Corn and Kansas are synonymous. There is even a nearby town called Maize. The first time I saw Kansas was in July 1973. Traveling from Georgia to Colorado. From the time we hit Kansas City until we crossed over into Colorado on I-70 it was corn as far as you could see. It took a whole day to travel through Kansas, a whole day of corn and flat and hot. Of course since then we have discovered there is much more to Kansas. But there is still a lot of corn! This year the spring came early and there was a great spring wheat crop, but the summer heat also arrived early and along with no rain threatens to decimate the corn.
I am sure the corn in Kansas has many higher purposes, from ethanol to cattle feed to Corn Flakes, but it is good to see it for sale in the roadside stands, fresh sweet corn on the cob! Or as our neighbor used to call it - roas'in ears [roasting ears] - we could buy fresh corn $1 a dozen right off the stalk, leaving the shucks there for the pigs.
But back to Kansas, corn is still alive and well here, as are the farmers. Some local farmer boys have so much fun on their farm they made a video. In an interview, the Peterson brothers said they aimed the video at their city friends because they "hardly knew anything about the farm." They ended up educating the world. "I'm Farming and I Grow It" is all the rage here in Kansas and beyond, and has become an Internet sensation with more than 3.2 million views since it was posted June 25 on YouTube.
Well that's all for the crop report today, stay tuned for more Kansas news - I heard there is going to be a Wheat Festival soon with a baking contest and cow chip throwing, yeehaw! No, seriously, it sounds like fun!
