Sweet Corn Blues

The field is just beautiful this year! The periodic rain, cool breezes, and fertile soil make for a happy farm (and farmer)!

Hello!

A word from Bill … The raccoons are totally destroying my sweet corn. I knew they would come, but I was not prepared for the overnight dinner party. I am in the process of trying to recover, but my feeling is that I will not be able to keep them out of the corn this year. I could probably keep them out next year if I spend a lot of time working on that and hundreds of dollars on fences and traps. I could also just give up and buy corn at the market. Part of me wants to put up a fight, but raccoons are very smart and determined animals. They are unnaturally abundant in our area and in many parts of Illinois. This is due to several factors, including our highly fragmented landscape, low fur prices, lack of natural predators, their adaptability, and lots of corn to eat. I gave up raising chickens because the raccoons kept eating them. The next few weeks will determine if I will give up growing corn too. So next time you buy corn at the market you can be glad you got the corn before the raccoons did.



An ear of corn enjoyed by a local raccoon





You can see how the raccoon "tested" this one to see if it was sweet enough before moving on to another ear.



A corn massacre

And now a word from Mercy … Bill’s down at the field trying to rig up something to keep the raccoons out of the sweet corn. He hasn’t tried to grow sweet corn in many years, and as I recall the raccoons had something to do with it back then, too! Raccoons are great eaters – they know a good thing when they find it. So in the course of one night, they wiped out about 75% of his sweet corn. He was tempted to just mow the rest of it down, but then he pulled a Caddyshack on me and headed down the field to do who-knows-what. Just picture him, like Bill Murray, setting out explosives and you get the general idea.

I will be at the market briefly this weekend with the boys. Noah, Ben, and I are going down to St. Louis on the Amtrak at 9 a.m. to a baby shower for my brother’s girlfriend. (It’s very 2009, to be sure.) I hope I get a chance to see many of you before we have to bug out.

Last week’s market was our best ever. (Do you remember that I said that just about every week last season?) The rain came late enough that most of the serious eaters had already been and gone by then. It was just tremendous. Bill thought the market had a really different feel last weekend as well – we both noticed A LOT more people that we’d never seen before. That’s great – I guess the word is finally getting out that fresh, local food really is worth the special trip!

The boys finally appear to be moving from farm liability to farm asset -- between the two of them (and with much arguing that could be heard ACROSS the field), they harvested 150 lbs. of summer squash and 120 lbs. of cucumbers. Noah is genuinely helpful (although he doesn't always enjoy it). Ben is only helpful when he wants to be. One day this week, he spent a significant amount of time spinning around like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music so that he could "see the world spinning." Very helpful. The boys are also so very curious. Bill tried to explain to them the difference between birds of prey (like turkey vultures) that can't be hunted by humans and "game" birds that can be hunted in the right season. Ben immediately wanted to know if we could also play games with them. Sheesh.

This week’s featured vegetable is the cucumber. Bill will be bringing traditional and Asian varieties. They’re both very crisp and tasty – a cool burst of flavor in your mouth! Unlike the tough-skinned, waxy cucumbers that you find at the store (or in a restaurant salad), Bill’s cucumbers have a thin, delicate skin with minimal bitterness. The Asian varieties are “burpless,” although chemists have not yet figured out what it is about various cucumbers that are more or less “burpy.”

And what’s with the Zephyr summer squash? You know, the yellow and green ones. Several customers have told us they thought the Zephyr is a gourd. No, no, no! It is a thin skinned, flavorful zucchini-like summer squash. You eat the whole darn thing. Slice and sauté, grill with balsamic vinegar, add to pasta – it’s that easy.

Bill will be bringing BOATLOADS of everything else – prepare to make yourself some side dishes with beets, potatoes, green beans, head lettuce and more. THIS SHOULD BE AN AMAZING MARKET! Bring a (hungry) friend!!

Here’s what we’ll have …

Eggplant
Cucumbers
Green beans
Dragon tongue beans
Summer squash
Potatoes
Carrots
Shallots
Fennel
Kohlrabi
Swiss chard
Head Lettuce
Beets
Onions
Garlic
Kale
Collard Greens
Basil
Parsley
Broccoli
Radicchio
Cabbage (Red and Green)

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 309-467-9228. You can also email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com, although during the farm season we can’t guarantee that we’ll be checking the email as often as usual.

Best,
Mercy