sacred seeds-

Hermaphrodite

2009-08-12T08:22:00.004-05:00

I noticed this ear while it was growing....and upon harvest, it is a hermaphrodite. The hermaphrodite is part of the Navajo creation myth.

Navajo Creation Myth
http://books.google.com/books?id=tsqLzrSvVVQC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=hermphrodite+corn&source=bl&ots=pSjkdw4gRj&sig=SNPP37-pdKEkgrPO6GM7FDy6LEY&hl=en&ei=8cCCSoeqKIv-tQPV2ZmmAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=&f=false

2009-08-10T08:05:00.004-05:00

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago.

My wife talked me into picking one of the ears of corn. It was at the perfect stage for roasting ear corn, what is called the milk stage.

Tootsie, our blue front amazon parrot, approves of the corn. I understand that farmers in central America call parrots winged rats. The way Tootsie goes after the corn I can see why.

We combined the corn with other vegetables from the garden, onions , Anaheim and poblano chilis, tomatoes and okra.

To make this delicious stew which will be served over the brown rice in the rice pot at the top of the picture.

The rest of the corn is maturing on the stalks waiting until the end of August to be picked and stored.

Hello August

2009-08-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

Our big garden on the first of August.

New Growth In Tacoma

2009-07-30T13:42:00.002-05:00

Since I don't have a clue what I am doing after stuffing seeds in ground and watering, what will this become?

Capital Forest Crop

2009-07-29T17:29:00.003-05:00

Here's the lastest photo update from the Northwest corn experiment in the Capital Forest. What a difference a month makes.

These remaining four are all over five foot and tasseling.

I'm lucky they're nearby so I can keep them watered in the 100+ temps this week.

I've had to fence them since I've caught deer and coons nosing around.

2009-07-27T20:04:00.002-05:00

The new kid in town.
Blue Belle

My First Ear

2009-07-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

Sunday the Big Garden

2009-07-21T16:33:00.002-05:00

Aerial View

2009-07-20T10:19:00.003-05:00

This is the Tacoma Cornfield shot from the second floor patio. As you can see, it is growing by leaps and bounds, but doesn't have any sign of blooms ears or whatever it is that corn does.

2009-07-19T20:16:00.002-05:00

My crop, 2009. Many seeds for next year.

Catching Up

2009-07-16T12:15:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not keeping house the past week or so. It was 107 here on Wednesday of last week. Then 105, then 102 ...... Looks like the heat will break on Saturday . Good news, because our heat like this always comes with dry southwest winds. And the 2 together really suck the water out of everything. Got this wonderful set from Kentucky -

Mr. Bob, here are pictures of the two batches of hopi blue surrounded by beans and squash, and the fields of native grasses/wildflowers in front of our not so old Kentucky home back of which resides the corn patch. The first batch survivors of rabbit raiders are tasselling now and the second batch in the foreground are holding their own guarded by Owl, the Intimidator.
Your friends at Windham Wallow
aka, Windham Wallow Wildlife Wefuge (wascally wabbits welcome)

First Ear

2009-07-11T07:47:00.005-05:00

Hubby and I picked the first ear of corn...we have been 'groping' the ear for weeks and since all of the silk is missing from all of our growing ears, we guessed it was ready...we were a bit wrong. (Bologna the dog and the first ear are the same length.)

First peek.

T
This ear was from Van Gogh...a second ear is forming. Van Gogh was the only survivor from the first planting. Fabio is from the third planting and a real champion. Fabio has four ears with a fifth forming. I want to save seeds from both plants as they are genetic winners.

Fabio and Van Gogh

2009-07-09T09:28:00.008-05:00

Van Gogh

The original stalk with one ear of corn.

Fabio

Long, blonde & silky hair.

Report from the Guerneville/Forestville, Ca Outpost

2009-07-08T22:30:00.001-05:00

well it was knee high by the fourth of July

NW Forest Update

2009-07-07T21:38:00.002-05:00

Here's an update from the Olympia National Park Rain Forest. I ended up with about four viable plants that seems to be doing fine. However, I do not have any signs of tassels or silk and am thinking it's about two weeks away from seeing them. I'm wondering what if I do not get both male and female plants. I guess I'm SOL.
Anyway I've included a couple pix. Of course, they all look alike :-)
Later.

