Hominy

[Black Hand]

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that "all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage".

When our country was founded there were naysayers.
When the automobile was invented there were naysayers.
When we split the atom, there were naysayers.
When we broke the sound barrier there were naysayers
When we put a man on the moon there were naysayers.

There have been and will always be naysayers, and they will always be wrong.
Since the beginning of time man has always progressed forward sometimes at a snails pace, but always forward.

Those who say something can't be done should stay out of the way of those already doing it.

 

[hinamanra]

One of the mantras that we lived by in the Marine Corp, Lead, Follow or get the hell out of the way.

 

[Carbon 6]

Those who say something can't be done should stay out of the way of those already doing it.

Much like cow pies in a pasture, I just step around them and keep moving forward.

 

[Black Hand]

One of the mantras that we lived by in the Marine Corp, Lead, Follow or get the hell out of the way.

Most can't lead, the rest won't follow and they aren't getting out of the way since they are on their cellphone...

 

[Carbon 6]

One of the mantras that we lived by in the Marine Corp, Lead, Follow or get the hell out of the way.

I always liked, "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes"

 

[hinamanra]

Most can't lead, the rest won't follow and they aren't getting out of the way since they are on their cellphone...

I never had much of a problem with the millennials that I had charge of but I was raised on a farm by a WWII vet father who turn 97 last month and still has a mule kick punch and like my father, it was my way or the highway. Like you said, "The exception" The Corps. is less than 1% of the less than 1% of Americans that serve and if there is ever a problem they're physically and mentally rehabilitated or weeded out. The ones that remain are the most fierce war fighting force in the world (stronger, faster, smarter) so their is hope for the future. I didn't have much interaction with so called normal people just Marines while I served and since I retired I can see a huge difference in people. you're right, they can't put two words together in a coherent sentence in text or speech, they don't understand facial expression or body language and god help you if you ever speak anything tongue and cheek to them, they take it as a personal attack and since when can someone be offended on behalf of someone else? I must of crossed into another demension when I got out.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Most can't lead, the rest won't follow and they aren't getting out of the way since they are on their cellphone...

And the current crop of blubber butts is in terrible physical condition. I suppose its too hard to exercise in PJ's and slippers....

 

[David Veale]

Those who say something can't be done should stay out of the way of those already doing it.

And before those who are "doing it" charge ahead, they would be well advised to be certain they're not creating problems far worse than those they're solving! Fukushima and Chernobyl (splitting the atom), dead reefs and oceans (cars, airplanes, electricity), cancers (all of the above, but especially chem-based agriculture)... When I see the younger generation that's obese and perhaps not looking so smart, I can usually make a pretty good diagnosis as to what the problem is when I see what's in their grocery cart or which fast food joint drive-through they're pulling out of. Cheap food isn't cheap, and I seriously doubt that everyone suddenly became lazy all at once. Even the US Army is concerned; they can't find recruits who are capable of fighting.

 

[Black Hand]

And before those who are "doing it" charge ahead, they would be well advised to be certain they're not creating problems far worse than those they're solving! Fukushima and Chernobyl (splitting the atom), dead reefs and oceans (cars, airplanes, electricity), cancers (all of the above, but especially chem-based agriculture)...

Now, I'm afraid, we are tipping over into the realm of conspiracy "theories" - I don't buy it. Nuclear power is the least-polluting option we currently have, but the USA has a phobia. Global warming is real and the carbon-emissions that could be lowered with nuclear power plants can't happen most especially since our government lives in a scientific black hole. Cancers are natural and the fact we are living longer allows them to manifest during our lifetime and the chem-based agriculture has allowed less land to feed more people. Of course, this is the superficial view, as things are far more complex.
On the whole, technology has improved our lives immensely from 100-200 years ago as evidenced by the 30-40 year increase in life-expectancy.

When I see the younger generation that's obese and perhaps not looking so smart, I can usually make a pretty good diagnosis as to what the problem is when I see what's in their grocery cart or which fast food joint drive-through they're pulling out of. Cheap food isn't cheap, and I seriously doubt that everyone suddenly became lazy all at once. Even the US Army is concerned; they can't find recruits who are capable of fighting.

Yes, poor diet and lack of exercise are problems.

