Wholesome Wednesdays: Corn

Corn is unfortunately wrapped up in a lot of controversy. Should it be grown for fuel? For food? For animal feed?  I'd rather not delve into those topics. I have some strong feelings on the subject, but i'd rather not bring those into this particular conversation at this time.
My focus for today's post is the healthfulness human consumption of corn.

I think we all know that corn will not be in the upper echelon of healthy foods: it's sweet! So it must be high in sugar. That being said, it's still a vegetable, and i'll bet it's packed with fiber, cuz it's also filling! So whatever the pros and cons turn out, i will still vote that grilled corn in the cob on a Summer evening is just the best!

The World's Healthiest Foods has some great stuff to say about corn. Corn contains folate and fiber that are good for the cardiovascular system and prenatal health. Beta-cryptoxanthin, an orange yellow cartenoid, is a great cancer fighter found in plants like corn, papayas and other red/orange veggies/fruits.

Calorie Count.com give Corn an A! Whippee:

As i guessed: lots of fiber! Corn gets lots of good points for its minerals, vitamins and fiber. Not a lot of calcium though (remember to eat your greens!). At 77 calories for an ear about the size i'm growing, i could indulge in two! Interestingly, neither caloriecount.com or nutrition data give corn any bad points, including sugar. So i guess it's not as high in sugar as i thought. You can see from the diagram that the sugar and dietary fiber are about equal. Right on. Corn IS good for you!

One last comment on the healthfulness of corn: Nourishing Traditions has some things to say about the consumption of corn in its natural state. As we all know from high school social studies/history classes, native peoples from this continent (american) have been eating corn as part of their traditional diets for hundreds of years, along with beans to form a pretty darned balanced diet. Wasn't until modern processed corn got into their diets that problems started showing up. Today you're probably eating most of your corn in the form of processed corn syrup, salty chips, or straight off the cob.

Traditional recipes call for soaking corn or corn flour in lime water. (the mineral, not the fruit). This releases nicotinamide (vitamin B3), which otherwise remains bound up in the grain. Soaking also improves the amino acid quality of proteins in the germ. - Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon

 Masa flour is flour ground from corn kernels already soaked in lime - thus corn tortillas as a healthy part of the diet. I'm in fact planning on making some tortillas this weekend when i host a Ladies Night at my little homestead.

So, enjoy your Summer corn when you get it. Resist the urge to buy corn at all times of the year, despite its now being available in groery stores most of the time. Reconnnect to the earth and the growing season near you and enjoy its natural bounty. You'll be eating more delicious/fresh food, and your purchase power will send a strong message of your preference for sustainability to your grocer.

I can't wait to harvest a few of these guys this weekend. (Harvest corn about 18-24 days after the first silks appear and they've withered, and the ears feel full. Don't let it get old and tough, enjoy it fresh and sweet!)

What should i do with my first ears of corn? Grill, boil, eat it raw? Give me some ideas.

Critters around the gardens

My little homestead is a certified wildlife habitat. This makes me feel good: i'm providing safe haven to all manner of pretty birds, anoles, toads, and bugs. Lots and lots of bugs: ladybeetles, mantids, assassin bugs, rhinoceros beetles, spiders, predatory wasps,  and some buts that are not so friendly. For the most part my little ecosystem keeps itself in check: the mockingbirds do a decent job of picking off the tomato hornworms for me, the rest are usually patrolled by me and my husband since our crops are limited and we have the time to wander and pick through the gardens. The spiders, mantids, wasps, and assassin bugs do a good job of catching flies and other nasty bugs. The ladybeetles and lacewing bugs do a good job of keeping the thrips and aphids controlled. But 2 forms of nasties continue to plague the garden and must be controlled by me.... make that 3 nasties this season:

• Giant Fuzzy Caterpillars
• Cucumber Beetles
• Flea Beetles

Flea beetles are the newbies this year. I planted a plot of mustard greens only to find them ragged and ravaged. Turns out Giant Southern Curled Mustard is a trap crop for flea beetles... which would have been fine if i had a lot of mustard somewhere out of the way, but i only had a small amount and they consumed it. Now that it's been pulled they've moved on. For now they're on the alyssum flowers, dangerously close to the corn and everything else. I sprinkled a bunch of Diatomaceous Earth on them in hopes of some control - but still see them hopping about. Let's hope they don't get a taste for summer crops.

