At sunrise, this day was cool and hazy. I was thankful there was a good breeze as the weather lady had just mentioned 95 degrees and humid for this upcoming day in Iowa. Uggg.
The plan for our corn factory was to get going early in the morning and finish up by noon so that some family members could head on into to the Iowa State Fair. A lot of work was to be done and a lot of fun was to be had on this August summer’s day. My soul was thrilled thinking about it as I snuck a few camera shots in my PJs at 6 a.m., picturing in my mind the following memories.
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in exepectation.” Psalm 5:3
We loaded up the corn in the back of the pickup…. then the kids….. and headed to the pasture across the fence from our yard.
Soon we were shucking corn to beat the band. Everyone got involved!
Even 2-year old Jack….trying so hard to remove shucks and silks.
The morning was cool and the work was fun. There was excitement all around! We were gathered together with our plan of attack, and we all wanted sweet corn bagged up and in our freezer for the winter. I wish you could see the workers in action and hear the cacophony of jabbering and laughter. I, too, went from smiles to laughter!
Get every last silk, Matthew! You, too, Lincoln!
We made it back to Grandma’s kitchen and everyone took their post. Olivia and Ava quickly set to work marking the quart freezer bags for this year.
Olivia cutting off the kernels into a Bundt cake pan with a bread knife.
And Annie cutting off kernels into a Bundt cake pan with an electric knife. Zip, zip, zip! It goes so fast this way!
(The tablecloth is on the table for a good reason……to catch ALL the sticky drips! 🙂 )
We all took turns with the work, rotating in and out as the morning passed.
And the bags started piling up! And our smiles got a little bigger as we were beginning to see a sea of yellow kernels!
The cobs went out of the kitchen in buckets, thrown over the fence for the cattle to enjoy. They love their corn almost as much as we!
We saved some roasting ears back for our lunch. We gave thanks and dug right in to our beef maid-rites, roasting ears and fresh fruit! What a fun gathering it was around our dining room table!
Question: How do you eat sweet corn in a very mannerly way??
Answer: You don’t!
We just had to break out our beautiful cloth napkins from our Iowa friends over at Ann + Anthony. (Actually…..we really needed them!)
Aren’t they pretty? And fun? What a great idea Ann had to place conversational questions right on her napkins! We love them! And….yes…..the conversation keeps rollin’! They are so beautiful and high quality and lovely. (P.S. Have you happened to notice that we are starting to offer some of our favorite things in our new Shop? We are so excited about it! More favorites to come soon.)
And lastly, we talked about when we could serve up this special “family” veggie item. Perhaps for Thanksgiving, or Christmas Dinner, or Easter……when we are all together, enjoying one another and making special memories.
And when we take that hot delicious bite of our buttery sweet corn, perhaps the snow is blowing and the thermometer will remind us how warm it is around our dining room table, we will remember that hot August morning when we gathered in the pasture and shucked away, and gathered at our stations in the kitchen as we boiled and tonged and blanched and zipped and sawed and scooped and closed those dated bags, all the while laughing and working together……………..in Love.
Sadly, all of a sudden the kitchen was completely quiet. You could hear a pin drop. The kettles and large containers were all washed up; the electric knives and Bundt cake pans were stacked neatly on the counter; the floor was swept; the bags of corn were neatly piled in my freezer. The 2016 corn factory was finished—–ended——done. Lights out. Just too quiet. Just too quiet for this Mama and Grandma. How I TREASURE these times with the family. The golden moments are here for only a little bit.
Let us do our best to capture these miraculous treasured opportunities to make lasting memories forever!!
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3
And He answered.
Another amazing “Life on the farm” blog! I love how organized everything was, the clever use of the bundt pan, and the wonderful help from the young ones! A prime example of how to make work fun! Thanks for sharing!
And thanks for commenting, Joan. We always look forward to our corn factory…..”many hands make light work,” as the old saying goes. It’s true.
Thanks for your loyalty in reading our blog. We so appreciate it!
Love, Denise