 

[David Veale]

Now, I'm afraid, we are tipping over into the realm of conspiracy "theories" - I don't buy it. Nuclear power is the least-polluting option we currently have, but the USA has a phobia. Global warming is real and the carbon-emissions that could be lowered with nuclear power plants can't happen most especially since our government lives in a scientific black hole. Cancers are natural and the fact we are living longer allows them to manifest during our lifetime and the chem-based agriculture has allowed less land to feed more people. Of course, this is the superficial view, as things are far more complex.
On the whole, technology has improved our lives immensely from 100-200 years ago as evidenced by the 30-40 year increase in life-expectancy.

Yes, poor diet and lack of exercise are problems.

I'll just lay my cards out on the table to keep everyone from guessing as to whether or not I'm a complete and total lunatic... I'm of the firm opinion that humans have < 5% chance of surviving through the end of this century, as a result of our many achievements with industrialization. I like hot showers, modern healthcare, grocery stores full of food, and flying to distant places as much as everyone else, but these improvements weren't free. Even if the entire globe went to 100% nuclear electricity, at this point we can't even afford the CO2 emissions from smelting the metals used for (presumably electric) cars and the like. I haven't gone full defeatist just yet, and do my best to keep fighting for continued survival, but I'm decidedly allergic to tooting the horn of our achievements when those achievements are ultimately the reason that my son won't have a chance to live a long or enjoyable life.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but back to the subject at hand (whether or not the younger generation is fat/stupid... how did we get here from hominy?)... Stupidity and laziness have been around as long as humans have. When it suddenly becomes a world-wide trend, something has changed. IMHO, that's industrially produced food, plastics (which all of our food is packaged in, and which we now know are leaching numerous mind and body altering substances). I'm convinced that the "gender confusion" we see nowadays is very real, as a result of the levels of these things kids are now getting in their food and water. If we grew our food responsibly as humans have done for millenia, the word "exercise" wouldn't even need to be in our language. I know this, because I grow the majority of my own food now.

I'll shut up now (at least for the near future) and try to stick to the important stuff like hominy (which I've made, from open pollinated corn I grew with my horses) and blackpowder. I highly recommend the corn variety "Henry Moore", which makes excellent hominy as well as masa harina.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

When maize was taken back to Europe, that knowledge wasn't taken with it. There were people gorging themselves on the "exotic" food, and suffering from extreme malnutrition, because they weren't absorbing any nutrition from it.

Actually, it wasn't "gorging" and it wasn't a lack of absorbing any nutrition from the Maize. They got the protein (or they would also have gotten Kwashiorkor), carbs, sugars, fat, and omega-3 and omega-6.
Where Maize became a sudden food staple in parts of Europe, and the overall diet was poor, they had outbreaks or "epidemics" of pellagra. A large one in Italy gave it it's current name "holly skin", pell agra. It's a vitamin B-3 deficiency, so it's akin to scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency. This is because the B-6 in Maize isn't readily absorbed by the human body. Introduce potatoes, red meat, chicken, eggs, or fish, or lentils, and you avoid it, if you don't make the maize into hominy. This is why the Italian outbreak was in the Northen part of Italy, not near the coast (fish), and in areas with no other protein sources. Also why the Irish didn't have an outbreak as when they had potatoes, the potato provides a good amount of B6.

LD

 

[Carbon 6]

I highly recommend the corn variety "Henry Moore", which makes excellent hominy as well as masa harina.

Now there's something interesting, tell me more please.

 

[David Veale]

Henry Moore is an open-pollinated variety (i.e. you can save your seed and replant every year) of dent "field corn". It's got massive kernels and big ears, which make it suitable for hand picking. The stocks can reach 14' tall, which will also make it prone to lodging in windy areas or unprotected fields. As a non-gmo, non-hybrid, it's also relatively cheap. I bought mine years ago from Leonard Borries in Illinois, but I see that he's still selling it. One more thing... protein content is up around 11%, whereas most hybrids come in around 9%. I'm not certain on this, but I believe that's true for most open pollinated varieties vs. the usual hybrids. Hybrids do yield more, of course, but unless you're busily losing your shirt by selling commodity corn to the big processors, that's not a problem. One other thing I noted... when I grew it in 2012 (a terrible drought year for us here in SW Michigan) it looked much better than any of the hybrid varieties I see commercially grown here. That might have to do with the wider traditional spacing I used, but I would think that the massive stalks also develop deeper root systems. Anytime we breed only for yields (as with our race-car GMO hybrids), there are costs.

