Corn has been used for many purposes here in the Philippines. Thought some Filipinos might not know this, but in some places, people substitute this for rice. It's cheaper and is easily planed than rice because it doesn't require water all the time to grow the crop.
These were corn grains that I captured when my father in-law harvested his corn. It has got a good grains and loos healthy. He had harvested 100 sacks of corn where 80 percent of it were sold to buy fertilizers for the next cropping and the rest were allocated for consumption. There is a special mill to grind the corn so that it will be a good substitute to rice.
Here are some of the corn cobs from the harvest. These were intended for replanting for this season. They detach the garins manually, some with the help of a "kudkuran" and the rest s with hands. I have learned that it will be easier to detach the garins with another empty corn cob.
One day, when my husband and I travelled to work, we have passed on this people who are drying the corn they have just harvested in the land beside the road.
They used the road and makeshift it into a solar dryer. There was a good weather that time and they only did this for three days. At the feedmil plant, we are buying at Php20 that time and I thought we should stop a bit and tell them to sell it to us. Too bad there is a minimum weight for what we buy and the product they had didn't meet it.
This wood that has a plastic nailed to it is called "karas" it is used similar to shovel but only to make the corn go here and there. When I was younger, the karas we used is a bit bigger than this and we used the old plastic drum's cover to make one. A 1x6x8 wood will do too.
This man is the owner of the corn. He pulled the corn with the karas to flatten in the road and maximize the sun's heat to dry it. During afternoon, especially when there is rain, it is necessary to push them into a bulging position as they could put the tarpaulin above it . The karas then can be used to keep the tarp in place so it will not be blown by the winds away.
Diggng holes in between the corn is a good strategy too. When I was younger, my father will order us to do this, he is our supervisor and the workers are me, my mother, my nephew and my brother-in-law. Doing the drying ourselves will make us save some money to pay with the labor cost. Like instead of paying it to someone, it will be bought for rice fro consumption, of my father could give me it as allowance during my college days.
Flipping that tarpaulin after a night's rain could be a bit tricky too because sometimes, the water accumulated in it can wet the corn again. I remember my father was very particular in the dryness of his corn to the point that it is very dry and weighs very light. When I got here in the plant, i discovered that the acceptable moisture percentage is 14. My father's corn has moisture content below it and it could make a variance on the weight.
I remember my younger days with this lady. There was a time when we are drying the corn and a thick dark cloud is already hovering over us, bringing big drops of rain, I cried while pushing the corn into the center of the solar dryer because I feel so sorry for myself. I thought of the hard works we made and then it will be gone because of the sudden rain.
Pushing the corn into the center is hard and heavy. sometimes, you can hurt yourself when the karas hits and bump into the broken floor of the solar drier.
Since I got a job, I rarely spend time on the farm of my parents and yeah, I miss those times when we have fun even under the sun. Sometimes the whole family eats outside the house and just under the mango tree. I wish I could have time to return to the farm.
