Parched corn & Three Sisters

[Sean Gadhar]

I am trying a small test plot of "The Three Sisters" in the utility easement at the back of my yard. The corn has sprouted & is a hard blue corn that should parch well.

I'm waiting a week more to let the corn get ahead, then I'll plant the beans & squash in with it.

 

[Alden]

I LOVE experiments, especially ones you can eat. Except in this case, notwithstanding the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, parched corn sounds too much like grits...

 

[Sean Gadhar]

:hmm: Just Think of the corn stocks as bean poles. The beans will

 

[tenngun]

In Arkansas we raised 'whiperwill' peas on our cornstocks. Used to plant 68 day corn ad beans at the same time. Raised two rows of corn split by a row of squash then corn rows again. Raised green peas and would turn the plans under after harvest then peanuts. rotated my planting, planting my corn where my peas/peanuts grew the year before. Dumped all my ash and raised rabbits for manure.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

:grin: This ground sat untouched for about 15 years so I planted bush peas early this spring and tilled them in. I'm in town so I don't know about the rabbits but they just passed a law we can have :hmm: 3-4 chickens in our yards in town. Of course my whole garden is about the size of a 2 car garage so when I say small test plot I mean about 40 or so stalks of corn.

 

[Wes/Tex]

I LOVE experiments, especially ones you can eat. Except in this case, notwithstanding the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, parched corn sounds too much like grits...

Grits is corn you daft geezer! :slap: Whatsamattah-U?

 

[Alden]

Sean;
Very familiar with Three Sisters gardens and I think it's a fundamental cornerstone you're planting, not just a nutritional vegetable homage.

Wes;
Duh!

 

[George]

Sounds as though you would enjoy reading Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden. One of my favorite reads, and it details how the Hidatsa grew their corn, beans, squash and sunflowers in great detail, including how they planted them together, tended, harvested, processed, stored and cooked them. Highly recommended.

It's available online.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html

Spence

 

[Treestalker]

Sean, where can I get some Blue corn seed? A Hopi friend in the US Navy talked about his people using blue corn in a sacred way. I'd like to try growing it here. Thanks, Tree.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Sean, where can I get some Blue corn seed? A Hopi friend in the US Navy talked about his people using blue corn in a sacred way. I'd like to try growing it here. Thanks, Tree.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8652-jerry-petersen-blue-og.aspx

This is the one I planted ------>
http://www.rareseeds.com/cherokee-white-eagle-corn/

 

[Treestalker]

Thank you Sean, I have a catalog coming from Baker Creek . May your paths be blessed. Tree.

 

[Oudoceus]

I've bought from Baker Creek and found that their packets contain very few seeds. Some of the other places sell by the ounce or pound. Some of the bulk grain places online have the organic blue corn. I don't see why it wouldn't grow.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I've bought from Baker Creek and found that their packets contain very few seeds. Some of the other places sell by the ounce or pound. .

yep for my test it is no problem, but the link to Johnny seeds they sell packs, 1/4 Lbs, pounds, on up to 100 lb bags.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I have been driven a little :youcrazy: by this set of photos (if any are on there side let me know. I seem to see a turned photo when the rest of the forum dose not. On my PC the top one is on it's side when I tried earlier it was the 2nd photo that was sideways )......but here goes :idunno:

The test plot of 3 sisters in the utility easement



Corn knee high & beans started



Winter Squash

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Thanks for that link. I am well into "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden" and I am learning a lot about a lot. :hatsoff:

 

[George]

I found that book to be very educational from many points of view. There are also 3-4 other books done by that anthropologist which are excellent reading for anyone interested in Native American culture.

The first photo is twisted 90 degrees left, the other two are correct.

Spence

 

[nhmoose]

Isn't parched corn the same as Popped that is then ground????

 

[Alden]

No. Lower heat. You have to be careful NOT to pop parching corn though you do heat it with a tad of oil; just wipe the pan with it. And note that any time fat or oil smokes it is becoming carcinogenic.

Sean, aren't you afraid the utility is gonna cut down your vegetables!?

 

[Claude Mathis]

Isn't parched corn the same as Popped that is then ground????

Sweet corn (flint, etc.) and popping corn are very different. You do not make parched corn from popping corn.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Back in the 1950's in eastern PA it was still a common practice to grow squash/pumpkins in small patches of field corn. Since they ripened about the same time, families turned out to pick both by hand. They still stacked corn shocks then too. We bought neck pumpkins from a guy that grew them that way.

An old Russian lady in the old neighborhood grew cucumbers and sun flowers together. Darn cukes could be hanging 7 ft high.