Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Corn.

I realized a few weeks ago that even though I was raised on a farm and did lots of canning in the summer, my girls aren't being raised that way and a part of who "we" are is going to be lost in their generation. We were at mamas and the pea sheller was out when Abby asked..."What's that thing do?" Seriously? That "thing" is a pea sheller and one of the greatest inventions EVER! So, once over the shock of their lack of exposure, I made the decision to tackle corn this year (even though I hated canning corn growing up). The girls, Devant & I spent the entire day Saturday moving through the process with the help of mama and daddy. We broke the corn, shucked the corn, silked the corn, blanched the corn, cut the corn off the cob AND bagged the corn. Between 65 and 70 bags to be exact. Each person helped along the way...yes, even Laney. It was awesome. The girls learned so much.

Secretly, I was excited to get to put up corn and not have to silk. Growing up when the "corn" day came around the only job I was "old enough" to do originally was to silk. Then, somehow...I never graduated from silking. I HATE silking. I'd decided that with 3 capable girls certainly I could finally now graduate from silking. Wrong. When all you've done is silk your entire life...you get really good at it...and fast!! So I'm the master silker and master cutter off the cob! :) Might as well take pride in my life-time accomplishment.

The corn is done and now hopefully, not only have the girls been exposed to the actual process but also share in the satisfaction from the work they put into it. All winter long they can feel a sense of pride each time we eat the corn knowing they had a hand in it. Guess that's true of any job I let them do. Sometimes when my OCD is acting up I would rather just DO the job myself. That way I know its done the way I wanted it done and I won't have to take the time to have them do it over...or me re-do it. My ever so wise husband said that not only was I robbing them of the experience and learning but I was also robbing them of the pride and accomplishment that comes from doing a job yourself. True enough Devant. This summer they started mowing the grass, washing some clothes and now they've canned corn.

Bravo girls!

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