3/365 indian corn

Tripp is a pretty rad gardener. He grew up on top of a mountain (cue Alvin York plowing up huge rocks and lamenting that he didn't have bottom land) and somehow managed to (similarly to Sargent York) dig up rocks and till and put up a fence on the edge of aforementioned mountain as a young teenager. He grew beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, squash, peppers…you name it, that man has probably grown it. 

(The summer we started dating I also had an herb garden that was actually growing really well. By the time we were officially together both our gardens had died, lol. Aww, love…) 

Once we moved to the very flat backside of my parent’s property he mapped out a spot for a much larger, garden of his dreams sized garden plot. 

The first year we planted anything it didn’t really do all that well. The ground was hard and not tilled as thoroughly as it needed to be and stuff just didn’t really flourish. Which meant that next year, we had to dial it up. 

Tripp put down leaves and old scrap cardboard down over the barren soil in the fall and kept it like that all winter. In the spring he added manure and compost and tilled that sucker until you could sink down into the soil far enough that it took effort to get your boots unstuck. 

To say the garden flourished would be an understatement. I have never seen squash plants get so big. We had more squash than I knew what to do with. We ate it near constantly. We had tomatoes running out of our ears. 

And speaking of ears. 

We planted Indian corn! 

Everyone asks us if you can eat it. You can, it’s what the American Indians taught the pilgrims to grow and it’s what they ate during the first Thanksgiving. 

Our plan is to turn ours into decorations and grits. 

You know the stalks are ready and ripe when they are dark purple. Polly and I picked some today and ahhh, it’s just so pretty. 

Zelda of course had to come with us to help. We got this basket for $3.00 at an Apple Barn in Elijay on the way back from our last vacation to Cashiers, NC. (Because we’re Georgian and when you are in Elijay you go to the Apple Barns) 

Best $3.00 we ever spent. 

After I filled the basket we brought it back inside and I peeled them all back under really hot water to drown the bugs. 

We want to dry them out in order to make them into grits and decoration. It’s as simple as hanging them to dry. Don’t leave them in direct sunlight, though. We did that for two stalks and the colors got dull.  

See the difference? 

Drying them away from sunlight ensures that the colors stay vivid. 

You know they are dried properly when the kernels are hard and don’t give way under your finger when pressed. 

God willing there will be an update in a few weeks as to how everything goes when we turn them into grits. I definitely want to grow them every year though, if only because it’s thrilling to open each stalk and see the difference in color and texture.