August 7, 2009
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~The Blessing of corn
and the JOY when it is finished!!
Barb and I are dividing this corn but Mother is blessing us - again, with her help! She is very fast with her hands and when she is here, everything gets finished quicker!! She uses her gift of serving and blesses others.
Mother and Daddy lived in VA. for 20 years where Daddy was a pastor in the Church of the Brethren. Mother babysat for three little children who they both quickly came to love. Because we were so far away, these three became additional grandchildren to them - and still are to Mother today. (Daddy died from a heart attack 10 years ago.) They spend time with her for a week each summer which she appreciates so much. As you see, 20 years later and we have teenagers spending time with Mother.....Chelsea and Brendan. Their oldest brother, Chris, is in college.
When you are only four years old, you are allowed more breaks from husking corn!
We were really excited today to see our corn being silked by a machine! A friend Mother knows bought this machine and it is available to rent. ($8.00 for five hours!) We were all so eager to experience this for the very first time. Silking the corn takes so long as I try to remove all of it I can. We had 30 dozen silked in 40 minutes! We are just starting here and Nevin is making sure things are running properly. NOW Darin is giving his fullest concentration to this job. It is very easy for children to operate (and safe) once it is set up and ready to go. Darin puts it in and soon Seth (left) takes it out and places each cob in a dish pan. It does a wonderful job. I thanked the Lord over and over for this machine today! The machine is on the move as someone stopped by our home late afternoon so they could use it also today!
Notice the brushes. There is a hose attached to this machine with a small amount of water running and as the corn goes through the brushes, it spins the silk off. It comes out clean! People have asked if the kernels are bruised? Not at all. It is just amazing. We are now finished and Chelsea is cleaning the brushes. I think till she was finished, it wasn't only the brushes that were wet! Why is water so much fun on a warm day?! (It doesn't even have to be a warm day!
)
Next step in the assembly line is putting the corn into the boiling water. When Mother is here, we have two kettles cooking. When it is just Barb and me, one kettle keeps us busy! You see it's not a fancy basement whatsoever but every summer I tell Nevin how very thankful I am that 32 years ago he bought an old sink from his aunt when they remodeled their kitchen. That was the start of processing veggies and fruit in our basement.
The boys enjoy helping with this step. After hands are washed, they remove the now cooked corn from one container with ice, to another container, also with ice, just to make sure it is good and cold before we take the corn off the cob. I know some of my friends don't use ice. This is just the way I was taught at home - it's interesting how we pass some of these little things onto the next generation.
Mother is concentrating. She is creaming this corn. Barb was cutting corn in another dish pan. Then we mix the two before freezing it. My friend freezes all creamed corn when she wants to make baked corn.
Up to the kitchen for a quick lunch of Chicken Tettrazini. They weren't super hungry as they enjoyed corn on the cob several times before noon.
Usually one of us stays in the basement and keeps the process going. 
This is their favorite job....taking turns driving the tractor for the older ones and taking a ride in the trailer for the younger ones. Matthew just emptied a bucket of cobs in the corn field. They could carry the buckets but I enjoy giving them this privilege - especially when I know they are being careful.
Darin missed the afternoon rides as he needed a nap.
Did you ever stop to think how many times you touch one ear of corn? It IS a lot of work but we thoroughly enjoy it for the following seasons. Wednesday we did an additional 40 dozen. Mother wasn't here so it took us longer
! That evening we were really tired. Thank You Father for seedtime and harvest (and energy!)
P.S. Would love to help you do corn, Brian and Donna!
Comments (21)
I really enjoyed your many pictures of your family "corn day". My husband comes from a large family that gets together to freeze corn. Since the children are all married now & have large families most of them still do their corn together with a huge "corn day". For silking, a special brush(a heavy duty commercial soft bottle brush) is attatched to the post of a small electric motor to turn it. Someone rotates an ear to this brush to silk it. Your machine looked interesting & then it looks clean also. Sometimes a small clean childs "swimming pool" is used to cool the ears with big blocks of ice added to the water. The ice had been frozen in plastic containers before hand. The children & grandchildren really look forward to corn day!! I enjoy your writings. . . . JM74
Thanks Jane. I enjoyed reading how your husband's family does "corn day!" I enjoy learning from each other. I can imagine cousins have a wonderful time together. Sometimes I feel really sorry for Matthew, Seth, and Darin as their cousins are in CO. Our third child was stillborn in my 7th month so it makes our family get-togethers, small. When we celebrate our daugher and son-in law's birthday meal, I always have them invite another family, leaving the choice up to them. It just feels special to have others here to enjoy a time of fellowship together. Thank you again for your comment; I enjoyed so much hearing how you do it. ~Blessings on your Lord's Day.
