Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I have a seed habit


indian corn, ornamental ears


Esme and I spent an hour or so with a box and a butterknife and a few envelopes shelling seeds off of the Indian Corn. It is so colorful. There are striped kernels in red and yellow, red and blue and a few kernels that almost appear green. One ear (not pictured) is a rosy peach pink all the way through except for just one or two purple kernels. There were 'three' indian corns that were planted, one an 'earth tones' that came in the mail, a 'free' extra packet of indian corn that came with something else, and a packet from the Lowes store which was the same as what Grandma planted and/or kept in her seeds for this year. So, we can't tell exactly what is what, especially as it hybridized with our sweet corn. We did that on purpose, to put more 'sweet' into what is normally a flour grinding type of corn. I am picking out a small handful to plant next year for experiment, and then separating a few other 'types' into different pans to either give away or keep for more experiment in larger areas. Treated well and kept dry, it should keep for several years.


indian corn ornamental ears


Mark says my seed habit is getting extreme ;) I do find it extremely cool to plant one seed and get hundreds back in return. It just touches something way down deep in my soul and makes me light up there. And then the further idea of selecting for traits, changing what is brought back on the return..... adding that fourth dimension of change over time almost has me rubbing my hands together like Ebeneezer over his pile of gold. Except mine is corn, and beans. And 'investment' in gold and silver never has the 'heritage' aspect and you can't very well eat it in a pinch! I guess there are much worse habits to have ;)

//Note// : When Esme woke up this morning she told me she was thinking, thinking about Grandpa and Grandma and Esme and Mama all eating. She sat in the red chair (booster seat at the restaurant), and the food is here (belly button), in her belly now. It was good food. She liked that day. // I asked her if she had remembered that while she was sleeping, and she said No, just thinking, thinking, 'member' it, food in her belly now. *laughing*

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