Wild Moon Cottage is a small working homestead in the pristine Ozark Mountains. We have dairy goats, poultry, organic herb and vegetable gardens, a start of a tiny fruit orchard, several black walnut trees, wild berries and fields of wildcrafting goodness. We raise our own milk, our own eggs, much of our own medicine and food. I do laundry by hand, make my own vinegar, candles, soap, bread, cheese ........ For a living I am an artist and herbalist. My goal for myself and our homestead is to be as self sufficient and self sustaining as possible.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

5.12.12 pt 2


I so hope it rains!  It was supposed to but hasn't at all tho it is overcast now.

I've found a solution to my corn dilemma, I think. The dilemma is that I recently learned that you're not supposed to plant more than one type of corn at a time or they will cross pollinate and the saved see will probably not produce the original. That would probably be fine and I've planted more than one corn, saved seed and gotten the original from them. But to be safer I will only plant one type at a time this year and will try to eventually make a second planting area blocked by trees on another part of the property to plant a second type of corn, gourds and other things. A solution for now tho is to try to get two plantings in per year. An early corn and a second corn. I'm not sure that any of the corn i want to grow is an early corn but it's something to look into. This year i'm so late there's really only time for one corn anyway.

I'm going to try Bloody Butcher this year for sure. I learned about it from a friend a few years ago and have wanted to try it since. It's an heirloom dent corn good for feed, food and flour. If I had time I want to get some popcorn planted. That's one of our main snacks and would go a long way in the pantry. I had actually planned to plant Bloody Butcher, popcorn and a blue corn (blue Aztec or Blue Fox) but we'll be very happy with whatever we can get from the garden and maybe eventually I can have a second planting in another spot.

2 comments:

the wild magnolia said...

Wishing you rain.

Knittedhome said...

I'm also trying popcorn this year (NW Ohio), but haven't planted it yet. It is on the to-do list for this week. I would LOVE to plant sweet-eating corn, too, but I've also run into the cross-pollination problem. Separating them by early & late harvest sounds like a great idea! I hope it works for you (next if not this year). When you harvest the popcorns, will you simply allow them to dry on the stalk or out in the sun on a screen? Just curious.

I hope you get rain soon :)