As an experiment, we planted some “Glass Gem” corn in the garden. A tiny packet of seed corn was given to us by a daughter. We had room for only a few plants, so we didn’t have high hopes that it would pollinate well. Today we pulled back the husks and found precious little ears of corn!
I’m always so, so happy when I see people enjoying glass gem corn as it was borne out of the work of Carl Barnes, a Cherokee man, as a way to further connect with his heritage
When he began growing some older kinds of corn, the genetics of different ancestral types started to reappear.
He took it upon himself to seek out the elders to whose tribes those ancestral strains had been loved and cultivated by previously. It allowed these tribes to welcome back and cultivate the corn their ancestors knew.
The glass gem varieties were part of the selective breeding he worked on.
Unfortunately, Carl passed in 2016. Something that tugs at my heart is that he gained the name White Eagle, which is also the name of the dent corn our tribe is known for and is grown by us to this day.
On saturday we went to the library and I got out a charming wee book for my little one called “1 is one”. Now I am obsessing over the author, Tasha Tudor. Writer, illustrator, gardener and crafter, basically my ultimate goals 💛💛💛
