Lammas. . . Lughnasadh . . . Early Harvest

Two of my blogging friends mentioned, in connection with my August 1 post on the threshing machine, that it was just right for Lammas  -- which fell on August 1.

Lammas celebrates the early harvest and the first harvest of wheat -- indeed, the name Lammas derives from words meaning 'loaf mass' and the first grain harvested was ground into flour,  baked into bread, and that loaf was blessed by a priest.

Long before Christianity, the early harvest was celebrated in England as Lughnasadh) and followers of Wicca and other earth religions have made this a part of their rituals.

Harvest is always worthy of celebration. I've spent much of Monday and Tuesday dealing with some of the garden's bounty-- okra, squash, eggplant, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, figs (only a few, alas, but there are more ripening.)

But it's been mostly corn -- shucking, removing the tip and its (almost always) resident worm. The worms and tips got taken down to the broiler chicks who, according to John, had a fine time eating the corn off the wormy tips -- and the worms as well.

Next the corn is blanched in a big pot of boiling water for about ten minutes, plunged into ice water to cool it, then cut off the cob and put into bags to go into the freezer.

Corn chowder, corn pudding, and Sam's corn cakes will be on the menu in the coming months.

As Corny As . . .

The squirrels and raccoons have decided that our corn is ready for harvest and have been shamelessly working away at it.

The silks haven't dried up yet, meaning that the ears are not fully mature but the critters don't care about that. "Good enough," they say and every morning finds a few more stalks downed.

So, in a preemptive strike, I've been harvesting the ears that are nearest ripe -- and I have to agree with the critters -- good enough.

I sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and shuck the haul of the day. This is 'natural' grown corn -- no sprays, but that does pretty much insure a corn worm at the tip of each ear.

For those of you not grossed out by caterpillars and such, click on the picture to 'biggify' it and marvel at the intricate coloring and pattern of this guy. I think he's gorgeous.

But that doesn't stop me from dropping him (and all the others,) along with the broken off, munched-on tips of the corn, into a bucket for the delectation of the chickens.

A few of the ears of corn have little undeveloped ears attached. You know those tiny little ears of corn in Chinese cooking? That's what these seem to be. ( I added them to stir-fry for supper and they were delicious.)

All this corn . . . I imagine a taste of summer in the winter -- corn chowder, vegetable soup, corn sauteed in sweet butter, corn fritters, and, of course, those delicious corn pancakes from Sam's Carolina Kitchen.

"There's a job done!" as the old folks around here used to say. A whole lot of sweet corn, blanched, cut off the cob, and bagged up to go to the freezer.

Where, I think I can say with confidence, it will be safe from squirrels and coons.