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The Corn Bee

September 3rd, 2013

Yesterday, we celebrating Labor Day by processing corn with our neighbors. Having a bee, is a great way to make a big job much more fun, the work goes much faster when you have someone to talk to while working. It ended up being their best year yet. We spent the day husking, cooking, cooling, cutting and freezing dozens of ears of corn.
Corn Bee 1
Corn Bee 3
Corn Bee 2
Corn Bee 4
Corn Bee 5
Corn Bee 6
Corn Bee 7
Corn Bee 8
Corn Bee 9
Corn Bee 10
Corn Bee 11
We ended up coming home with quite a bit of corn for our freezer. This will certainly bring the taste of summer back on a few cold winter days.

Do you ever have group work days?

13 Comments to “The Corn Bee”
  1. Nebraska Dave on September 3, 2013 at 9:34 am

    Susy, wow, that is allot of corn. I have been a part of work groups but not since my youth days. The one I remember the best was the day the family hog was butchered. My job was to cut up the cut up the fat into small cube chunks so it could be rendered into lard. I’m not sure how old I was but it had to be around 6 or 7 years old.

    Then my next best memory was when I was about 12. Before combines were used in the fields small grain like oats, barley, or wheat were cut and tied up in shocks and left to dry a bit in the fields. Later groups of men would throw the shocks on a flat bed wagon with a pitchfork and bring them to a trashing machine at which time the tie strings were cut and the shocks were thrown into the machine. This behemoth of a machine would separate the grain from the straw. It was very near if not the last thrashing crew before the combines took over the task in the area.

    Most of my adult life has been city living which doesn’t promote getting to know neighbors or forming work groups.

    Have a great work group day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  2. daisy on September 3, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    Do the pigs eat the cobs as well as the husks? Just wondering if you used it for something other than composting.

    Reply to daisy's comment

    • Susy on September 3, 2013 at 2:13 pm

      The pigs eat everything, they’ll even eat corn stalks!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. Myra S. on September 3, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    No group work days for many years, mostly putting up hay, or prepping veggies for canning. I’m the “group” now, though the chickens went crazy over the bits of goodness left on the cobs this year so I’ll count them in. A dumb question: Will the corncobs break down in the compost? I’ve heard they don’t, but it seems to me they should.

    Reply to Myra S.'s comment

    • Susy on September 3, 2013 at 2:12 pm

      They should, at least eventually. I used to throw mine in the compost pile before we had pigs.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  4. Melanie G on September 3, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    I love doing big projects in groups! We’ve never done anything quite this huge, but once each year my mom, sister and I gather with an aunt, uncle and cousins to can tomatoes. We couldn’t this year because of a family move, but Mom and I got together Saturday to get ours done. The tome always goes by faster when we do these things together, be it canning or quilting!

    Reply to Melanie G's comment

  5. Heidi on September 3, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    We have done sausage making and include smoking bacon, brisket and fish as well in the same day. It was fabulous but we haven’t done it for a couple years.

    Reply to Heidi's comment

  6. Lexa on September 3, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    That looks like a fun day. You will really enjoy your corn in soups and stews this winter. I am curious, do you know what variety of corn they grew? It certainly did well in Maine.

    Reply to Lexa's comment

  7. Jill on September 3, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    I just helped my mom clean her log home. Part way through the day 4 local hutterite girls came to help (they were paid). We washed walls and ceilings in almost the whole house in 4 hours. It was incredible…and incredibly tiring!

    Reply to Jill's comment

  8. Corrie on September 4, 2013 at 7:39 am

    Our group is our family’s three households. We gather to do corn (25 dozen) green beans (40 pounds) and applesauce (a few bushels). Other than that, my mom and I do all the canning and freezing for all of us.

    I love those days when we are all together working. I also love the quiet togetherness of my mom and me filling up the pantry.

    Reply to Corrie's comment

  9. Deb on September 4, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    When I was young, 10 or so+ yrs. our family and my uncles and grandparents butchered pigs, or beef and did all the work in 1 day. helped whereever grama told me too. had great food fresh that AM and cooked lard for cooking and tallow for soap. Now it’s me, myself, and I doing the work for hubby and I. If he isn’t busy he will help husk corn.

    Reply to Deb's comment

    • Norma on September 4, 2013 at 7:50 pm

      Deb,
      How did you make the tallow for soap? I’m most interested as I make soap but buy my needs.

      Reply to Norma's comment

  10. laura on September 5, 2013 at 8:45 am

    my work group days as far as gardening/freezing are just me and my mom. but we get a lot done. looks like you had fun with all that hard work.
    blessings
    ~*~

    Reply to laura's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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