The Last Day of April

Good with owls but a failure with blue corn

C-Bob

I have put a lot of effort into my corn, Lord knows I tried, and something keeps eating it. I tried cayenne pepper and that Repel and whatever it is eating my corn just laughs at it all and chows down. I go to the corn patch, at my house, twice a day and look at the destruction. I am very sad to report that corn farming does not seem to be part of my destiny.

But watching baby owls is.....

Carol, CT in La.

PS. Being my sis is in visiting and I have to work everyday, I don't have time to build a fence right now.

Peggy Chapman's Garden in Tornado Alley

Here's the 1st plot I'm planting here at Lubbock, ..... one month in :



This is the second season for this garden , here's the story about why it's named for my mother.
With last years plantings.
Peggy Chapman's Garden

My email from Lookout Mountain, Ga. 3 days ago :

" ................ As a matter of fact I was offered an area in a neighbors .7 ac garden spot but declined since I had nothing I was interested in planting/tending. Strange how quickly things change.

PS - Just talked to my neighbor, Dan , and he too would like to join the experiment. He accepted four long rows from our mutual farmer friend up the road, and they are about finished planting. If you have 15 more seeds, send them to me to save postage, and Dan and I will plant together. If not, I'll share mine with them. "

------------------------
These fellows are planting Hopi Blue Corn where the Klan in Georgia was reborn . That warms my heart to no end.
Thanks John, Thanks Dan.

Colorado Bob

Oak leaves are the size of a squirrels ear.

When I was growing up we had a neighbor, Virgil Thomas who passed on a lot of crop planting folk wisdom to me. From him I got such things as "Honey in May is worth a rick of hay, Honey in June is worth a silver spoon, but honey in July ain't worth a fly"

He also gave me the sign for planting corn. "When oak leaves are the size of squirrels ears it is time to plant corn."

Seven kernels, planted in a sacred circle

Our back yard is mostly shade so it is hard to find a good sunny spot that hasn't already been claimed for other purposes. But here is a good sunny spot between the Crepe myrtle and clematis. I had to move a little grass but what the...............

If the weather permits I'm going to plant a hill next door. That property could use a little healing power of the Hopi blue corn

I now have 8 thriving 4 inch plants.....the one which was broken by the tidy cat has healed itself and continues to grow........yesterday my brother sprinkles a small bit of stuff which looked like tiny beads onto the plant bed......He says it's nitrogen, cant use too much when they're this small, but check out how much and how fast they grow now......so today I'm looking forward to seeing 3 foot corn plants with ears a foot and a half long.......sprung from mother earth fully eared so to speak......I'll let you know how that works out..................

Sipapu to all!

Craig cell phones the mail :



I planted my seeds tonight, thanks to the business end of a paint brush.





Craig is working on a 2X6 foot patch of sunlight in D.C.

A Bit Carried Away?

I I I  I intended to find a small sheltered spot for my sacred corn seeds. I told my boys about the Blue Corn Experiment. They thought it was great idea.  In fact, so enthusiastic they thought we should rip out half of our front lawn and replace it with a garden.  So we are running a few days behind schedule.  Jimmy crack corn and I don't care.   It's the journey.

Share Croppin' With Shere

Second planting 115 tomatoes & peppers.

Sturg Sez

Cbob.........Blue Crab power plus Blue Corn power........a values-shattering combination......if this power ever fell into the wrong hands there'd be hell to pay.....I shudder to think of it............

Posted by: sturgeone Author Profile Page | April 24, 2009 8:43 PM

Green House Pics Tonight

One Week After the Hail

I was lucky the storm didn't wipe out a single sprout. But as you can see they are bouncing back nicely.

Guerneville has sprouts!

The Guerneville, California blue corn outpost announces

We Have Sprouts!

I recruited a friend's yard for the corn planting too more sun and space and fewer critters.

