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Persephone Farm

Sustainably Grown Vegetables & Flowers – Indianola, Washington

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corn

Cornucopia…

September 4, 2015 By Persephone

Persephone Farm Corn

CORN in everyone’s CSA boxes this week—the variety is known as “bodacious”! Some of you may wonder, why does locally grown corn cost more? You’ve probably seen it—this time of year the market is flooded with cheap corn. Much of it comes from large, far-away farms, raised on cheap land with subsidized water and transportation costs. The production of this corn relies on heavy inputs of artificial nitrogen fertilizer, much of which ends up in streams and rivers. In some cases, these large farms contaminate aquifers with nitrate pollution. Large tractors cause erosion and compaction to produce those 10/$1 ears in the supermarket. There is a loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat associated with hundred- and thousand-acre commercial corn production. We are just beginning to understand the real cost of industrialized corn.

Of all the crops we grow, corn is by far the heaviest nutrient feeder, really taking a toll on our fragile soil. It requires many loads of compost before and after planting. The sheer square footage required to grow sweet corn, which only produces two ears per plant (with only one of them full-sized and marketable) takes up a sizable portion of our limited irrigation water.

All this said, we love fresh corn as much as you do! We even love to grow it. Walking through the leafy rows, squeezing each ear for fullness, is one of the pleasures of farming. The miracle of pollination is nowhere more evident than in each individual corn silk attached to a single kernel, which, in order to swell and sweeten, must be touched by pollen grains falling from the pointed tassels above. Incredible! And the taste of a just-picked mouthful of golden sweet corn… we all know that joy. CORN. It’s what’s for dinner.

— Apprentice Rachel (excerpted from our weekly CSA subscriber email)

Photo: Leslie Newman

Filed Under: CSA, Farming Info Tagged With: corn

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@persephonefarmer

For almost 10 years, Joe Brazeau was Persephone’ For almost 10 years, Joe Brazeau was Persephone’s go-to guy for everything from turning the compost to irrigation troubleshooting to relocating a tiny house. He shared his tools and his know-how with many years of interns and was a strong and light-hearted friend in the face of the myriad challenges of farming. The farm wouldn’t exist as it is today without his help, and he is dearly missed. RIP, Joe. Thank you for everything.
The season is starting to wrap up here at Persepho The season is starting to wrap up here at Persephone! High tunnels are coming down and the fields are clearing out. We’ve decided last week will be our final @bifarmersmarket of the year so we can prioritize our CSA. But, if you’re not a member, you can still find our offerings on @kitsapfresh every weekend for Wednesday pickup. 🍂🎃 #fallonthefarm #wintersquash #harvest
This Sunday! Come help us celebrate another summer This Sunday! Come help us celebrate another summer come and gone with games, friends, and flowers. And of course music by @thepurpleshadowsdanceband and Tide Flat Four!
🥶 Yesterday morning we opened the fridge to fin 🥶 Yesterday morning we opened the fridge to find that it had decided it would rather be a freezer. This affected not only our CSA harvest, but our restaurant, Kitsap Fresh, and food bank orders as well. This amounts to a lot of food and labor hours in the compost. We tried to salvage or replace what we could, but of course, if you received something damaged that we missed, please reach out!

We are so grateful to our subscribers and community members for being so understanding in the face of a hard situation. And of course, we are grateful for each other- our amazing team was able to still have a pretty successful day in the face of it all. #walkinblues #farmlife #earlyfrost
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