The Caterpillars are most likely destined to be beautiful moths. But for now they're eating up all my borage, and i do not trust these two just 'lounging' on my baby corn. Sorry, guys - to the chickens you go. What's that you say, chickens? No dice? These guys look too threatening to your discerning tummies? Fine then, i'll chop them in half with a piece of wood. Sometimes i have no mercy.

Pay no attention to my hideous early morning video voice. But man, those caterpillars haul behind!

Finally: cucumber beetles. Oh, cucumber beetles, how i disdain you so. Two years ago they were a huge problem. Last year not so bad. This year, and especially this WEEK they've been showing up in hoards. Cuke beetles are notoriously difficult to control. I've set up a sticky trap with bait. We patrol and squish daily. Hopefully the chickens will keep the backyard and gourd patch patrolled - the cuke beetles greatly damage gourd blossums. Cuke beetles spread all manner of diseases, cause damage to flower and foliage on cucurbits of all sorts, seem to enjoy ravaging my corn plants, and are just darn unpleasant all around!

I see you little guy, hiding in that tassle. 

(right about where the car windshield is in the background - see it?)

Ha! No mercy for you!

I love the balance of my little ecosystem - but sometimes i have to take matter into my own  hands, literally. We use no pesticides besides the occasional organic remedy: DE (Diatomaceous Earth), Neem, and very rarely Spinocid. I'm glad there are plenty of bugs to keep my anoles and ladybeetles satisfied and happy to stay in my garden. But sometimes there are just too many munchers eyeing the plants i'm growing for my OWN harvest.

Do you have pests? What techniques to you employ to manage the ecosystem in your garden?

Popping Perennials and a Lovely Lawn

Taking today to simply wander the gardens, water a few germinating seeds and fertilize the yard (I use LadyBug Brand 8-2-4).

 From upper left to bottom right: Lemon tree, bolting cilantro and salad greens, fava beans, bolting sorrel, huge parsley.

I used to not take care of my lawn in the least, other than mowing it. But last fall i spread elbon rye seed and fertilizer and am now proud to show off one of the prettiest lawns on the block. I do not irrigate other than the veggie beds, so my lawn will wither in the hot summer sun. But i feel a yard is a luxury, to be enjoyed in its season but not to have limited resources spent on it. Fertilize the yard in fall and early spring, rake in, and enjoy the benefits of softness under foot. You may also wish to spread corn gluten in the spring before the weeds germinate: corn gluten prevents any seeds from germinating (so don't put it where you planted wildflowers!) and thus prevents weeds. It is also a great natural fertilizer high in nitrogen: the weed and feed of organic gardening.

Multiplying onions working on their upper bulbs. I'll harvest those in late Summer, eat some, share some, and plant some in a new bed in the back yard. May pull most of these out and eat them, making way for pepper plants next spring.

 

I planted some borage, marigolds and malabar spinach in the back by the hubby's gourd patch yesterday, fenced off from the chickens who really want to 'help' mommy plant: a game they call "hide the seed." I Plan on putting in the second planting of corn tomorrow and maybe start the pole beans and cover it all with my homegrown mulchy compost.

 Corn baby getting bigger!

The salvias are coming back with a vengeance, but i'm still waiting to see if the lantanas and lavender make it. I pruned all my woody perennials back in February, fertilized them and added some compost around their roots, and am now being greeted with lovely blooms. My large culinary sage is just about to bloom as well. I found it quite interesting when looking back through last year's photo set on flickr: the sage and daffodils are blooming at exactly the same time this year as last, despite the very different spring weather. How interesting that the plants seem to know when they're due to blossom.


Loving this gorgeous spring weather. So are the starlings and squirrels: i keep running them off the beds out my studio window. Poor little kales never stood a chance.

What are you planting (if anything) this week?