She doesn't think you are a nut. She thinks you are a hard worker as do I and she wonders why you don't sit down and rest.

helen, I think I am a nut!!!!

DH keeps reminding me that I don't have to do what I do. This year has been my Waterloo. Flowers have been neglected.

I plant to make some serious changes.......

Growing the corn and grinding your own meal is something you try once. It may work out well or you may find it is more trouble than it is worth. At least you are still experimenting - But cut corners somewhere else and relax a little.

If it is any consolation, my neighbors all think I am nuts too. It goes with the territory.

Everyone who doesn't garden has a hard time understanding why I work so hard to raise food that you can buy at the grocery store, but that's because they don't understand how much better home-grown tastes until I give them some home-grown veggies, or home-grown and home-canned veggies or fruit or jam or jelly or salsa.....and even though they appreciate those things, they have no intention of working as hard as I do in order to have food that tastes so delicious. That's their loss, isn't it?

This has been a very difficult year in terms of garden maintenance....it seems like all the rain came at the worst possible time and the weeds got going, and then the heat came right along behind it and it was too hot to kill yourself weeding.....my favorite saying is "there's always next year" and we always believe that next year will be better, don't we?

I love the idea of raising corn and grinding meal and had the seed corn to plant this year, but never got around to it. I hope it works out well for you and that you get yummy home-ground meal.

Still, as Helen suggests, don't work yourself to death or stress out over it. Some years, having a garden is like having a tiger by the tail...and you dare not let go of the tail or it will get you!

Glenda, George blessed me with a start of Mesquakie Indian Corn and I too plan on grinding home grown corn. (My Dad has a heavy duty electric grinder and I have ground my own meal for several years but this is my first year to grow my own corn.)

I come from a family of cornbread eaters and nothing beats the taste of fresh ground meal--especially from organic corn which I pay a premium price for. DH doesn't understand it but he grew up in Calif so what does he know?

How do you make your cornbread? My grandfather had to take over the cooking when my grandmother went almost blind from cataracts and although he would eat "whop biscuits," he only tried a corn meal mix once. "Whoever mixed this got confused and thought they were making cake," he said. He made his cornbread without sugar, with buttermilk and cooked it in a preheated buttered cast iron skillet. The result was a crispy-crusted, soft-centered cornbread that was sublime with a bowl of stew or brown beans. I feel privileged to have my grandfather's recipe for cornbread and use it exclusively.

So let 'em think you're crazy. You know what the payoff is going to be.

Glenda, if I knew, I have forgotten what variety of corn you are growing. Some varieties do a lot of suckering. But generally, it is best to let them go. Some will even produce small ears on the suckers.

I gave up, long ago, worrying about what others think. If I made that a priority I wouldn't be able to be me.

I'm growing Cherokee Squaw this year. It is REALLY tall and sturdy. I love it when people notice. Most grow feeble looking sweet corn. My corn looks like corn ought to, and it has really large ears!

George
Tahlequah, OK

George, I am growing Reid's Yellow Dent, a corn that was grown in the Ozarks years ago.

I really don't give a whoop about what people think, but I have been having a real problem with my hands and left arm this week. That is something new....finally got the knees working well, hips are always a problem if I am on my feet very long but I had to resort to naproxen sodium this morning. I may have to give up and go to a doctor.

Dawn, I don't do it as much to save money as for the superior taste and quality. I like looking at my dinner plate and knowing we raised the beef, veggies, and are drinking Willow's milk and eating homemade ww bread. If eggs are required, we have those too.

Call me crazy....but I like eating that way.

Mulberry, lucky you with the mill. I will have to buy one but I plan to grind my own wheat berries too for bread. I like sweet cornbread....I am using a recipe from the Aunt Jemima cornmeal bag. I would love to try yours. Mine actually has more flour than meal. 1-1/4 to 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup sugar. I know yours would be healthier. I don't know how Mom made hers; I do know they didn't like sweet cornbread. I think she also used bacon grease for the shortening which I do too if I have it.

Glenda, I just wanted to know if I could grow my own, if I ever wanted to. Obviously I can't. LOL

I planted a tiny block of Old Hickory and it was beautiful until about 8 feet tall although it had layed down after a heavy rain, came back up once then got hit by heavy wind which twisted it around and down again. I didn't really take care of it and it didn't get enough water in addition to all of the other hardships it endured. So once it got saturated and the rest of the time it has been dry.

Although it got very tall, the stalks were still quite thin.

I have a grain mill and I do grind my wheat and a lot of other things. Grinding corn makes you want to leave home because it is so loud. I haven't had a source for grinding corn for a long time, so I have just been buying cornbread mix and it isn't nearly as good as the cornbread that I make from corn when I have it. May DH would be offended if you put sugar in his cornbread and really likes it best when the corn is not ground quite as fine as what you buy. The bacon grease is another issue tho. I might leave a teaspoon in a pan to flavor something, but otherwise it gets tossed. I love bacon but I remove as much of the artery clogging fat as possible before I eat it. I got fat when they put me on diabetic drugs, and found it impossible to lose while taking the meds. I don't take those now and have started to lose, but it is slow going. I just can't afford to add another health risk to my worn-out body. LOL I hope you have a good corn crop and enjoy the cornbread. If I had as much land as you have, I might have a big corn crop.

Glenda, I thought this was my grandfather's recipe until I was looking at my mom's old Betty Crocker Cookbook a while back. It gave two recipes, one was labeled "Arkansas Cornbread and it was Grampa's recipe. It is so simple.

Cornbread

2 eggs beaten well
2 cups buttermilk mixed in.
2 cups cornmeal (I use 1& 1/2 cup meal and 1/4 cup WWflour.
1 tsp salt or less
1 tsp baking pdr
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cube or less butter melted in the cast iron skillet

I put the skillet into the heating oven with the butter before I start to mix the batter. Then when the butter is melted, I roll the skillet to coat the entire baking area and then dump the butter into the mix. Bake at 350 F until the top is set (tap it with a finger to test.)
The buttermilk gives it a slightly sour flavor, which I love.

Thanks for the recipe. I will try it next time. I love using buttermilk, especially when I have my own. Willow still hasn't calved so using that store stuff.

Thanks for the recipe. I will try it next time. I love using buttermilk, especially when I have my own. Willow still hasn't calved so using that store stuff.