2009-07-03T20:00:00.000-05:00

2009-07-03T19:56:00.000-05:00

The Dallas Oregon Community Garden

2009-07-03T19:52:00.001-05:00

2009-07-03T17:33:00.001-05:00

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misskathynthesmokinpurses
Friday, July 3, 2009

Update:Victory is mine!
Heloo there Bob .This is kathy ,I don't think that i told you that i gotan officialletter of permission to do this garden here in this spot for 1 year.I am humbled and honored !Praise you great spirit!This is everything to me ,let it flourish blossom and bloom!Have a great day ,i am having a prob w/ my cameratoday but i am going to get u some fresh pics of our corn maidens,one is expressing an extremely lovely phenotype . i will keep it's seed for next years crops !It has dark red stripes down the leaves , extremely lovely phenotype! i will get fresh pics for you.I have planted them in the three sister's fashion .It is where u plant the corn with a squash (to shade the roots)and a pea or bean (it will grow on/up the corn).You can eat all the plants fruits /vegs and it conserves space ,i think it might be in line with returning to ancient practices as it is a custom with some indigenous groups (Hopi?I wonder) ,so it's got to be good !yah-yuh!!i have been thinking of making blue corn meal and making blue corn tamales ,maybe starting a rage up here in oregon,we have alot of tamale eating fools here,but no locally grown blue corn tamales that i know of. The guys will truck around a coller full of regular ones and they go for $20 a doz.DO YOU HAVE A RECIPE FOR BLUE CORN TAMALES ,BOB? I am very interested if you do.B.T.W. ..off i go now ,i sure would like to meet the Starlena,in Corbett and maybe Rez dog i think in oregon also ,i feel ,connected by this .neat-o!Thanks for the corn Bob!
Posted by misskathynthesmokinpurses at 8:48 AM

2009-07-03T01:46:00.001-05:00

All the pictures look the same now so there's nothing to do but wait for the Ears to Appears......the next photo will be ears of corn lined up to dry for seeds.....

Kansas City up date

2009-06-29T16:48:00.003-05:00

Bob,
Just think of this corn as food for the hungry, a hungry racoon family that is.
It seems we have a family of racoons living in the attic of the house next door. A couple of weeks ago the wife and I were sitting on the back deck with our cofffee enjoying the morning and our garden, when there was a trilling noise.
"Whats that " the wife ask.
I recognised the noise but had to search the old memory back to younger days in the country to remember it.
"It's a coon"

I got up and walked around the house and sure enough there on the other side of the house , trying his best to be invisible against the foundation wall was a baby raccoon. I looked up and there 2 stories up was a hole in the soffet just big enough for him to fall out of and setting in the gutter was mama coon looking down.

I left him alone and went back into my yard back to my coffee.
I got the rest of the story from my neighbor.
Mama coon got her baby on the front porch up on one of the brick pillars and left baby there for most of the day. then about dark she came down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, She then started climbing the down spouts up 2 stories with her baby. It wasn't easy the house has 2 foot soffets that she had to climb out and around. The first attempt she dropped her baby and went down and started all over again. But she got the youngun up to the nest and as far as I know he is doing fine.
As I said before I've seen mama coon eyeing the corn and no doubt she has been filling the younguns heads with tales of a blue corn feast.

Notice how nice and healthy the corn out in the sun is doing. Below is the one I planted in my yard and it is half as tall.

Thanks Bob here's how your babies were doing in may 2009 in Dallas,Oregon

2009-06-28T23:04:00.002-05:00

First Ear

2009-06-28T12:34:00.002-05:00

Dill & Butterflys

2009-06-27T13:34:00.003-05:00

Corn redo was getting crowded

2009-06-27T08:47:00.003-05:00

My corn redo was getting crowded so I opened up the top of my rabbit excluding enclosure to give it room to grow. I also thinned out some of the plants. I left the thinned plants for the rabbits to enjoy.

We have had an unusally hot and dry month. No rain in a month and temps up to 104 F. No global warming here Rush!

Carol

2009-06-27T00:08:00.002-05:00

I stumbled across this on the intertubes:

On one occasion, I asked a Hopi woman at Munqapi if she selected only the biggest corn kernels of all one color for planting her blue maize. She snapped back at me, “It is not a good habit to be too picky... we have been given this corn -- small seeds, fat seeds, misshapen seeds -- all of them. It would show that we are not thankful for what we have received if we plant just certain ones and not others” (Nabham 1983 pp. 7)

Nabhan, G. "Kokopelli: the humpbacked flute player" Coevolution Quarterly, pp 4-11, Sp 1983.

2009-06-26T02:44:00.000-05:00

Study in pineapple, blue corn, and zinnia.

Possum Turds

2009-06-23T13:14:00.004-05:00

A few months back I was going down into the greenhouse, and I caught a glimpse of something moving behind my fish tank. I never saw exactly what it was , but since then I've had clues.
So Saturday night I was doing the same thing before turning out the lights, and I saw him, ..... a possum slowly crawling behind the tank. The next morning he had left me a little gift on the top of the crude device I use to get oxygen into the water.

Big Garden on the Summer Solstice.

