Tag: maize

July 28th – Returning home from Telford, unusually these days, I took the train to Shenstone and rode from there. It was against the wind, but a lovely ride: the fields are full of life and everywhere looks beautiful in summer colours.

Lots of maize about this year, interestingly in fields it was in before; clearly, crop rotation not a big priority. The crops are growing tall around Stonnall, and lush green, like a jungle. It’s a most un-British crop in that it’s so tall.

Also prevalent this season are spuds – acres and acres of them around Springhill. I wonder where they all go?

September 23rd – The overcast days seem to be well upon us now, and when I left work this evening, the light was grey, indistinct and the air quality once more very poor. I had to nip over to Stonnall to pick something up, so I ploughed on with grim determination. 

Just off Lynn Lane, on my return, I noted that the last arable crop of the season was being harvested. Maize (a close relative of sweetcorn) which had grown tall and green in the end days of summer was now being shorn off at ground level by a special piece of machinery, which chops the whole plant – leaves, stalk, seed and cob – into chips for use as bulk in animal feed and the like.

I watched from afar with a heavy heart. The smell was remarkable, and with it, the summer passed the final baton to autumn. The closing-in is well underway today, coincidentally also that of the Autumnal Equinox.

August 7th – Closer to home, across the spread of Springhill and Sandhills, it’s harvest time. At Cartersfield Lane, wheat was ripe, and ready to be harvested, a process already underway at Home Farm, where the combine was sending up a terrifically dramatic cloud of cereal dust as it worked. Also growing on the lower fields of Sandhills, a healthy and verdant maize crop, now quite tall.

This does seem to have been a most favourable summer for the farmers, but I’m sure they’ll find something to complain about before long…

July 24th – Further on, at Sandhills, a fine crop of maize. Related to sweetcorn, it’s grown mainly for animal feed and seems a bit of a declining crop. That’s sad, really, as it’s fascinating. Already a couple of feet high, this may well grow to 4 feet or more tall, and is lush and green the whole time.

When harvested, a special machine is used that chobbles up the whole crop – seeds, stalks, leaves and cobs – into small pieces, so nothing is really wasted. 

This is one of the latest summer crops, one of the last harvested, and will provide this vivid green right into September.

July 26th – It’s not often I do reader requests on 365daysofbiking, but here goes. Reader @hapdaniel asked the other day on twatter about sweetcorn being grown locally, and if it was likely. I opined that sweetcorn wasn’t, as we don’t really get enough sun for it to be produced on an agricultural scale, but lots of maize is grown, mainly for animal fodder. The two plants look pretty similar.

Sweetcorn is a genetic mutation of maize that results in an elevated sugar level, but needs lots of sun to ripen properly, and late in the season, so we don’t really get the conditions. But this field of maize on the corner of Lynne and Wallheath lanes in Stonnall is verdant, tall and healthy, and looks set to produce a good yield.

July 31st – Maize was a very popular crop hereabouts for a few years, now you don’t see too much of it. Usually grown for animal fodder, and harvested by machines that cut the whole plant into tiny chunks, planting seemed to suddenly cease about 3 years ago. I’m glad to see it back, although this crop on the Chester Road, near Stonnall seems a little lacking in something. Hopefully, with a bit more warm, dry weather, this harvest should recover.