I like to claim that I live in Exurbia, which is the label used to describe a mix of suburban and rural population density. I point to the fact that there are 100-acre corn fields located about 1 mile from our home as proof that we have a rural aspect to our township.
This past year, I decided to snap some chronological photos of the fields shortly after plowing and running until the first ears of yellow sweet/feed corn appear… or all the way until harvest time (It’s important to note that it’s the same field but the photos were typically snapped at different locations as I rode my bicycle past the field on my weekly journeys).
The first photo below is from May 12, 2024, about a week after the corn seeds were planted. Good soil, some nice rains, and plenty of sunshine led to a quick germination.
This next photo is from May 22, about 14 days after planting, and the plants are now about 1-foot tall.
This next photo is from June 8, about 30 days after planting and the stalks are already 2-feet tall.
This photo below is from June 30, about 50 days after planting, with the stalks already 4 to 5-feet tall (the old farmer’s adage about growing corn was “knee high by fourth of July”. They’ll need to update that to “chest high by fourth of July”).
This photo below is from August 3, approximately 3 months after planting. The corn stalks are 7-feet tall with mature tassels and ears of corn already showing.
I stopped by the field on my bicycle on August 10 and shucked an ear of corn — and lo and behold — a great looking sweet corn (there are typically 1 to 2 ears of corn per stalk).
The photo below shows the corn crops on September 7, just 30 days after the corn matured for potential harvest as fresh sweet corn…
At this point, the ears of corn are tipping downward with the kernels hardening, evaporating the water, and accumulating starches. This crop will be harvested for animal feed or conversion to fructose corn syrup at the local Cargill plant.
As shown in this latest photo below, the corn harvest is now in processes on September 28. This is approximately 5 months after the seeds were planted.
The farmers in Ohio tend to practice a form of “no-till farming” where they don’t plow-under the entire corn stalks at harvest time. Instead, they leave the base of the plant with its horizontal roots to hold and nourish the soil during the cold and windy winters.
