7:30 am PST, 60*F, light rain, no wind
Before I get onto the long tangent of corn, I must say a word (or 600) about yesterday’s journal post.
I was feeling very down about things- it happens sometimes when I’m feeling particularly vulnerable- a combination of CPTSD and depression when my body isn’t working like it use to. Certain words can trigger bad feelings for me creating doubts about why I even continue with life sometimes. Not that I’m suicidal, I’m not. I try not to sit in these moods longer than necessary. I fully committed to the friendship knowing we had our fundamental differences. And we do have our debates from time to time. But we usually part those debates with a “agree to disagree” attitude and move on. My friend doesn’t realize that sometimes things she says can be shattering to my spirit. Jay is a force to be reckoned with when she puts her mind to something. I know she doesn’t realize it. Sometimes I speak up and tell her something she just said made me feel bad, then she feels bad and I don’t want my friend to feel bad. I only want the best for her. I didn’t want to vent this to her, mainly because I already tried during that particular conversation and she wasn’t wearing her listening ears. She was venting her frustration and not willing to consider mine at that moment. So, it was obviously something she needed to air out of herself. This morning, I sent her a text to let her know I hoped she had a fulfilling and easy day at her work, to let her know there was not bad blood held between us. We are humans, we have moods and sometimes need a safe space to vent. It doesn’t mean we care less about a person necessarily. I still think I will grow less things for her still- because I may as well save that effort until there is not a choice to raise all the food together, when the shit really starts to hit the fan. I can enjoy life a little more that way, until the day that things really start to break down.
Now, onto the more important things- SEEDS!! More specifically, corn seeds.
I’ve mentioned how corn progressed right along with humans in the Americas. That corn used humans as much as humans used corn for survival. Corn cannot survive without humans at this point. It’s so far removed from its ancestor grain. Just like our cultures here cannot survive without corn. We belong to each other. Maybe people on other continents don’t have as much to do with corn, I don’t know. What I do know is that corn is a grain I can use, being that it is gluten free (something I had to become recently after my tumor was removed in January, I became glutton intolerant) I have to look more into alternative grains that I can grow here. Wheat, rye and oats all are a no go for me. Which means my prepping has to change a bit. Corn suddenly has become more important to me. I know I can grow sweet corn here, but I am more interested in it as a grain I can grind into flour and pop, then the fresh. I love fresh sweet corn, don’t get me wrong, but if I only have the space, time, and energy to grow for a storage grain, it’s not going to be sweet corn taking up space when there are a lot more nutrient rich vegetables to grow during the summer for fresh eating.
This year I am growing two types of Indian corn – that can be used for both flour and popping. Wade’s Giant and Long Ear Small Kernal. They are planted side by side and I’m ok with them crossing. I know, you hear the advice to not plant different corn next to each other and to avoid crossing. For a lot of reasons this is good advice. But there are sometimes reasons not to. If you want pure seed of only one kind, keep them separated. If you are growing sweet corns, they will be ruined if they cross with other kinds of corns not the same type (sweet, super sweet, popcorn, field corn) and will ruin the flavor. You can plant two or more sweets together, supper sweets together, popcorns together, and get a sweet, super sweet, popcorn, etc. that has hybridized and be just fine. Just no crossing the types. People are doing this to create their own adapted landrace corns and it is what I am doing. I’m not interested in preserving a particular heirloom strain so much as I want to adapt corn to my location….and what works well and is harvestable is what I will keep planting from the saved seeds. I’ve not grown drying corn here before. Our wet climate might make the drying at the end of the season the more difficult part of growing corn for grain so it’s an experiment at this point. If some ripen and dry, that’s a good start.
Instead of onions next year, I’m going to experiment with amaranth as well and whatever alternative grains I can find that could be a possibility. Of course, there may not be time to experiment from now on, depending how the super el nino unfolds. We might be kicked into serious time to grow food mode. Time is certainly running out. I have been much slower than I wanted to be to prepare for everything coming. That I do agree with my friend about.
Grains, that is my goal. Corn, or otherwise, I need to find something for my particular climate. It has to be fairly drought resistant once established, because in the bad times it’s not going to always be easy to keep things watered, and it has to be efficient of space (as much as possible) and easy to harvest and store. Those are my parameters. If anyone has suggestions for types of grains, I’d love to consider it.
Climate Wary Homesteader 