Colorado Bob's Hopi Blue Corn Experiment: Hi from Firequeen

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Hi from Firequeen

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)

3 comments:

COLORADO BOB said...: Fire -
Great job ! I saw the owl pictures, we have a lady here , Carol in Louisiana, has them in her yard :
http://ct-carolssouthernspice.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-who-in-hell-are-you.html; April 18, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Jack said...: Ms Firequeen

Welcome to the Bluecorn conspiracy.

Jack; April 18, 2010 at 1:50 PM
rezdog said...: Hi Geraldine, Welcome from the Great Northwest. Wow, Lancashire! I have some English ancestors from Lancaster on the the non-Indian side of my family.; April 18, 2010 at 3:14 PM

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Blue Corn: Found primarily in the Southwest, blue corn has been a staple food of Native Americans - including the Hopi, Pueblo, Navajo & Zuni tribes - for hundreds of years. Coronado found blue corn & other flour corns during his 1540 expedition into the Southwest.

Blue flour corn, made of primarily soft starches, is used for blue corn flour & cornmeal, and for making blue corn tortillas and blue corn chips. Itís a bit coarser than yellow or white meal, but is somewhat sweeter & nuttier in flavor. It also contains about 20% more protein & up to 50% more iron than other varieties of corn.

Blue Corn & Hopi Indians: Hopi blue corn varieties can range in color from nearly black to a powdery gray color. There are three varieties of the blue corn: "standard" blue (sakwaqa'o), hard blue (huruskwapu), and gray-blue (maasiqa'o). Because of its hard kernels, huruskwapu is most resistant to storage pests and traditionally was the preferred variety for storing. When the grinding was all done by hand, women preferred using maasiqa'o because it is soft and easier to grind but the color was not as vibrant as that of the sakwaqa'o or huruskwapu.

Besides being the backbone of their diet, blue corn represents an essential part of the Hopi culture. It represents the Eastern rising sun, the beginning of life, wisdom & understanding. The Hopi of Arizona use blue corn in the naming ceremonies of infants, who might not receive their name for 6-to-8 months. They believe that blue corn represents a long life; Hopi men ate blue corn before undertaking long journeys because they believe it gives them great strength. To this day, the Hopi believe in the power of blue corn, as demonstrated by their story of creation.

As the Hopi moved from the third to the fourth way of life, Maasawu, the Creator, presented the gift of corn to all those who emerged. The other peoples took the largest ears of corn and Hopis were left with the small blue ear. The Hopis knew that their fourth way of life would be would not be easy, but that overcoming hardships would make them strong. The themes of humility, cooperation and respect became the lifeway of all Hopis.

Kokopelli's Kitchen