Colorado Bob's Blue Corn Experiment-From the Beginning

2009-06-21T21:25:00.004-05:00

These are the first pictures that were taken of the Blue Corn. Earth Day, April 22, I was staying in an apartment in Amarillo while in school, but wanted to plant something. I found the blue corn kernels that Colorado Bob gave me and put them into egg cartons with potting soil. Within a week, I had 16 seedlings, even though I swear I only planted 15 kernels. I transplanted the kernels into larger trays. I wasn't coming home to Lubbock until the end of May, so I let the seedlings grow in the trays.
Darin tilled up a plot in the backyard of our Lubbock home and I transplanted the seedlings again this time into the ground. We have had several thunderstorms with hail and I haven't taken time to cultivate the soil, but there are still about 10 plants. They really love the rain. Now at June 20, the Eve of the summer solstice, they are starting a growth spurt that will surely produce. Until then, long live blue corn!

2009-06-20T19:53:00.006-05:00

The corn, she grows......plenty of seeds for next year.....

Blue corn redo is still kicking

2009-06-20T13:47:00.003-05:00

I replanted my corn and built my rabbit excluding enclosure. So far, so good, even though something tried to dig under it. It certainly couldn't have been a rabbit. I will soon have to open the top to let the corn come out. I just fertilized it for the first time. I need to get the weeds out by I'm excluded also.

I need to know if I should thin every other plant out? Any suggestions?

Carol

Hello Mexican Red

2009-06-20T09:50:00.004-05:00

My first Mexican Red sunflower. This one is in the green house, I'm going to try and save the seeds.

Our friend , Hilton Lamar McLaurin has been painting in the garden ......
"Peggy Chapman Garden #2" The Garden at the Tornado Gallery continues to provide a great place for plein air painting. This 5x7 is from last night, very quick, stems blowing in the wind. Great live music before the storm.

Hilton Lamar McLaurin's Photos - Wall Photos on Facebook

Swallowtail, Praying Mantis and Ladybug

2009-06-20T08:11:00.008-05:00

The Big Garden - A Hard Row to Hoe

2009-06-17T22:33:00.003-05:00

Big Wind

2009-06-17T00:16:00.003-05:00

2 nights ago we had a pretty good storm , I got 5/8 of an inch of rain at the greenhouse. But we had most of that rain come in 20 min. With hail and wind. Downtown on the home plot of the experiment, the wind snapped off one of my sunflowers. It laid my mothers garden over pretty good. The corn here is Ok, I think. But it was a bad night, hard on all the plants. On a lighter note, I have baby tomatoes doing fine in the aftermath.

The burgandy sunflower made it,

the one we'll never see didn't.

Black Hollyhock Seeds

2009-06-15T18:58:00.003-05:00

I've had my eye on this little patch of Black Hollyhocks at a local bank, got some seeds yesterday.

Our Second Art Market

2009-06-13T21:54:00.001-05:00

update from Kansas City

2009-06-11T18:50:00.003-05:00

There is Bobby checking out the Hopi blue corn. Bobby was my mother in laws cat. We inherited the cat after Audra died. Guess why she is called Bobby

I've also planted some zennias, sunflowers, hollyhocks, spiderflowers and a tomato to keep the corn company. Can't be having any lonesome corn.

What a difference a little sun makes. Here are the 2 surviving plants that I planted in my yard.

The tallest is only about a foot tall. Compare that to the hill planted next door in the full sun that are close to 3 feet tall.

I talked to the real estate lady about the house next door and explained the significance of the blue corn. I, also, pointed out that it would be extreme bad luck to cut the corn down.

A couple of night ago a coon (that's raccoon for you city folks) was sitting on the back porch roof of the house next door. It looked like he was eyeing the corn, dreaming of roasting ears.

Jack

2009-06-09T18:53:00.001-05:00

2009-06-09T17:37:00.002-05:00

Well, I'll just be damned........corn is a'coming......5 tassels and 3 silkies so far. I know....that's not a picture of corn growing.........still, not a bad pitcher, eh? Corn pictures on the way.

Compost and Rabbit Pills

2009-06-09T12:49:00.003-05:00

The Hollyhock Forest :

Another Sunflower coming on :

This land where the garden is, was a stack yard for the Greer Iron Works for well over 40 years.
The first season last year, we just brought in bags of rabbit manure, and some bone meal. This spring I repeated that, but I also got a cu. yd. of 50/50 compost . Half made from cow manure, half from cotton burrs ( The tough hull around a boll of cotton. )
I'm pretty sure the compost is making this growth in these sunflowers. The Hollyhocks as well.

Report from the Guerneville/Forestville, Ca Outpost

2009-06-08T14:17:00.005-05:00

We started with 15 seeds/13 sprouted and managed to make it to be transplanted...but since then 3 have fallen victim to some critters.

Ours look kind of pathetic next to other peoples' corn plants but we are still hoping for knee high by the fourth of July.

Real Blue Corn

2009-06-08T12:03:00.003-05:00

My friend Fish, one of the best graphic artists working in America sent me this :

Not sure who made this one, but I've always been a sucker for " nose art " .

