The First Corn

Our friend Larry Hanks likes his corn raw, thank you very much.

Some people live for the first tomato, but for me, it’s sweet corn. Our Amish farmer friend, Lloyd Schrock goes the extra mile when it comes to corn. This spring he planted it in plastic with drip irrigation so that customers could be treated to the first Kentucky Sweet Corn in the third week of June. This is nothing short of a miracle in my book, though it’s just another example of Amish ingenuity.

So we will have some of Lloyd’s corn this Saturday. It is a little higher because of it’s rarity but prices will go down once more corn is available. But I figure Lloyd deserved a good price for all his hard work. The results are the sweetest corn you’ve tasted since last summer.  Check out our recipes for a fabulous recipe for corn pudding bread (but only after you’ve eaten at least a dozen ears of corn on the cob slathered in butter.)

The latest on the store…Work on the store is still progressing and you may have noticed the bright green door on the side of the Midway Lofts where the Honest Farm ‘Pure Kentucky’ Market will be located. We hope to open on July 7th (despite the fact Mercury will be in retrograde according to a local astrologer). Keep your fingers crossed for us. I hope to have a painting and decorating party soon and will let you know. Look for the signs going up soon.

Again, the  market will be located at 208 Dudley Street (behind the bank) in Midway. The store will feature local seasonal produce from area farmers as well as local eggs, milk, Broadbent bacon and hams, frozen beef, bison, lamb, and poultry  (these will be ASH-free, pasture-raised or certified organic products). In addition, we’ll have locally produced "Kentucky Proud" food products.

Below is our ‘menu’ of items featured on the farm stand. Farmers in southern counties are a bit ahead of us here in the bluegrass and they have had a bit more rain. Although we got about 1/2 inch this last week we’re far from being out of the drought status. Spring, according to my farmer friend, Ann, ’sucked.’ And now we’re all plowing under the lettuce and hoping for some good fall crops. I love greens and hard squashes so am looking forward to that (even though I’ve yet to pick my first heirloom tomato). Farmers can rarely live in the moment when they’re always behind the eight ball.