An unsolicited testimonial

The Gershwin brothers wrote that summertime was "when the livin' is easy." Maybe so, but, nothing is easy when you are 85 years old. At least summertime in western Colorado is definitely when the fruit and other food stuffs are ripe and luscious. Now the wild asparagus is just a memory, and in spite of the early rain, mushrooms don't seem to be cooperating by hatching. But the peaches, pears, cherries, melons, and ... Olathe Sweet Corn... are all available and delicious. I don't try to freeze it anymore, since the process of cutting it off the cob is rather messy, but we do eat it as often as we can and enjoy it while it is available.

I'm not sure when Olathe Sweet Corn came to market, but I have seen it distributed in stores in a lot of other places besides around here. I've watched in wonder when they send those automatic pickers into the fields with people working on the platforms and ta-da! In only a little while a whole field has been picked, packed on ice, and is on its way to markets near and far. For us locals, there are plenty of entrepreneurs who pick corn by hand, throw it into the back of their pickup trucks, cover the crop with ice and blankets, and bring it alongside the highways and do a thriving business selling it. We are told that Olathe Sweet is so good because the Colorado nights are cool. The nights have sure been cool this year.

One of the drawbacks for do-it-yourself consumers has always been that you can't buy the seeds for Olathe Sweet and grow the corn independently if you are a gardener. The owners of the patent do not release seeds to anyone except commercial growers. I've tried to find seeds but have always been told that they aren't available. Not that I blame the people who developed the crop or the farmers who grow it. But there are some changes on the horizon. Competition! Capitalism! I love it!

Last Sunday's Denver Post ran a story about a new type of sweet corn, supposedly superior (sweeter and earlier) than Olathe Sweet, that was developed in Montrose, CO. The name of the corn is Mirai (pronounced Me-Rye). The Post article reported that in Japan the corn is sold as a dessert. It is such tender eating you don't need teeth! At this time, limited production goes to selected restaurants but seeds are available from Park, Jung, and Harris. I've ordered seeds and can't wait to try to grow some. This location, near Olathe and Montrose, should be just right.

My mother-in-law used to plant her sweet corn, wait until it came up, and then planted Kentucky Wonder green beans right beside the corn stalk, using it as a stake for the beans. Saves looking about for a fence, because we 85 year olds don't like to squat to pick beans, either. (To squat is easy, to get back up again, divine.) I like green beans with beans in them, and the green beans you get in the grocery store now just don't fill that need. Sufferin' succotash, all I have to do is last long enough to garden another year...