Muddy Ground in Dallas

From Blue in Dallas -

The Hopi blue has been planted, but it's really muddy from the rain. Hope to have pictures to add in a few weeks.
/Blue

Rez says -
He's got 8 in peat pots on the window sill. Way up in Washington State.

1st Planting at Shere's Share Crop April 18, 2009

Locations of the Seeds

View Hopi Blue Corn Experiment Locations in a larger map

Been fooling with the Google map tools.
Going to keep this very general, just so we can see the spread. If I missed anyone let me know.

CT in South Louisiana -

My corn at the house is up, 2- 3 inches high. I caught a rain last weekend, almost immediately after I planted it and I planted it 3" deep to keep it from washing away. It wasn't up yesterday and after the 3" rain we had last night, it is up.

We have a lot more rain heading our way now and hope it doesn't contain any haa ill.

Carol

Water Diverter or "Harvester"

A device to collect rain water from the down spouts of rain gutters. Made from Schedule 40 PVC fittings.


I bought a commercial one of these just to see the quality and performance. My rain events here south of the "Picket Wire" produce heavy down pours for 20 min. and stop - Sometimes for weeks. The one I bought on the web was made for people who have rain events that involve hours of "pitter-patter" type events. What you see here cost $30.00 at the ole' home improvement store. I will leave it to others as to the ends and outs of the whole system. That is your storage set-up, and collection (roof & gutter) systems. Needless to say the cleaner your roof and gutters the better the quality the water you catch. Their are two traps with clean-out plugs in this design to collect sediments and the little grains that come off asphalt singles.

Read On .....

Share Croppin' With Shere

The last time I tried to garden with other people was 39 summers ago. Looking forward to this, spring ........ A time to look forward.
Going in the ground today -

Setting-up the irrigation pipe.


Blonde Wino reports -

Yesterday, we planted four blue corn seeds in this existing garden. This garden was started from seeds --- chard, collards, kale and eggplant. Seeds were planted February 23rd. I have already taken a few leafs of chard for a stir fry.

Hail Storm on my Blue Corn

Seafaring Seeds

The seeds have arrived, computer glitches resolved, all is well with the world. I believe these are the only seeds in the experiment to have reached their final home by boat. They are awaiting fine weather and shall be planted during the next new moon which starts April 24th.

" Need to recharge your brain? Step outside "

Here is how it works: Modern life — commuting, computing, paying taxes — can place a burden on our brains and bodies. In recent years, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Landscape and Human Health Laboratory and elsewhere have compiled evidence that suggests that a connection to nature is vital to our psychological and physical health because it helps recharge our brains so that we're better able to cope with the stresses in life.

550 Seedlings

Hummingbird moth (sphinx) resting in ice plants during the day

The ant battle update .....

The ants have claimed one corn stalk....the other is surviving, perhaps, thriving. Attached is a photo of the hummingbird moth (sphinx) resting in ice plants during the day. Lots of bees this year and most have been out this very mild winter feeding on the ice plant flowers. And I always have a hummingbird or two throughout the winter. Once the wind stops, we will see some very hot days.

Hopi(ng) for corn,

Blue Corn at Lubbock April 11th

Carol in Lake Charles -

It seems Carol has the bit in her teeth kids. She had to arm wrestle a rototiller , but she got er' done.

A Blue Letter Day

We have some results folks -
Blonde Wino wrote this morning :
We have two sprouts...photos later...must work.
That was 9:29 Buddy Holly Time. Now, they planted the same day as I planted, just by chance.
I went down to my 5 hills late today here's the shots, I got Blue Corn standing 2 inches tall over night. Not every seed, but 3 or 4 in each hill. My hills have 7 seeds.
These seeds are very good.



Update from New Mexico :

Blue Corn Maiden

Blue Corn Maiden by Gilbert Atencio

Arrival of Hopi Blue

Received 17 kernels of Hopi Blue yesterday; will plant tomorrow morning. Hoping hail and landscapers will not be a problem.
blueINdallas

Where My Blue Corn was Planted ..... 5 Hills 7 Seeds Each Hill