We are working on a Corn Harvest Festival for Wednesday, September 10 in the late afternoon and early evening. The idea here is to have an open celebration of the crop coming in--to share in the bounty, to learn about issues connected to corn production, and to have fun. Assuming our weather holds, we will be on the quad from 4:15-6:45--we will have Native American stomp dancing and powwow music, singing, storytelling, and Iroquois corn husk doll making. There will be conversation about ethanol, corn genetics, composting, corn in South America, and turning corn husks into paper. And if we can arrange it, we will be picking and roasting the corn for all to try! More details will become available shortly--All are welcome!

We found five ears of corn laying besides the Farinon plot yesterday. Someone had gone into and picked the corn, then stacked it beside the plot on the grass. Or maybe somebody picked it and others arranged it--who knows. This was disappointing. The corn was not ready to be picked--it was underdeveloped and had to be tossed (composted). We have all our fingers crossed that people will respect the corn long enough to let it mature and let us harvest and share it with everyone--and that day is coming soon. Still, students in the corn is something we imagined would be an issue. We were very happy that the Johns Hopkins high school students who were here during the summer respected the corn; they gave it the chance when the corn plants were small and stayed clear to let it develop. Now there are a lot more students on campus and lot more traffic on the quad. And college students are not high school students.

Several media types have done or are working on stories about Lafayette's "Live Green" initiative. The Philadelphia Inquirer came to campus to take photos and included Lafayette in a story about campus green projects that appear in the paper Monday, 8/25. Channel 69 WFMZ-TV was on campus today for a story about the corn and compost projects that aired Wednesday night and is viewable on-line. The Chronicle of Higher Education is working on a piece that should appear in print and on-line in the next couple of weeks. Rumor has it that even the Lafayette student newspaper is working on a story.

The corn loves hot days and the ears in the two sweet corn plots are really popping. This is especially true of the Farinon yellow corn plot. Several of these corn plants have 3 or 4 or 5 ears! This plot seems to have lapped the quad drive plot in the push to maturity, even though the predicted growing time was longer for this yellow variety. The first of this probably needs to be picked soon. We are working on scheduling a Harvest Festival where we can pick, cook, and eat the corn while we learn more about it it through activities and entertainment. More on that soon.

Campus Security reports chasing students out of the Quad plots this past weekend. The Farinon plot sustained a little damage, but is faring well. We are hoping that students and stray animals and pests all stay out of the plots long enough for us to harvest the crop and all enjoy in the bounty.

The first day of school! The corn looks great and there are A LOT of students on the quad! Activity is everywhere and the plots look like they fit right in. The plants are starting to look dry at the base, turning yellow and brown--which is normal--with the middle and upper plant green and vibrant. Yield looks strong (two local farmers have seen the plots and are impressed with the number of ears the plants are bearing--"earing up" its called. This success is notable because the ground of the quad is nothing like the ground in a farm field. For one thing, the soil on the quad is incredible packed down from all the foot traffic it receives. That made it very tough to break up--very different, than soil that is plowed and turned over regularly. Soil quality and uneven drainage are also issues. So we are doing well for growing a crop that is not meant for such a purpose.

Convocation Day for the Class of 2012! First years students have moved in, the parents are gone, and the quad has more buss than it has had since May. It's great to see students doing student things outside, but with the added juxtaposition of it happening around the corn. So far, students seem interested and respectful of the plots on the quad. Some are paying it little notice, some think its odd but are going with it, some are open, and some are really into it and excited.

The highlight of the 9:00 AM convocation was the convo address given by 4 of Lafayette's best students: Mickey Adelman, Jen Bell, Daniella Colon, and Dan Goldberg. These guys were smart, funny, poised, and focused--they were the best convocation speaker/act in years. Even better, they demonstrated how much they and other Lafayette students are doing to make Living Green a reality at the college. This must be what they mean by the Lafayette ideal--they are true leaders--thoughtful, imaginative, compassionate, hard working. Lunch on the Quad was a fantastic picnic on the quad that was completely waste free-everything from the picnic was composted--thanks to the efforts of Prof. Art Kney and his group of eco warrior students.

The corn on the quad website gets a slide show of images from early June through now—from untouched ground to ears developing. We also added a nighttime message to the Corncam. The reason for this is that as daylight falls, the interior library lights (where the Corncam is placed) overpower the failing light of the external sky. Subsequently, the camera was registering a window reflection of a library bookshelf. Because the library lights remain on at night, that reflected image was the nighttime image of the Corncam until the light of dawn got bright enough to outshine the interior reflection and illuminate the corn again. With this new change, the Corncam at 8:00 pm switches its position to display a nighttime message, and at 6:00 am switches back to the corn as the sun rises. These pr

Another good weeding session this morning from 7:30 to 9:00. Weeds were very manageable today—keeping after them once a week has worked well, and this may be the last Wednesday morning of organized weeding. The corn is high enough to keep most of the light from the open soil, and our work has kept weeds from getting a foothold and competing with the corn for nutrients.

Corn in the Quad Drive plot is 7 feet high, all tassled and rich with pollen. Ears are forming (1 or 2) on most plants, with plentiful silk. This corn will be ready first, probably in 2-3 weeks. Tassles and silk are showing in the Farinon plot, as well, even on some of the stubby sized corn that was replanted following the critter attacks of late June and early July.

This morning the crew dismantled the gaudy orange snow fence that has nicely protected the corn since the June 19 planting. In its place, we installed a simple nylon rope around each of the plots. With the orange fence gone, much more of the corn is visible. We are hoping people will still respect the plots, even though it is now much easier to enter into the corn. Coming around Farinon onto Quad Drive and looking toward the heart of campus and Skillman Library, you can now see three distinct plots of corn ringing the quad.

Added organic fish emulsion to the heirloom corn outside of Williams Center. This plot is coming along, but since it was planted last, it is behind the other plots. During this week’s weeding we noticed a lone tomato plant (probably latent in the compost we added during the early July planting) sprouted in the midst of the Wampum ornamental corn. We were excited to see it there and decided it should stay, for good karma. The next day, we were disappointed to see it gone. We imagine either a rogue good samaritan was helping with weeds and yanked away, or a deer or other animal decided it was too good to pass up.

Early morning looked like rain, but then the sun came out and so did our team of weeders. We worked from 7:30 to 9:00 am, battling the weeds in the three quad plots. Things are looking great. The best plot remains the Quad Drive white sweet corn plot, where tassels are going crazy and some of the corn is approaching 7 feet high! Many of the corn stalks in this plot now have bushes of silk bursting out of the stalks around mid-way up the plant. Corn pollen is everywhere, and a few bees are spotted in the tops of the corn.

The Skillman plot of field corn is showing marked difference between the 3 sub-sections. The middle section, which is not sprayed and not hoed clearly shows smaller corn, stunted by its competition with the plentiful weeds. The right side industrial corn, sprayed with Round Up, is mostly weed free, with a few hearty exceptions. The left, hand weeded side is starting to look good. The soil here is as dry as its been in quite a while.