Threshing the Corn

This year, the dry season was unusually wet. It rained occasionally but when it did come down, boy was it a downpour. As a result, many people could not harvest their crops due to the high moisture content of the plants. Furthermore, nobody that I know has their own threshing equipment. They have to wait their turn for this man from a few towns over to come with the machine. He does one parcel of land, then the one adjacent and so on and so forth. While some land owners waited for their turn, it would rain yet again. This is good for the people who managed to harvest in early December, which is the normal time to do so.

I wanted to come and see the threshing process so I went along with my uncle. This piece of John Deer equipment is impressive to a small scale gardener like myself. It was very interesting and even satisfying for the machine to take up the cornstalks and see the kernels from the window drop down into the collection chamber. Then somehow the bare cobs are thrown out the back. Those are the wonders of modern technology.

We harvested about 16 tons, if I heard correctly, from 2 hectares. This corn is for human consumption. It will likely go on to become tortillas.

The other interesting thing is that when it's time to harvest, a whole crew of people gather. Obviously the operator of the machine and the drivers of the two freight "buses" that held the harvested corn were there, but also a few other characters. A couple of grown men and their boys tagged along to apepenar, or pick up the ears of corn that don't get sucked up by the machine. Some other boys were following the machine, ready to catch any rabbits that scurry away. They caught a few indeed! I wish I could've joined them in their rabbit dinner. Some scavenging dogs were also on the scene, along with the occasional buzzard-like bird that soared above us.

Today, my uncle went early to a town 2 hours away. He took with him a sack of corn from each bus to be analyzed I think. From there, the buyer decides if he wants the rest or not. Hopefully my uncle turns a profit. This year was apparently a very bad one. The price of corn plummeted along with agave and just about everything else. People made more money renting their land out than actually using it themselves.

As for my uncle, he plans to rent his own parcel out for the next 5 years or so to his brother. And that's where this story ends.

I hope you enjoyed the short video. I am beginning to miss my own garden right about now. I had better start gathering some exotic seeds to smuggle back...