A day in the life of a kid on the farm....

By Theresa May 13 years old

Every morning I get up about 6:30 and go down to feed the animals. We have 2 donkeys, Dolly and Clementine who get 2 flakes of hay and 9 goats who get 5 flakes of hay. My favorite goat is Peanut. She's the small white one. Her pictures are on the facebook page. My brother and I also feed the chickens, ducks, geese and cats. We check their water and make sure they have enough through out the day on really hot days like today.

When I am all done with the animal's chores, I get a hoe out of the shed and jump on the four wheeler and drive down to the pumpkin patch and start hoeing out all of the weeds. We hoe out the weeds so that they do not grow over the pumpkins and take water away from them. We do that early in the morning while it's still cool and not scorching hot. We usually are down there for 3 hours.

After we finish with that there are lots of jobs around the farm like laying down or picking up irrigation pipe that we use to water some of the other crops like the corn, wheat or pumpkins. Some days we have to mow all of the grass or check the garden and lavender that we have planted.

At May Farms we often have events during the week in the event center, like business lunches and we help serve food and clear plates. After the event we will clean up the building and set up for the next event.

At the end of the day when it cools off my brother and I usually go fishing in the pond or go four wheeling in the creek. By the end of the day we're all pretty tired from all of the hard work we have done and we try to rest to get ready to do it all again tomorrow!

How I learned to pick sweet corn...

The summer before my Junior year of High School, my sister Veronica and I took on what our parents called "a good learning experience." With 10 acres of land at our disposal we ventured out to grow sweet corn as our summer "money maker." In addition to our everyday chores on the farm we spent hours planting, watering and many long hot days in the sun caring for what was sure to be our cash cow. We walked between the corn rows digging up weeds, checking for bugs and signs of raccoons or deer nibbling our crop.

We made it through the early summer and the harvest season was upon us. As the corn ripened, each morning we would pick a trunk load of ears and sold them 10 for $1 out of the back of our 1976 Lincoln Continental by the fire house in our small town. We sold to people passing through, locals and even to the owner of the local grocery store. We took orders from old ladies for pre-shucked corn which they spent hours scraping off the cob and freezing for the winter. We stuffed full 13 gallon trash bags of shucked corn and delivered it to their front door for an extra couple of bucks. I think we only made $250 a piece that summer....But we were left with tan skin, toned muscles and dirty finger nails. Though much of that has faded I still recall some of the best memories of my life from that summer, the value of hard work and of course how to pick the perfect ear of corn.

So this summer when you're at the farmers market choosing corn on the cob consider these tips:

• fully ripened sweet corn has bright green, moist husks.
• the silk should be stiff, dark and moist.
• when grabbing hold of the ear it should feel thick.
• you should be able to feel the individual kernels by pressing gently against the husk.
• once you pick it - refrigerate (keep cool & moist) until cooking to keep the corn sweet.

Fresh corn, if possible should be cooked and served the day it's picked for the best flavor, if you wait too long after picking they lose their sweetness. That's why corn from a farmers market always tastes the best!

Hope to see you at our farmers market this summer!

Krista
www.mayfarms.com

On the way to the speedway!

Last week we hosted the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press (RMAP) for a breakfast and luncheon. They were brought a group of writers out to test and write about vehicles they got to drive at the two new race tracks just outside of Byers. This article about our farm and photo of Gary & Stacie was on the front page of the DRIVE section in the Denver post on Sunday! We enjoyed hosting the group and have a great time accommodating people who think outside of the box -- just like us!