A Little Bit Corny
On Sunday, I went out to the garden to begin doing some fall cleanup…and only spent about three minutes on the task before I got distracted.
By corn.
But not boring old yellow corn - ohhhhh no. This was corn that I’d left to dry on the stalk, not even daring a peek to see what treasures might lie beneath the husk. Corn that I’d forgotten to harvest before our trip (and that I’d forgotten I NEEDED to harvest when we got back). Corn with kernels that look like jewels of all hues, pearlescent and glittering in the sun. That’s right, I got distracted by the unicorn of corn - Glass Gem.
And isn’t that name just so perfectly fitting? I’d seen photos of this magical stuff, but didn’t really believe how rich and varied the colors could be. I grew it to pop, but seriously - it’s maybe too gorgeous. Maybe. We’ll still probably eat it, but not until we’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking at it first!
Now, even this rainbow of corn probably would have only kept me from continuing my cleanup for a half hour or so. But I discovered something ELSE that literally made me run inside to show Eric.
See, I actually planted two kinds of popping corn. Glass Gem, which you’ve seen, and Strawberry Popcorn, which we grew last year. In my haste to get things in the ground this spring, I pretty much just mixed the seeds and threw them at the earth. It never occurred to me that the two species would cross-pollinate…but they absolutely did!
Some of the crosses clearly didn’t work out. Though the kernels were interesting in color, like in these two examples, they didn’t seem to form consistently on the cob. I suppose not even Mother Nature can get it right every time!
Then again, sometimes she nails it.
On the top of this arc is a lovely Glass Gem cob and at the bottom is the small but mighty Strawberry. And the two in the middle? The coolest crosses I harvested. The large, red cob has the coloring (and, on some of the lower kernels, the pointy shape) from the Strawberry, but the form of the Gem. And the little, cream colored cob has some of the coloring and variegation from the Gem, but the overall kernel and cob shape of the Strawberry.
Isn’t this the most AMAZING thing?? I’m still freaking out! My older brother and I have already decided to try and cultivate that amazing red cob next summer, in our gardens two thousand miles apart. I’ll be gifting him kernels next time we’re together.
It’s something to look forward to, for sure - next year’s garden and all the things we’ll grow. But, thankfully, next year is still a good way’s off. For now, I’m content to put my garden beds to bed and soak up the restfulness that fall and winter always bring.
