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Corn Silks & Seeds
The contents of your weekly boxes represent a chain of time and events that evidence the blessings and limitations of this beautiful farming valley. Our farm production is shaped by events that may be long forgotten, and yet are represented in the lack of kernels on an ear of corn or the seed stalk in an onion. Each week we are sharing with you the flavors resulting from a hot week, a cool month or even the effects of a December freeze. The relationship between our work here in the Capay Valley and the microclimate that is unique to this place creates the flavor of tomato or peach and reflects the variability of each season.
We have challenged you all a bit this summer with corn that was missing kernels from a hot week in July. Corn may be the best example of how we can be affected by hot days long forgotten. When corn is pollinating, the silks emerge slowly from the top of the ear. Each strand of silk becomes the conduit for a single grain of pollen to travel down the ear under the tight wrapper leaves and fertilize the site where a kernel will develop. At the end of June and in early July, we had a stretch of hot weather with daytime temperatures that were over 105 degrees. At these temperatures, corn silk can dry out before the grain of pollen can attach itself and travel safely into the ear. The ear becomes a testament to temperature, with the blank spots on the ear reflecting the daytime moments when the sunlight was just right to fall on the silk, or when temperature is simply too high for the corn plant to keep the silk healthy. As farmers we can anticipate the heat and use our tools to prevent blanking. The variables that we can manipulate are many. In the case of your corn, the ear you received reflects only partial success.
Our strategy for beautiful corn is not simple. We choose a variety of corn based on past experience with its productivity and flavor. Trusting a flowery description in a seed catalogue isn’t enough. When we choose a new variety of corn, we ask seedmen what they have seen. We ask other growers. We trial a variety out for a year or two to see how it responds to our hot valley. Armed with experience we choose the seed that, when planted, becomes your ear of corn 90 days later. In the spring and until early July, we plant a new block of sweet corn—about 1.5 acres—every 10 days. We do this to assure that we will have a constant supply of corn once we start harvest in late June.
Why this constant search for a better ear of corn? Well it turns out that some of our favorite varieties are no longer available—seed lines are discontinued and older varieties are replaced with new trendier varieties. Seed companies that were the source for a well adapted variety may become the victim of a merger with a larger company that eliminates older types with a more limited market. We suspect that our choice for a variety was part of the problem with blanking. The variety we chose wasn’t able to withstand high temperatures, something we had less of a problem with in years past as we planted Silverado and Silver Queen. Seed companies are moving to producing varieties that are ‘Super Sweet’—able to hold sugars for many days after harvest. We don’t grow these varieties because of their lack of a corny flavor, and have instead chosen a Harris Moran variety—374A because we like how it tastes. Seed companies choose varieties marketable for the average set of growing conditions and may not meet the temperature realities of our valley.
We also have other strategies when we anticipate hot weather coming. We irrigate in order to have the field as wet as possible. This year, we have moved to drip irrigation in a vast majority of our crops. We have done this in order to save water and be more efficient in the water we use. We thought that we had the fields saturated for the impending hot weather, but missing kernels indicate that we may have had plants that needed more water.
Our final decision was that we chose to send the corn even after we realized we had blanked-out ears. Each ear is chosen by hand by a pretty experienced crew. At 6 a.m. our corn and melon crew arrives and begins to pick. All crops are picked as early as possible to take advantage of any cool morning air. Corn is always picked first. Bins of corn are filled, iced and put in the cooler for packing later in the day.
When we realized that the corn was blanked we faced the dilemma of abandoning the field or picking the best. We chose the latter, feeling each ear and gauging the extent of the loss through tight wrapper leaves. We then faced the choice of whether or not to include corn in the boxes…a tough choice that we don’t take lightly. We realized that the ears weren’t perfect. We do strive to put the best and most flavorful produce in your boxes each week. Yet the produce reflects our farming reality. We have had a few complaints about spotty corn, bruised peaches or an unripe melon. Each complaint is taken seriously and triggers our re-evaluation of our picking, packing and field practices. We thank you for your patience with our processes. Our goal is always to bring you all the most flavorful and healthful food that we can produce. We are, at all times, learning how to do that better. Thank you for your commitment to our efforts and we always do appreciate your comments.
By Paul Muller, Full Belly Farm
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