All About ‘Bloody Butcher’ Corn, Part 1: Planting and Pest Control

Reader Contribution by Susan Tipton-Fox and The Mushroom Hut @ Fox Farms/Micro Dairy
Published on March 14, 2016
1 / 2
2 / 2

When gathering ‘Bloody Butcher’ ears for hanging, make sure the ears are ready. The ears should be full and the silks should be dark and dry. The kernels should already be reddish in color.

We are a sustainable and diversified farm, so we have livestock as well as grow our own produce and berries. Most of the time, when we are looking for a product to use on the farm, we look for something that can serve more than one purpose. We like to stay within our mountain traditions and stick to the “old ways”.

The old ways are now the new ways. Now, it’s called “sustainable living,” but we always called it makin’ do and gettin’ by!

We were looking for an organic product we could grow on the farm and provide food for chickens, goats and pigs. We wanted something that was heirloom and not hybrid so we could save our own seeds to plant and not have to buy seeds each year. I was familiar with field corn, because my family grew that. A lot of the “old” corn varieties, or field corn, gave way to the more popular hybridized “sweet” corn. So, it’s not that this type of corn is new — it’s just that it is being re-introduced.

We found just the product: ‘Bloody Butcher’ corn. I was intrigued with the name itself and, being someone who has to know the story behind things, I started researching. I found out this was one of the corns that was introduced to the settlers around the 1840s by the Native Americans.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368