So ... I bought some corn at Costco yesterday, and it led me to have 2 farm-related questions for you ...
1) About how long does it take from when you plant the corn until its ready to eat?
2) What do you do with your corn/soy beans? Is it just enough for you guys? Do you sell the extras? Do you sell it all and not keep any for yourself?
Inquiring minds want to know! (Okay, it's just me, but still ... I'm super curious)
Very good questions. Also, not simple answers.
1 - It depends. I know, bad answer. But corn has different relative maturities. In a nutshell, we plant most of our corn in late April or early May. We're going to likely harvest it anytime from September through November. But it will all depend on moisture of the corn (and the ground) and other things. The corn we plant has maturities of 109 - 115 days. This doesn't exactly mean that if we plant 109 day corn, it will be ready in 109 days, because there are a lot of other factors that can influence it. But in a nutshell, it just gives us an idea of the length of one corn variety's growing season in relation to another. And really, depending where a farm is located the growing season could be a lot longer or a lot shorter. There is corn that has a 90 day maturity and there is corn that has 120+ day maturity. But for where we are located, 109 - 115 is what we usually shoot for because they work the best for our typical growing conditions.
The sweet corn we grow is around a 92 - 95 day relative maturity. It will be ready probably in about a month.
2 - Well this is a super loaded question. First of all, there are more than 1 kind of corn. The kind you buy at Costco to eat is sweet corn. We don't grow much of that. Most of what we grow is dent corn. This is actually the most common corn grown in the US. If you drive across farmland and see cornfields, the vast majority of what you see will be dent corn. This corn is more starchy and less sweet than the corn we eat on a cob or from a can. When we harvest it, the kernels are hard. It can be ground up to make corn meal, corn flakes/corn chips/tortillas/etc , used for high fructose corn syrup, used to make ethanol or used for animal feed. Right now, we sell all that we grow. I'm in the process of trying to get some fences built and possibly raise some cattle on the hill and grassy areas at home. Once we finally get that done, I'll keep some corn to feed cattle, but we'll still sell the vast majority of what we produce.
Now, we do raise some sweet corn also. We raise more than enough for ourselves. We'll eat a lot of corn on the cob during the summer when it is ready and then we'll usually freeze some corn to use throughout the year. We always cut it off the cob though and store it like canned corn. I'm a corn snob. I'm used to fresh corn on the cob and I refuse to eat it out of season or order it at a restaurant. It is always horrible. Most farmers around here probably do the same. Seed companies that sell us seed for farm use, will usually give you some sweet corn seed to plant. I mean if you're spending over $100K on seed, what's a couple hundred dollars worth of sweet corn seed to them? Just about everybody plants an acre or 2 of sweet corn like we do. Which is more than enough for a family. A lot of guys will plant more and sell the excess. We don't mess with it. There's so much around that there's just not much money to make on it, but a lot of hot sticky work pulling ears of sweet corn in the summer heat and humidity. We pretty much just make it available to any friends and family to come and get whatever they want out of the field when it gets ready.
With the soybeans, we sell them all. Soybeans really need to be processed before they're of much use. Back when farmers started growing them, they were actually being grown so the plants could be cut and baled for hay. Then they discovered the oils and proteins contained in the seeds and came up with all kinds of uses for the soybean seeds. Now most farmers raise them to harvest the seeds in the fall and rotate them with corn.
Because soybeans are a broadleaf plant and corn is a grass family plant they complement each other very well for a crop rotation. By growing soybeans one year in a field and corn the next, you're putting completely different types of plants there. It helps with weed control because you use different methods of weed control in each of those crops. By rotating, it helps to keep the weeds from adapting and becoming resistant to a certain control measure. Also, if you plant corn in the same field year after year, you can get insects infesting a field and living over winter in the corn stalk residue on the field. The same goes for any other diseases or bacteria or molds. Planting corn every year would probably be the thing most farmers would like to do, but by rotating it helps us control weeds, disease and some of the other factors that can limit our yield potential. I know... you didn't ask about that, but I thought it seemed appropriate to explain in conjunction with the soybean talk.
Either way, I'm confident we moved horizontally at some point because I remember feeling us move.
This TR has the distinct honor of being the only one that has taught me all about 
If only I had known this before our WDW trip! I saw that shirt there and even commented to Dug on how cool it was! Could've picked one up for you.
I haven't even gotten that much info together yet (planning for November). But I am with you on wanting to take it in and enjoy it. Our WDW trip was much too hectic this time and I'm HOPING we can enjoy DL at a slower pace.
And for the record, you sound exactly how I expected you to-just like all of the people I grew up with 
And i'm a weird one. I don't mind my clothes getting wet, it's more my hair. NO ONE wants to see my hair when wet
