corn

Rural Studio Farm and the Black Belt Food Project

September 26, 2022

West Alabama has a new nonprofit working in Greensboro: the Black Belt Food Project (BBFP), started by our friend Sarah Cole of Abadir’s. The BBFP aims to build a stronger, more inclusive environment for children and adults through food-based educational opportunities. Eric Ball, Rural Studio’s Farm Manager, joined Sarah’s newly formed board, which includes Dr. John Dorsey, Director of Project Horseshoe Farm; Stephanie Nixon from Hale County Library and founder of Sacred Space, Inc.; and Amanda Storey, Executive Director of Jones Valley Teaching Farm.

Sarah Cole is standing smiling at a range, seasoning some dishes

Sarah has already collaborated with Rural Studio on several events, like preparing all the excellent food for the Moundville Pavilion Project celebration (made with produce and flowers from Rural Studio Farm).

An overhead shot of a flower arrangement next to some food
A close-up of a homemade cake adorned with multicolored edible flowers from the farm
Sarah prepares food in the RS kitchen
Students fill to-go boxes with delicious food from the farm

But now Rural Studio is building a relationship with the BBFP to begin to offer Rural Studio Farm as an educational resource with the broader West Alabama community. Notably, in October, Rural Studio, Newbern Library, and the BBFP are putting together a food event called Food for Thought: A journey through food, history, culture & taste.

And since Rural Studio Farm is producing more food than we can use, this week we started sharing extra produce with the BBFP to be distributed to the public at pick-up points in Greensboro, like in Project Horseshoe Farm’s new “store” space at their headquarters in downtown. It’s a “take what you need, give what you can” market stand.

Meanwhile, on the Farm, we’re moving into Autumn. We are harvesting some of the last warm-season crops like pinkeye purple hull peas, okra, peppers, zucchini, and squash. Sweet potatoes are filling the greenhouse, and we are starting lots of cool-season crops: lettuce, arugula, carrots, kale, spinach, chard, turnips, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, rutabagas, and more.

A student dumps pinkeye purple hull peas into a harvest tub while more students pick peas
A shot of newly emerged turnip seedlings that pop with emerald green
Fresh ears of sweet corn lay stacked on a table
Sweet potato vines have swallowed the greenhouse
Trays of newly emerged seedlings line a table in the seed house
A student goes out in the dawn light to pick peas from the field
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The Closing Of Summer

August 31, 2022

Summer draws to an end just as new students begin their time at Rural Studio. But all through the summer swelter, it has been last year’s leftover students—now graduated—whose work has kept the farm running.

A smiling student holds up a large plastic bag full of ripe cherry tomatoes of varying colors
An assistant manager harvests ripe cherry tomatoes
A student harvest ripe blackberries off the vines
Two students work amongst fallen corn stalks to harvest all the ears
The farm manager and assistant manager inspect and harvest cantaloupes and watermelons
Students pick snap beans from the low bushy growth habit
A student harvest ripe cherry tomatoes
Four students, attired in harvest aprons, crouch amongst the peas to pick them
A student cuts a ripe watermelon from the vine
A student direct sows some crop seed with the push seeder

Summer is the most productive time of the year, and each week we spend three days harvesting such things as fresh corn, cherry tomatoes, an assortment of peppers, eggplants, cantaloupes and watermelons, okra, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, snap beans, blackberries and blueberries, apples, Asian pears, leeks, scallions, and shallots, as well as herbs and fresh flowers.

Ripe blackberries sit collected at the bottom of a harvest bucket
A close-up of three harvest buckets with peppers and tomatoes
Scallions and leeks lay freshly harvested on the wash table
Some CSA vegetables sit on a table: leeks, a clamshell of cherry tomatoes, Asian eggplant, shishito peppers, and basil
A bouquet of fresh farm flowers: daylilies, rudbeckia, marigolds, and zinnias
About 20 watermelon, of three different varieties, lay picked upon the wash table
A 20-gallon harvest tub brims with ears of picked corn as a farm manager trims leaves off the husks
A tray of ripe, variously colored cherry tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes hang in a cluster with the colors ranging from dark green to ripe red
A student holds a small handful of ripe plump blueberries
A student pulls a ripe ear of corn from the plant
Blackberries ripen on the vine
A large quantity of apples hang on a tree

Summer is also the hardest time of the year in terms of insect pest pressure and fast-spreading weeds. Yet, for the first time it never felt like the insects and weeds grew beyond our control. Each year, we diligently hand-weed and turn over crops to minimize the spread of unwanted seeds, and we are now seeing the long-term cumulative efforts pay off.

Two students transplant corn seedlings into prepared beds in the field
A student uses a stir-up hoe to weed between rows of young corn
A long shot of four students stooping down to pick pea pods

Also, we are growing a wider diversity of plants with more aromatic flowers and herbs that make it more difficult for harmful insects to zero in on any one crop. Despite all the hard work and the heat, it’s been a pretty chill summer on the farm.

