Our corn crop for 2024 was good. I want to show you the process from beginning to end.
Step 1: The ground was prepared using our small tractor, a great addition to our Hobby Farm.
When we first started trying to grow our food we used only hand tools such as hoe, a pick, a shovel, and a rake. Carlos did all the heavy work and we used weed control paper to help control the grass. With the passing of each year we added some equipment, such as a tiller, then the tractor.
Step 2: The soil had to be fertilized, and Carlos chose Bio-Fish 7-7-2, which is all natural and organic.
Step 3: Carlos planted the seeds we saved from last year’s corn crop. He used a seeder that was purchased online. It did an amazing job. The long arm to the side helps you get a uniform distance between the rows. It has a blade that opens a trench, seeds from the hopper (container) are dropped in the trench, the chain levels the dirt by raking the dirt over the seeds, and the back wheel packs it down.
Step 4: Wait for the rain or use a sprinkler if the rain doesn’t come. The seed came up nicely but so did the grass. This was too big an area for weed control paper, so we did a little pulling of grass to give the corn stalks a chance to get ahead of the grass.
The corn grew very tall as you can see in the picture. We enjoyed some fresh, froze some, and canned some.
After drying the ears of corn we were able to grind it for corn meal and grits. This grinder had to be set up outside on a table. To get the meal finer, you have to grind it more than once.
We used some of the stalks for fall decorations along with the pumpkins.
