A few weeks ago, Virginia Heiser and I harvested the remainder of the corn from the Unshadowed Land sculpture. Then, student Oliver Podushnick and staff members Halle Murphy, Lia Newman, Marisa Pascucci, David Sackett shucked and braided it for drying.
A fair amount of corn of all shapes and sizes was harvested, similar to what had been produced at the Pat Peroni Green House and the Wall Center as well as at the Catawba Reservation Farm. This was different than the more consistent cobs harvested a few weeks back from the College Farm.
The variation in cob size is likely a result of stress. At the College Farm, corn had excess space, fertilizer, and water which allowed the cobs to undergo robust growth. The corn at the VAC was a little stressed by being a little too dense and in the shade, but it was still a good yield. That being said, we harvested the cobs rather indiscriminately, so some may be a little spotty or not quite completely developed. We observed this in the greenhouse and at the farm as well. The lack of pollination is a result of disparities in male and female flowering time which seems to be a natural trait of this variety, however may be amplified by stress.
The stress is also contributing to the stalks falling over, but it is also the natural course of an annual plant. Once the seeds have been produced, there is no reason to keep standing. While the corn may look a little disheveled right now to people walking by, the art piece is behaving exactly as it should.