Corn Boy

I had a speaking engagement today—gave my presentation “How Corn Changed Itself and Then Changed Everything Else.” Lovely venue (Isle a la Cache Museum, posted about elsewhere in this blog), with a great audience. Enjoyed everything about it, but the thing that sent me to my computer was the audience member who said I needed to see “Corn Boy.” He even pulled it up on his phone while I was putting away my notes from the presentation, so I would be sure to see it. It’s easy to see why he thought I should see it—and fascinating to see that 12 million people agree with him. Charming and fun—and it makes me want to go out and get some sweet corn.

Marbold Heritage Festival

I’ve mentioned visiting local history museums as a way of learning more about a place, but I recently had the pleasure of exploring another method of discovery: a history festival. Near Greenview, Illinois, a town not far from Springfield, I had the very great pleasure of attending the Marbold Heritage Festival. In this case, I had learned about the festival because they wanted to have a speaker, and they invited me to give two presentations over the two days of the festival. While it’s always fun to share with an appreciative audience, I was also delighted to both learn more about the purpose of the event and enjoy the community gathered to support that purpose.

The Historic Marbold Farmstead was built in 1850 by German immigrant John Marbold, who was a successful local businessman and farmer. The house had fallen into disrepair, and the festival was part of the ongoing effort to raise funds to fully restore it. There is still a fair bit of work to be done inside, but the house is beautiful and definitely taking shape.

The festival involved tours of the house, but also featured amazingly talented local artisans (beautiful carved wood, woven wheat, hand-made jewelry, rugs), purveyors (local honey, pies, BBQ), plus wonderful musicians, a Civil War reenactment group, and antique tractors from local collectors. One individual had an impressive collection of corn-related items, and since I was there to talk about the history of corn, I of course had to visit his display. Most of what he had was familiar, from years of research—devices for shelling corn, gloves and hooks for protecting hands while shucking corn, and more. But proving my contention that there is almost always something new, I found that he had a device I’d never seen before. I’d seen large-scale systems for bagging corn, from the days when all grain was shipped in two-bushel bags. But here was a small-scale device for a lone farmer bagging his own crop. I’d never seen it before.

So next time you see a promotion for a heritage festival, consider going. You never know what you might learn.

1824 Cornbread

While this blog has grown to include anything about the Midwest, it still focuses primarily on history and food. Of course, the name of the blog does make it clear that corn/maize is where we started. As the author of the book Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland, I clearly have an interest in that iconic American grain. So I thought I’d share a video on making cornbread 200 years ago. Happily, this video also connects Midwest Maize with my newest work, Destination Heartland, because the historic cooking reenacted here takes place in St. Genevieve, MO, which is featured in the new book. If you, too, like food and history, you may find much to enjoy on this channel. Hope you enjoy this visit to the past.

On the Radio

For those who may not have heard me when I was interviewed on this Illinois NPR show, they have kindly posted the presentation. Always fun for me to be able to share about the book and the places I hope it will take you.

https://will.illinois.edu/21stshow/story/best-of-destination-heartland

Corny Humor

Couldn’t resist sharing this.

Corn to Whiskey

You may know, especially if you’ve heard me speak or read my books Midwest Maize or Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs, that getting corn to market was most commonly handled one of two ways. It could be fed to pigs, which could then walk to market. (This led to pigs being referred to as “cornfields on legs.”) Or it could be converted to whiskey. Of course, in addition to getting the corn to market, albeit in an altered state, the advantage of both of these approaches was that it gave those growing the corn both meat and drink.

For those who might be interested in how corn got converted to whiskey back in the 1700s, here’s a video from Townsends demonstrating the entire process. What was being created on farms of the time would not generally be elegant, aged whiskey, but rather a strong, clear, “white” whiskey. So not necessarily good whiskey, but it got the job done.

A New Use for Cornstarch: Scrambled Eggs

Who knew cornstarch could make your eggs better? Well, apparently a few folks knew it, because this is now a thing. I just ran across this today, and because this blog has corn/maize in the title, I thought it would be a good place to pass this tip along. I’m hungry and now need to go make this.

Rescue Training for Farmers

Roughly six years ago (February 18, 2015, to be exact) I posted about how dangerous farmings is—second only to coal mining. In that post, I focused on the dangers faced in grain bins filled with corn. If you’re not familiar with what can happen, you might want to go back and read/watch that post. For those who are already aware of the dangers, here is an encouraging video about training volunteer firefighters in farming communities to rescue people who have become trapped. Because if no one rescues you, you die. This video was created by the MN Millennial Farmer, whom I’ve featured here in the past. Hope this makes you a little more appreciative of what goes into getting you your corn chips. And hope the project it represents saves a lot of lives.

Share a Video, Touch the Future

The Peterson brothers created a video a few years back that when viral – Farmer Style. As a result, I interviewed Greg Peterson, the oldest of the three brothers, for my book, Midwest Maize, because it reflected the attitude of younger farmers—the folks who will be feeding us in the future.

Then, in my book, Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs, I feature the National FFA, which is an organization that offers great opportunities to students, both in rural areas and cities.

So when the Peterson brothers came out with a new video that, if shared, will benefit the National FFA—supported by Pioneer, which also gets a mention in Midwest Maize book—I could hardly fail to respond to the offer. So here is the video. If you choose to share it, future generations will benefit.

The Storm

Last week, a massive, fast-moving wind storm known as a derecho swept across the Midwest, destroying property and crops in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Winds exceeding 100 mph ripped up trees and tore off roofs in both rural and urban settings. The news stories give the statistics, can tell you where the storm hit, and give general details, but it’s important to remember that this involves people. My brother, who lives in Chicago, took this photo of the trees that came down and blocked his street (and cut in half cars parked along the streets). The derecho actually became a tornado in this section of Rogers Park and became a waterspout when it hit the lake, a block to the east.

The video below examines the impact on one farm in Iowa — the farm of an enthusiastic youngster who is determined to not let it get him down, even though the financial loss will be horrendous. The video begins with his plans for his home, but by about 5.40, the storm kicks in. The thing that might not be clear for those not familiar with farming: even if farmers manage to harvest some of their corn (because not all was destroyed), the destruction of so many of the grain bins means there is no place to store the grain, which creates big problems for farmers–and for everyone who relies on that grain.

Important to remember that things can change in a few minutes. Be grateful for every good day. My sympathy to all affected by the storms, in town and out in the country.