Corn Day!

I know my roots aren't technically Kansas roots (I'm Texas born and bred), but after a lifetime of summers and vacations there, Kansas feels like home.  Our Kansas ties are part of the reason James and I felt so drawn to life in a small town.  And I can honestly say, 6 years later, that we haven't regretted this small town once.

This past weekend we got to experience something that could only happen in a rural community like this--Corn Day!  Let me back up a bit and tell you about the people involved.  The Menkes are a family at church.  He's a gifted musician (fiddler, Texans), and he and his wife dance like Aggie Wranglers.  They have two kids, a boy a year older than Kayci and a girl 2 years older than Noble, and our kids get along great.  They're one of those families we SEE all the time at church and church events, and we always enjoy visiting with them, but we hadn't had the opportunity to really hang out with them.

Well, a couple weeks ago Jan mentioned a yearly thing they do called "Corn Day."  That's what it literally is.  Corn doesn't care when you go on vacation or what you'd rather be doing--when it's ready, it's ready.  And if you don't harvest...well, it's all for naught.  So, when the corn calls, they answer and put out a call for volunteers to come out for Corn Day.

So, we did.  Last Friday morning the kids and I headed out to the Menke's farm.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but we had a BLAST.  In fact, we'd planned to leave after lunch but we were having so much fun we didn't get home until after 5!

What's Corn Day, you say?  Well, for Mommy, it's an opportunity to sit and visit and work.  For kids, it's an opportunity to explore and play and have freedom like we only have out with our country friends and Kansas family.  :)

Matthew had harvested about half the corn field before we arrived, so we had plenty to work with.  The kids wanted a chance to pick some, too, so Howard and Maggie took them out and showed them how it works.  (Last night we had grilled corn and Noble was SO proud that it was corn "he" picked.)








Kayci had fun helping out, too...here she is moving corn for the cutters.




The steps:
1.  Pick the corn.
2.  Whack off the top & bottom of the corn.
3.  Let kids pick out worms & caterpillars to name and play with for the rest of the day.  And possibly set free inside the Menkes' house.
4.  Shuck the corn.
5.  Silk the corn.
6.  On this particular day, we then creamed the corn.
7.  Bag & freeze the creamed corn.
8.  Eat the corn!

Creaming the corn was sticky and messy, but so satisfying!



Noble was EXHAUSTED after all that fun.  :)


That was Friday.  It was so much fun, we wanted to go back out when Daddy could go with us, so the Menkes invited us out for Corn Day, Part 2 on Sunday!  This time we just picked and cut the corn for freezing whole...but it was a great afternoon.



Thanks to the Menke family for hosting us, and feeding us, and spoiling us with TONS of corn!!  We'll come back next year if you let us...