Growing Your Own Vegetables: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide by Carla Emery, Lorene Edwards Forkner Page A
Authors: Carla Emery, Lorene Edwards Forkner
heads all facing in the same direction. Wrap the sheaf with a handful of stalks just below the grain heads. When the band is tightly drawn around the bundle, give the two separated ends a half twist to unite them, and tuck the resulting single “rope” under the band to keep it from coming loose; this is called a binder’s knot .
GRAIN VOCABULARY
Chaff —the outer seed hulls of the grain that must be removed before grinding or storing. Compost the chaff or use as mulch in the garden.
Flail —a flat stick used to pound the seed heads on a hard surface free of cracks that the grain might fall into. A plastic baseball bat or a section of a rubber hose can also be used as a flail.
Shock —a teepee-shaped arrangement of individual sheaves brought together and leaned against each other toward the center, with the grain heads pointed up. Bundles of bound grain should be shocked as soon as possible after harvesting to promote further drying.
Straw —the dry stalk of the tall grass that is left after threshing the grain. Wheat straw is useful as bedding material for animals, mulch for the garden, or tilled in as a green manure.
Thresh —the process of separating the grain from the straw and the chaff. Whack the sheaves over the back of a chair, open barrel, or sawhorse, or put the grain in a sack and trample underfoot. Traditional threshing involves beating the seed heads with a flail.
Winnow —the process of separating the grain from the remnants of straw and the chaff. The easiest way to winnow is to pour the grain from a high place in a light breeze to a container below. The breeze will carry the lighter straw and chaff away. Or use a fan, which will provide any desired speed of wind at your convenience.
CORN
Corn ( Zea mays ), an annual grass with an extraordinarily high natural mutation rate, is unique among all wild grasses. Native to the Americas, it was the Native Americans who originally developed many varieties of corn through careful seed selection. The resulting flour, hominy, flint, and dent grains were the very foundation of their diet and agriculture. The Native American word for corn was maize , which meant “that which sustains.”
Today these ancient crops, commonly referred to as field corns because they are left in the field to dry and stored on the cob, provide flour and ground meals as well as the most common feedstock for animals. Some colorful old-time (American) Indian flints are sold for decorative purposes and appear dried for flower arrangements or heaped in a basket as a Thanksgiving centerpiece.
Because corn seed is only viable for a few years, you must keep planting a variety to prevent its extinction. It is remarkable that despite the vicissitudes of American history over the last several hundred years—war, western settlement, increasing industrialization and urbanization, not to mention the decline of the family farm—resourceful men and women have faithfully planted these antique breeds to keep them alive and viable.
POPCORN
Popcorn ( Zea mays var. praecox or everta ) is considered by archaeologists to be the most ancient of all corns. Slow to ripen, all popcorns mature in 95 to 120 days. In general, nonhybrid popcorn plants grow 3 to 5 feet tall and have smaller ears with small, pointed kernels; some hybrid popcorns have larger kernels. They are more drought tolerant, do not require as fertile a soil, and can handle more crowding than other varieties of corn.
Popcorn kernels have a tough outer covering (endosperm). The kernels pop when their moisture content is heated and water vapor pressure builds inside the endosperm until the whole thing explodes! There are white, black, yellow, strawberry, blue, and multicolored popcorn varieties—all turn white when popped, revealing their snowy interiors.
Sweet corn
Sweet corn ( Zea mays var. rugosa ) is a tasty mutation in which the kernels contain unstable sugars in a water solution as well as starch. First appearing in the 1880s, sweet
GRAIN VOCABULARY
Chaff —the outer seed hulls of the grain that must be removed before grinding or storing. Compost the chaff or use as mulch in the garden.
Flail —a flat stick used to pound the seed heads on a hard surface free of cracks that the grain might fall into. A plastic baseball bat or a section of a rubber hose can also be used as a flail.
Shock —a teepee-shaped arrangement of individual sheaves brought together and leaned against each other toward the center, with the grain heads pointed up. Bundles of bound grain should be shocked as soon as possible after harvesting to promote further drying.
Straw —the dry stalk of the tall grass that is left after threshing the grain. Wheat straw is useful as bedding material for animals, mulch for the garden, or tilled in as a green manure.
Thresh —the process of separating the grain from the straw and the chaff. Whack the sheaves over the back of a chair, open barrel, or sawhorse, or put the grain in a sack and trample underfoot. Traditional threshing involves beating the seed heads with a flail.
Winnow —the process of separating the grain from the remnants of straw and the chaff. The easiest way to winnow is to pour the grain from a high place in a light breeze to a container below. The breeze will carry the lighter straw and chaff away. Or use a fan, which will provide any desired speed of wind at your convenience.
CORN
Corn ( Zea mays ), an annual grass with an extraordinarily high natural mutation rate, is unique among all wild grasses. Native to the Americas, it was the Native Americans who originally developed many varieties of corn through careful seed selection. The resulting flour, hominy, flint, and dent grains were the very foundation of their diet and agriculture. The Native American word for corn was maize , which meant “that which sustains.”
Today these ancient crops, commonly referred to as field corns because they are left in the field to dry and stored on the cob, provide flour and ground meals as well as the most common feedstock for animals. Some colorful old-time (American) Indian flints are sold for decorative purposes and appear dried for flower arrangements or heaped in a basket as a Thanksgiving centerpiece.
Because corn seed is only viable for a few years, you must keep planting a variety to prevent its extinction. It is remarkable that despite the vicissitudes of American history over the last several hundred years—war, western settlement, increasing industrialization and urbanization, not to mention the decline of the family farm—resourceful men and women have faithfully planted these antique breeds to keep them alive and viable.
POPCORN
Popcorn ( Zea mays var. praecox or everta ) is considered by archaeologists to be the most ancient of all corns. Slow to ripen, all popcorns mature in 95 to 120 days. In general, nonhybrid popcorn plants grow 3 to 5 feet tall and have smaller ears with small, pointed kernels; some hybrid popcorns have larger kernels. They are more drought tolerant, do not require as fertile a soil, and can handle more crowding than other varieties of corn.
Popcorn kernels have a tough outer covering (endosperm). The kernels pop when their moisture content is heated and water vapor pressure builds inside the endosperm until the whole thing explodes! There are white, black, yellow, strawberry, blue, and multicolored popcorn varieties—all turn white when popped, revealing their snowy interiors.
Sweet corn
Sweet corn ( Zea mays var. rugosa ) is a tasty mutation in which the kernels contain unstable sugars in a water solution as well as starch. First appearing in the 1880s, sweet
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