A close-up of a sunflower head before it has matured and opened
Four students stand amongst the snap beans and pick them
Trays of young corn sprouts grow in the seed house
A toddler stands between two towering rows of corn
Four students crouch and pick black-eyed pea pods off the vines
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The new RS Farm turns four

January 31, 2022

January means a new year, and it also marks the beginning of the fourth year of production on the redesigned Rural Studio Farm.

A student triumphantly holds up a handful of pulled red carrots
A smiling student hold a bunch of orange carrots that she harvested
Two students start seeds in 72-cell seedling trays

With each successive year, we refine our techniques and continue to add more to the farm. In 2021, we raised our total production from 5,701 pounds to 6,352 pounds. But we didn’t just produce more, we produced smarter by growing more of what we needed and thereby reduced waste.

A student pulls up an orange carrot
A student cuts red mustard greens
A student holds up a giant turnip root she has just pulled from the ground
A student pulls up a red carrot

We also added several crops to our rotation, most notably sweet corn and sweet potatoes—both of which made it to our top ten list for the year.

The aisle between the raised beds in the greenhouse is a valley of green vines
Newly dug sweet potato tubers have been sorted ready to cure
Sweet potato vines burst from the windows
A view from the west side of the greenhouse showing how the vines fill up the space with two trees in the foreground
Three 20-gallon tubs and one 10-gallon tub are filled with newly harvested sweet potatoes
A student collects ripe ears of corn
Cat prepares corn for fresh eating
Tall rows of corn plants with the tassels visible

Top ten crop list for 2021 (pounds)

  1. summer squash and zucchini           654.1
  2. Asian and Italian eggplant                 519.2
  3. tomatoes and cherry tomatoes         492.9
  4. lettuces                                             485.6
  5. kale                                                   415
  6. mustard greens                                 403.9
  7. sweet potatoes                                 374.8
  8. turnips                                               369.5
  9. sweet corn                                        264.2
  10. carrots                                              257.3
A smiling student bags up some washed lettuce for the kitchen
Three women students display peanut plants they have just pulled, each thick with peanuts to be dried and picked
Dan Wheeler sketching with student
Eric and two student workers push a bale of hay
Students arrange and process garlic heads
A student looks mock reverent as he clutches a recently harvested ripe tomato
Eric poses with two student workers
A volunteer farm worker transplants mustard green sprouts
Two new student workers pose in front of the greenhouse
Two students happily transplants some turnip seedlings into the greenhouse

In 2021, we also expanded our growing space by adding new permanent raised beds in an area of campus that was previously difficult to manage.

a big plot of dirt with four raised concrete block farm beds and some bright yellow strings framing the beds
Three female students build concrete block-lined raised beds

Finally, we planted numerous fruit trees and berry bushes: blueberries, kiwiberries, Asian pears, crabapples, figs, elderberries, and mayhaw.

Looking ahead to this year, we want to further diversify the crops that we grow to increase resilience and biodiversity on the farm. We also want to continue to add more long-term crops—like fruit trees—which will have big payoffs in the future. Speaking of which, this will be the first year when we can begin to harvest asparagus, so stay tuned!

A farm worker shovels pine bark mulch into a bed
A farm worker transplants baby onions into the greenhouse
Two students broadfork a bed that has cover crops growing in it
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Fresh Summer Corn

September 10, 2021

We grew sweet corn for the first time ever on the Rural Studio Farm!

A view of the storehouse between tall rows of corn plants

Throughout the year Chef Cat prepares meals for our students, staff, and faculty several times per week using our fresh produce from the Rural Studio Farm. One of our goals this summer was to provide the freshest and sweetest corn for the meals. Approximately 12 hours after sweet corn is picked, the sugars in the corn kernels begin to convert to starch. To achieve this goal of having fresh and sweet corn, we grew three different varieties that mature at slightly different times, which allowed for staggered harvests over the summer. Cat was also able to process any leftover corn for future meals.

  • Students transplant corn seedlings
  • A student collects ripe ears of corn
  • Students pick ears of corn from the stalks
  • Cat prepares corn for fresh eating

Proper pollination is essential to a good yield. We planted the corn in blocks of at least four rows to encourage more thorough pollination by honey bees.

A nice view of corn rows with tassels
  • Young corn plants in the morning sun
    June 18
  • A view of corn rows with tassels and developing ears visible
    July 1

The male part of the corn is called the tassel, and it grows at the top of the plant producing pollen. The pollen must then be transferred to the familiar female silk; each strand of which acts as a tube to transfer a pollen grain to an ovule. Each mature corn kernel represents a successful pollination from tassel to silk to ovule.

  • A close-up of a more mature male tassel
  • A close-up of a male tassel
Tassels
  • A close-up of corn silk
  • A close-up of pale corn silk
  • A close-up of red corn silk
Silk

Typically, one stalk only produces about one or two (possibly up to four) ears of corn. Corn doesn’t produce as much per square foot as some other food crops, but having fresh organic corn to eat at lunch was a rare summertime treat for our students, staff, and faculty! We will definitely grow corn again next summer. It was absolutely delicious!

  • Neat rows of growing corn
  • Buckwheat cover crop grows between rows of corn
  • Tall rows of corn plants with the tassels visible
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