When I was a kid, my mom canned a lot. She made all kinds of homemade jellies, too, and I loved helping her. The best, though, was freezing corn. The whole family helped with that, and it was great. (For the record, everyone helped can red beets, too, but since they are stinky and turn your skin purple, I never thought that was much fun.)
For the past few years, I've done our corn mostly by myself. Last year my Big Helper stuck with me for the entire process, but we missed the rest of our family.
Not so this year.
This year, everyone was present and accounted for. Everyone helped and everyone had their own special job. It was GREAT!
While I got the kitchen ready inside, the rest of the family began husking the 15 dozen ears we'd be doing.
This little guy soon discovered that there were sometimes worms inside the husks, and he became the official Worm Rescuer. (Silly me - I never knew you needed one of those!)
He relocated them to a nearby tree base and showed them off every time I ventured outside.
Meanwhile, my Big Helper began scrubbing corn inside ...
so that I could blanch it.
After I had cooled it and cut the kernels off with my handy-dandy corn cutter, she bagged it.
Meanwhile, Daddy was still outside husking away ....
and the Worm Rescuer became the Silk Remover.
We ended up with far more corn than I had prepped for, so the Big Helper also became the Bag Label-er. (She does that very well.)
All told, in just a few hours, we froze 15 dozen ears of corn and had everything cleaned up and put away. The kids were great helpers and showed lots of perseverance. One whole side of our freezer is full of corn for the winter now - and best of all, everyone pitched in to help! Many hands make light work!
So grateful for strong hands, willing hearts, and a freezer of corn for the winter!
What are YOU grateful for today?
For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers!
We've been a bit sad that the corn locally didn't grow well due to a drought, but we're still hoping to put up a little. We like to grill it instead of blanching for a roasted flavor to put in soups. Your post made my mouth water! (Visiting from Heavenly Homemakers, and inspired to go corn hunting.)
ReplyDeleteAmen! Many hands do indeed make light work. What a fun story of putting corn by for winter! Thanks for sharing. :) ~Lisa
ReplyDelete~visiting from Heavenly Homemakers
What a sweet way to spend a day! I'm going to see if I can find some corn to put up - I know my helpers would love it...especially if there were worms involved =)
ReplyDeleteAh, brings back memories of my childhood! I'm thankful for 7.5 quarts of beans in my freezer I put away over the weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my blog!
How fun! I wish we'd been able to get corn this year. Though we've been able to can some peach jam, strawberry jam, and mint jelly, with plans to do more of all that and blueberry jam. We've dried basil and mint, as well as tomatoes. We're blessed because hubby is a chef and brings home what would normally get wasted. (Restaurant waste has got to be a sin!) Looking forward to making our own raspberry-vanilla extract tomorrow. First time. :-)
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