As an experiment, we planted some “Glass Gem” corn in the garden. A tiny packet of seed corn was given to us by a daughter. We had room for only a few plants, so we didn’t have high hopes that it would pollinate well. Today we pulled back the husks and found precious little ears of corn!
I’m always so, so happy when I see people enjoying glass gem corn as it was borne out of the work of Carl Barnes, a Cherokee man, as a way to further connect with his heritage
When he began growing some older kinds of corn, the genetics of different ancestral types started to reappear.
He took it upon himself to seek out the elders to whose tribes those ancestral strains had been loved and cultivated by previously. It allowed these tribes to welcome back and cultivate the corn their ancestors knew.
The glass gem varieties were part of the selective breeding he worked on.
Unfortunately, Carl passed in 2016. Something that tugs at my heart is that he gained the name White Eagle, which is also the name of the dent corn our tribe is known for and is grown by us to this day.
The corn he cultivated (and re-cultivated) are still available to purchase and grow yourselves here
You can read more about Carl Barnes and his longtime student Greg Schoen here
I’m going to try some (UK-selected) Glass Gem on the allotment in spring 2021. I was hoping to do it in 2020, but got lawnmowered by the new baby/pandemic situation. I got the seeds from the Real Seed Company, who will be collecting tips and information on how the strain does in different growing environments. The seeds are very pretty and fun to handle. The kids and I like to examine them.
If successful, we will dry it for saved seed and popcorn. A very effective use I’ve seen online involves sorting the dried kernels by color and then storing them in layers in a glass jar!