Here's a link to Leonard's facebook page. He sells quite a few varieties, including OP soy. https://www.facebook.com/pages/cate...es-open-pollinated-seed-corn-312594442198160/

 

[David Veale]

I grow oneh.o, ( Seneca white corn ). Some of which is ground into meal for use in a special non yeast bread recipe ( more on that later ) and the rest turned into hominy. I use the traditional method of boiling the dried kernels in hardwood ashes to remove the outer skin, then dry the resulting hominy on horizontal window screens in the sun. The dried hominy lasts pretty much indefinitely and can is added to bean and soup dishes, ground to make grits or masa harina for tortillas. The process of boiling in ashes is called nixtamalization and has many benefits for the processing of corn. Hard to imagine how this was discovered in ancient times.

With the corn I grew, I tried drying and grinding the hominy into masa, but found that it wouldn't get "sticky" enough to make tortillas after being reconstituted, even though I ground it very finely. However -- if I didn't dry it out first, (I ground up the undried hominy in the blender) it made tortillas just fine. Curious if you've got any experience with this or whether you have any ideas as to why there was such a difference?

 

[Carbon 6]

Henry Moore is an open-pollinated variety (i.e. you can save your seed and replant every year) of dent "field corn". It's got massive kernels and big ears, which make it suitable for hand picking. The stocks can reach 14' tall, which will also make it prone to lodging in windy areas or unprotected fields. As a non-gmo, non-hybrid, it's also relatively cheap. I bought mine years ago from Leonard Borries in Illinois, but I see that he's still selling it. One more thing... protein content is up around 11%, whereas most hybrids come in around 9%. I'm not certain on this, but I believe that's true for most open pollinated varieties vs. the usual hybrids. Hybrids do yield more, of course, but unless you're busily losing your shirt by selling commodity corn to the big processors, that's not a problem. One other thing I noted... when I grew it in 2012 (a terrible drought year for us here in SW Michigan) it looked much better than any of the hybrid varieties I see commercially grown here. That might have to do with the wider traditional spacing I used, but I would think that the massive stalks also develop deeper root systems. Anytime we breed only for yields (as with our race-car GMO hybrids), there are costs.

Here's a link to Leonard's facebook page. He sells quite a few varieties, including OP soy. https://www.facebook.com/pages/cate...es-open-pollinated-seed-corn-312594442198160/

Thanks, I already grow bloody butcher but am looking for something better/different. BB also grows very tall, the ears alone are usually out of my reach. great for keeping deer and coon from eating but the birds seem to have an easier time at it. I also grow popcorn.

Thanks I'll look into it.

 

[David Veale]

I haven't grown bloody butcher but am familiar with it. Sounds like it's also a great OP variety.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I wish we had enough good soil rather than rock to be able to grow some corn here. They don't call it the Flint Hills for nothing.

 

[Black Hand]

I'll just lay my cards out on the table to keep everyone from guessing as to whether or not I'm a complete and total lunatic... I'm of the firm opinion that humans have < 5% chance of surviving through the end of this century, as a result of our many achievements with industrialization. I like hot showers, modern healthcare, grocery stores full of food, and flying to distant places as much as everyone else, but these improvements weren't free. Even if the entire globe went to 100% nuclear electricity, at this point we can't even afford the CO2 emissions from smelting the metals used for (presumably electric) cars and the like. I haven't gone full defeatist just yet, and do my best to keep fighting for continued survival, but I'm decidedly allergic to tooting the horn of our achievements when those achievements are ultimately the reason that my son won't have a chance to live a long or enjoyable life.

We may have a 5% chance of making it through the president's first term at the rate he is annoying and insulting the rest of the world (nuclear) powers.

However, the same has been said throughout history at any given time. At least we can affect the outcome if we actively pursue solutions, though with the decidedly anti-scientific bent of this and other country's leaders, I am concerned. Whereas previously (prior to medical care, antibiotics and vaccinations), humanity was one pandemic away from extinction for the 6000+ years of recorded history and before. And yet humanity has survived despite multiple wars, two world wars, the plague, the 1918 Influenza pandemic, polio, smallpox, TB, HIV and numerous other indiscriminate killers. Personally, I'm more concerned about some as of yet unknown airborne Ebola-like virus killing most of the population on the planet.

All that aside - has anyone had luck with the Baking Soda method for making hominy? I tried it once with marginal success.

 

[hinamanra]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but back to the subject at hand (whether or not the younger generation is fat/stupid... how did we get here from hominy?)

Can't grow corn and make hominy if your fat, stupid and lazy?

 

[Carbon 6]

All that aside - has anyone had luck with the Baking Soda method for making hominy? I tried it once with marginal success.

Did you convert it to sodium carbonate first ?