Mexican Red Sunflowers

2009-06-06T14:16:00.003-05:00

I saw these seeds at Lowes and jumped on them . I started some in peat pots, and planted 5 downtown in my mother's garden. I put this one in a 5 gallon bucket, and left it in the greenhouse. Gonna try and catch the seeds. Sunflowers are like basils , you have know idea just how many there are until, you decide to start growing them.

Corn Tassels

2009-06-06T11:58:00.004-05:00

First tassels :

First sun flower :

It's business time!

2009-06-06T08:06:00.002-05:00

Young tassel looking for silk...

2009-06-06T02:20:00.002-05:00

My corn is tasseling.....3 foots high.......i took some picturas, but am nort so sure about my ability to get them from my expensive camera onto the intro-nert.........but i will try, yes.....I will try.

Ms Wino Blonde.......your pictures with Picacho in the background take me back to a happy time.....we were in Cruces playing the Desert Sun and my baby was shy of 1 yr old and her mother would paddle around in the pool with her as our dog, Pouponne d'Fleur, would run up and down the edge of the pool and bark, bark, bark.......... we'd just come from Ruidoso where it rained for the two weeks we were there......once in cruces we'd go down to the Rio........ and we stayed in this great Paradise Motel.......and ate muchissima southwest food from the Princess Drive-in across from the taco bell........

Still keeping us safe...

2009-06-04T08:38:00.008-05:00

GWB watches over the Hopi Blue Corn in my yard. The real pleasure will be watching him fade!

Photo of giant lily plant. 15 blooms on one stalk!

Rain

2009-06-03T00:38:00.002-05:00

It rained here today , slow and steady the best there is. I caught 1/2 inch at the greenhouse.
It was timely , our big garden will really stand-up now. A week from today it will be magnificent. If it doesn't hail tomorrow.

From Ganeen, Another Share Cropper with Shere

2009-06-01T13:27:00.001-05:00

Larry and I went out and tested our “natural home remedies” to see what appears to work and we will go out and check our test areas in the morning.

1) I sprayed with weed killer (full strength Listerine) – on a few weeds on the west outside the garden area to see if it really kills them.
(Listerine is also supposed to be good to keep mosquitoes away from the human gardeners and I know that works, because I use it when I walk around the neighborhood and when I have cookouts)

2) I sprayed some of the spinach and some beans with a mixture of Ivory dish soap and water – I tied white strings where I sprayed but did not spray the whole row, just about 6 feet in.

3) I sprayed some of the beans, tomatoes & okra with the Garlic/Fish emulsion/Mineral Oil mixture – I tied purple strings where I sprayed but did not spray the whole row, just about 6 feet in as with the other stuff.

The garden is looking wonderful. I saw some big squash blossoms this morning. It was still too muddy to walk around much, but I looked it over pretty good and I think it’s doing very well.

Blessings, Ganeen

Colorado Bob's Hopi Blue Corn Experiment

Season 3

PNW Update

Squash blossoms and corn

Planting the Three Sisters - Nelson, Lancs, England

Arroyo Moon Rise

Building a Fence Redux

Building a Fence

Olympia Rain Forest Blue Corn -Redux

Hippeastrum

I see Mexico from my house...

One of the Amigos Bloomed !

Upside Down Tomatoes

Larry's Nodders and a New Dr. Pepper Paint Job

The Sage is Peeking Through the Marker

Hi from Firequeen

Planting the 3 Sisters

David Sadler

This Month's Booth

Blue Corn Goes Global & Other Assorted Things

My Friends Made Me Cry Today

Planting Mexican White Masa Corn & Walking Stick Cactus

An Anniversary , and the 1st Year's Experiment's Results

Swapping Seeds

" Mark the Oak "

Salad Bars Become Salad Machines

The Buiding of My Pit Greenhouse

Tortoise Awake Feb. 27th

The Big Salad Bar Movie

The Salad Bars

Sharing the corn

Snow in Las Cruces

Christmas Eve 2009

The Winter Solstice - 2009

" One Good Meal a Week "

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Report from the Guerneville/Forestville, Ca Outpost

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Kansas City up date

Thanks Bob here's how your babies were doing in may 2009 in Dallas,Oregon

First Ear

Dill & Butterflys

Corn redo was getting crowded

Possum Turds

Colorado Bob's Blue Corn Experiment-From the Beginning

Blue corn redo is still kicking

Hello Mexican Red

Swallowtail, Praying Mantis and Ladybug

The Big Garden - A Hard Row to Hoe

Big Wind

Black Hollyhock Seeds

Our Second Art Market

update from Kansas City

Compost and Rabbit Pills

Report from the Guerneville/Forestville, Ca Outpost

Real Blue Corn

Mexican Red Sunflowers

Corn Tassels

It's business time!