You know how to make work fun... This makes me wish my corn day was over. My family put out a big patch this summer and it's going to be a big project to get it all worked up but it's also such a blessing to have plenty to work up.
Thanks for sharing about your day.
This post left me craving corn! A summer favorite around here~ sometimes we have a whole meal just entirely on corn and tomatoes!!
Never raised my own corn though - my grandparents always grow enough for us all. 
This made me think of them.. I'm sure they'd love to borrow that silking machine for a day!~ what a blessing to have our parents and grandparents around to teach our kids and simply be a positive influence on their lives.
I can tell the corn is alot of work, but also that there's lots of fun along with it too.
I was wondering if you do anything special to your corn when you freeze it? Will it keep well to just cut off the cob and put in freezer bags~ my grandma cans hers, but I like the idea of freezing it... I don't know how to can, but I know how to freeze something.
-amber.
I am so interested in purchasing a machine like that. I have heard about it from my sister in law who lives in Waterloo NY. She and her family purchased one, and I am wondering if it is the same thing. If it is, the price of $8 for five hours is not nearly enough -- I think the machine was close to five hundred dollars. The one she got was available through Brusher Equipment out of Ephrata PA. I was just a little scared off by the price tag, but this looks really great and with the 1,000's of ears we do in our family, it would really be worth it. Would you mind publishing the particulars, or messaging me with them?
I love the pictures, and I don't know what our family would do without my mom on corn days either. She works too hard, and we try to get her to just sit and "encourage" us, but she is not to be restrained, and her help is worth so much to us. Good, good post. Thanks!
@Hutch5 - Hi Amber - oh I want to really encourage you to try to freeze corn. I have some left from 2008 and it still tastes fresh after cooking! First you will cook your corn on the cob, cool it, cut it off, and freeze it into the amount you want. (I do pint amounts for my husband and me.) You will be so pleased with it. I'm always grateful when my corn is finished for the summer as it is one of the more time-consuming jobs as you already know but I'm so very thankful to have it in the freezer. One tip I'd like to pass on that a friend taught me years ago, when you prepare your corn for a meal, thaw it, bring it to a boil - THEN serve it. I think our mothers in the past cooked it too long and it takes away the fresh taste. Because it is already partially cooked before you take it off the cob, this is all the cooking it needs when preparing it for your meal. Of course, I was raised with adding butter to it before serving it!!
And in our area we browned the butter first! Ummmmmmm!! I really wish I was close by - I would love to help you try this! ~Blessings, Cordy
@Buckeyegirlie - My Mother is 82 and you are correct, their help is such a blessing. I really enjoy when we get to talking how she and Grandma did these things when Mother was a young girl!
Yes, that is where our corn silker came from - Brusher Equipment in Ephrata :) and that is the price. (Do you live in the area?) I will message you the phone number of the lady who rents it to others because she can answer your questions so much better than I can. She has a big heart as you can tell as they could ask much more for using it but she enjoys serving. They also raise lots of corn and we buy some from them - we used to raise our own years ago but we don't have the best soil and it never did real well for us. The silker was a tremendous blessing to us. She explained everything to my husband when he stopped by for it. It does NOT bruise the corn unless you run the water too fast. We experimented with a few ears and once the water is set correctly, it just goes the same from there until you are finished! And it doesn't need to be running fast at all! I just cannot speak highly enough for it but you already heard about it from your sister so I don't need to say more!! :> She told me they should have two of them - they are receiving so many requests to use it. On Monday someone stopped by for it to use it late afternoon. On Wednesday I felt pushed as someone stopped by for it again around noon!! He just arrived sooner than he should have. He did get to see it operate so that was helpful as it was their first time to use it. If you have others in your area that would use it, that would make purchasing it look a lot more interesting! Leave me know if you decide to buy one! I will be so happy for you! ~Blessings, Cordy
@singingrachel - Thanks, Rachel. I am always so thankful when this job is finished for the summer as it is one of the more time-consuming and messy jobs as you well know! Is this a one day thing for your entire family? That sounds nice to my ears!
We still need to do corn one more time as it was not filled out well to the end the first time and the second time the cobs were really small. My friend where I bought it felt really bad but it was nothing she had control over. It still tasted wonderful! ~Blessings, Cordy
@threejoys -
thanks so much! i'm going to do this...
look forward to yummy fresh tasting corn all winter long!!
