Glass Gem corn, a flint corn used for decoration, popcorn, or cornmeal, and available next year from Native Seed Search.

I am a member of Native Seed Search, and buy some of my seeds from them. They specialize in seeds saved by various Native American tribes of the Southwest and Mexico. Most of these varieties are adapted to dry desert conditions.

Well, I don’t exactly live in the desert as far as temperature goes (far from it), but it sure is dry here. We get no rainfall from April until November. That means all summer long, my garden is watered with what little water is saved in my rain barrels and from the garden hose. That means our local groundwater, plus water that is imported from Northern California (Sacramento River Delta) and the Colorado River.

Part of our groundwater is now replenished with purified sewage water in a program that I think is called Green Acres. (Or is that a TV show? Brain is overwhelmed with new iMac, new Nikon Coolpix P510 camera, and new software for everything.) So seeds that will grow with little water are a benefit out here in sunny southern California.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about a new corn seed that is being offered by Native Seed Search. As a member, I’m on the priority list to get some next year when it becomes available. Check out this blog post from Native Seed Search for more info.

http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php/community/blog/entry/story-of-glass-gem-corn

Can you believe how beautiful that corn is? So colorful and translucent. It is a flint corn and as such is no good as corn on the cob. It is for making cornmeal or popcorn, but I suspect it will be used mainly as decorative. Imagine a few cobs of this beauty hanging on your front door in autumn.

This is my first post from my iMac with a photo in it, but it isn’t one of my own. That comes next. It only took me about four tries to get the photo uploaded to my blog. Arg. I think I need a glass of wine before tackling processing and uploading my own photos. Stay tuned….