On this perfect morning for picking corn a hearty crew assembled: Barb Pratt, Zhao Boukei, Babs Pilling, Dan Carlson and Cara Rodriguez.
L-R: Barb Pratt, Babs Pilling, Zhao Boukei (not pictured: Cara Rodriguez)
We were highly selective this time choosing only the plumpest, juiciest ears. First delivery was to Sabathani Foodshelf who took all they could use. Sabathani serves about 300 families each month – it’s among the smaller food banks we serve.
View of Sabathani Food Shelf
After Sabathani I took the remainder to Joyce Uptown Food Bank who were delighted. Joyce serves around 400 families a month with about 700 individual visits. Both food banks offer culturally appropriate foods for our immigrant neighbors.
The consensus among the harvesters was that a lot of the corn needs another week to fill out so the next harvest will be on Monday August 22nd.
Anna and Matt from Joyce Uptown Food Shelf
What a day! A cool, cloudy morning and an abundant harvest then the sun shone on deliveries to two food banks. Our stalwart volunteers started at 9:00 and by 10:30 the truck was loaded and ready to go.
L-R Sarah Purdy, Carol Anne Broad, Theresa Taylor (front) Dug Nicols (rear), Cara Rodriguez and Robin Murie
First I went to North Minneapolis and volunteers at Camden Promise Food Bank took all the corn they thought they could use.
Volunteers at Camden Promise Food Bank
The truck was still half full so I called Ethan at Pillsbury United Communities in the Phillips neighborhood who said, “Come on over!” You should have seen the smiles on the volunteers’ faces as they pitched in to unload the corn. Bystanders were texting their friends to quick come and get fresh sweet corn. I was worried that there might be more than they could use but I was told, “This will be gone by 4:00!” That’s my dream: fresh picked corn on family tables the day it’s picked. Thanks to today’s volunteers: Dug Nichols, Sarah Purdy, Carol Anne Broad, Theresa Taylor and Cara Rodriguez and to the volunteers and staff at Camden Promise and Pillsbury United Communities.
Volunteers at Pillsbury United Communities help unload sweet corn
Volunteers at Pillsbury United Communities help unload sweet corn
Volunteers and staff at Pillsbury United Communities with this year’s first corn delivery
It’s glorious to watch a field transform from this:
Freshly transplanted squash and corn, 15 June, 2022
To this:
Squash plants July 23rd, 2022
The squash is doing well with the recent heat and we have two plantings (10 double rows) of sweetcorn coming along nicely. Looks like the harvest will start in a couple of weeks or so. In short, things are (for now . . .) humming along!
Even though this project is all about sharing food, we’d prefer to share it with food bank patrons as opposed to the critters who live near the farm. This solar electric fence is intended to discourage sampling the corn before it’s ready!
Solar-powered electric fence to protect sweetcorn
And here are a couple more images, just for fun:
Freshly transplanted squash and corn June 15th 2022
Squash plants July 25th, 2022
Transplanting Sweet Corn
The 2022 Foodshelf Project is up and running! We’ve got squash and corn in the ground and here’s a brief video of transplanting corn. Since our farm is organic we don’t use treated seeds. Last year we were hit with seed corn maggot that gobbled up our first planting so we switched to starting plants in a greenhouse then transplanting them as you see here. It’s a lot more work than drilling seed directly into the field, but it’s a way to get a viable crop without resorting to treated seed.