You are so blessed to have family to help with corn..My mother used to help me before her illness ,I can't seem to freeze any
so much work to do it alone ...Some day I hope to be able to do some up with others ..It was such a joy to see this post It brought back many good memories !
Wow... what a bountiful harvest & so much tasty outcome for your labor! It really seems to be a labor of love though. What a treat to work with several generations & find tasks for helpers of all ages! I've never heard of a corn silker but it sounds like quite a useful machine! Silking corn is one of my least favorite jobs & when we cook it's only several ears at a time so I can't imagine taking on such a huge task by hand... sounds like $8 well spent!
Thank you for your comment on my getting to know me post. As always your kind words warmed my heart. My 30th will be on November 29th... even now we are planning a wonderful party with dear friends to celebrate God's provision to us & ring in my 30th surrounded by loved ones!
Wow, what a fascinating post to read about! Growing up as a City girl in CA, I never new about any of this. Since moving out here to SC I have heard mention of many doing corn in the area but have never had the chance to participate or see it in action
My husband and I both really enjoy sweet corn and would love to try doing this one year.
On another note....I received my package yesterday afternoon!!
Thank you so much Cordy for the lil treat in the bottom. The children did indeed enjoy the goodies. I have never seen those around here. I let Phillip play with the necklace with the sea horse on it and he loves it!!
This is facinating! I just so enjoy your entries, I just love them! The machine to husk the corn is amazing! I may have to come back to show my hubby all of this, he will just love it. : )
I learn so much here, I was just reading here how to freeze corn, thank you!
Today I blanched some zuchinni and yellow squash a friend gave me from her parents' garden.
What a blessing and delight it is to come here to visit. Blessings to you! I hope to post some pics up soon of our pond so far.... Today our little dog was in surgery. And last week was a homeschool convention where the girls had a booth for their modesty boutique.. We are so very worn out. Hopefully next week will somewhat normalize. Sometimes I wonder what normal is? ; )
Take care now dear friend! ~Amelia
Oh! The memories that flooded back of past summers at my moms.... When my girls were little . Doing corn was always a family project! ....and these pics could be mine.....right down to the John Deere tractor and cart! Although it can be a dreaded thing to do, it is a treasured, pleasant memory in my mind. And is there anything more delicious? The corn husked machine is REALLY intriguing! I never heard of such a wonderful thing! Where do you rent it from? Since I believe we must live very near each other.....since you
mentioned shady maple.
I'll be coming back to visit your delightful site again!
Blessings!
( oh! Yes! Isn't Ruth Graham a precious person?)
@chulya - It was fun to read of your memories. Yes, I am ALWAYS grateful when the corn is in the freezer. The lady I borrowed the corn silker from purchased it in Ephrata! I stand in awe of the blessing of Christian sisters on here! What a joy!
@chulya - I'm trying to message you to tell you where I live! I just cannot get it to work for me!
If you message me first, then it will work for me to return a message. I can type in the subject box but it will not allow me to get into the message box!! Would you know what I should be doing? I've been having this problem for about a month. Prior to that it worked beautifully!
I always love reading your posts, though I seem to be a little behind! Summer has kept me busy with the kids, so I haven't seemed to find as much time on xanga. But thank you for sharing about your corn days!! This is another family time I would love to sit in with you guys! And the outcome looks delicious!!
I was wondering if you made plans to meet Ruth next week ? At the Mennonite Home ..Let me know if you are ! Teresa
@homesteadingtess - YES!!!! Will you be there also? Would be so very special to meet you too!
@threejoys - I am trying to make it, She is planning on me comming
Please let me know what day you are going and around what time .
If I can get someone to take me I will be there
@homesteadingtess - Hi again Teresa, I understood Ruth to say she would be calling me. Because of my brother-in-law's brain tumor and my sister putting in longer hours at work, some of my family had planned to do corn for her next week. I wasn't sure when that will be ready. At this point, I have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday available. I know Ruth wants to spend time with family also while she is here. I don't know which day she is planning on for us. I expect her to call Sat. or Sunday. If you want to message me, I can give you my phone number. I cannot message anyone at this point and cannot figure out why. :< I can only type in the subject box - just will not allow me to type a message. I can't even send what I put in my subject box. But if you message me, I can respond.
Did you get a dandy storm today?! I thought of you...wondering if you got inside the reuseit shop in time!! Hope to see you.
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