Most Iowans know what detasseling corn is. Many did it in their youth. Some are still doing it as adults. But, if you are a transplant or a city kid who has never stepped on a farm field and don’t know what the job entails, here’s the scoop. Detasseling corn is basically the removing of the pollen-producing flowers (the tassel) from the tops of corn plants. You pull them out, and then you toss them on the ground. And you do it again. And again. And again. It’s a simple but important job, as it is a form of pollination control that is completed to cross-breed — or hybridize — two varieties of corn.

If you want a more detailed explanation, here is one I found online: “Corn fields to be detasseled are planted with two varieties of corn. Removing the tassels from all the plants of one variety leaves the grain that is growing on those plants to be fertilized by the tassels of the other, resulting in a hybrid. In addition to being more physically uniform, hybrid corn produces much higher yields than corn produced by open pollination. With modern seed corn, the varieties to hybridize are carefully selected so that the new variety will exhibit specific traits found in the parent plants.”

Make sense now? Of course not, but that doesn’t change the fact that detasseling corn is the first real job many Midwesterners had as a kid, including this one. I didn’t really understand the pollination stuff. All I knew is that I was going to make $3.35 an hour, and I would be rich.

It all started when an older kid down the street who I admired asked me to join a crew that would stand on an attachment on a tractor and pull the tassels while the tractor inched down the field. I thought I was going to work with the cool kids. Then, when I showed up to work on the first day, I learned that he and others were looking for their replacements, as they were contracting acres on their own. Even so, I thought this “machine work” looked easier than walking all those rows. In theory, that was true. In reality, when the corn stalks were short, it meant those on the machine had to lean over to do the detasseling. That was tough on the back, even for a 12-year-old kid.

The next year, my brother and I contracted acres on our own — and I talked a younger guy into replacing me on the machine. We could make more money contracting acres, but we did have to satisfy our supervisor, who would come out and inspect the fields each time we thought we were done only to have him tell us to go over them one more time.

I can still remember going to bed and seeing visions of corn rows in my head as I tried to go to sleep. And if that wasn’t enough of a reminder, the cuts on my arms and the sore hands certainly were. Through it all, though, I was happy to have a job and my own spending money, and I continue to salute those who are detasselling corn today. How about you? Do you have some memories of detasseling corn? Send them my way.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305

See more of Shane Goodman's columns here.

Barbecue is moving into marvelous new applications in the metro. Tandoori chicken is being used in everything from salads to dosas at places like Amruth and India Star. Hessen Haus uses Q in their beef stroganoff. Flying Mango creates catfish cakes by frying smoked catfish, as pictured at right. 

Deals today
• Tuesday means Christopher's (2816 Beaver Ave., Des Moines) offers their legendary pan-fried chicken. 

• Felix & Oscar's is celebrating its 50th anniversary with buffets all July. $18, or two for $30. Kids $10, under 4 free. Tuesdays are taco bars.

DES MOINES FORGOTTEN
80/35 Musical Festival

By Kristian Day

This is my first July in Des Moines without the 80/35 Musical Festival (excluding the two pandemic years). I know it was not just one factor that ended this nearly 20-year run in Des Moines. When I am having an emotionally charged discussion about this, I often put the blame on the move from downtown to Water Works Park., but that’s an unfair statement to make.

From 2012-2014, I ran a music blog called “Iowa Music Buzz” (RIP). This was six years before “Iowa Basement Tapes” hit the airwaves and five years before my first column in CITYVIEW. “Iowa Music Buzz” had interviews, reviews and photography that was 100% contributed by volunteers.  ...

Fighting chronic absenteeism with goats
Creating a sense of belonging to increase attendance.

By Rachel Harrington

At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, Crestview School of Inquiry was struggling with low student literacy scores and had a rate of 23% chronic absenteeism — one of the worst in the West Des Moines Community School District. Jon Mendoza, the new school principal beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, gathered with his staff to plan the following year’s Back to School Bash that summer. The group decided that, before they could tackle the student achievement issue, they needed to tackle the attendance issue.

They wanted students to go beyond basic attendance and to feel a sense of belonging at school. They landed on a goat theme, and the idea for the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) Attendance Initiative was formed.

“It seemed a coincidence that the city of Clive has an official herd of goats,” shares Mendoza. “We were able to partner with Clive’s official herd of Greenbelt Goats to provide additional resources and fun for students and families and to secure access to them.”   ...

These celebrities were born on this date:  Linda Ronstadt, Forest Whitaker, Scott Foley, Arianna Huffington, Brian Austin Green, Eddie Griffin, Travis Fimmel, Celia Imrie, Brigitte Nielsen, Marky Ramone, Gabriel Iglesias, Damian Lillard, Lana Parrilla, Juju Watkins, Ray Toro, Vivianne Miedema, Alexander Calvert

SUBMIT: Send your local birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

The answer to the last riddle: What did the porcupine say to the cactus when it ran into it? IS THAT YOU, MOM? Or, You are prickly today! - Gail Tomlinson. Or, "WOW - that was a spine-tingling experience!" - Carolyn Rogers. Or, OUCH! - Bill Snyder

Today's riddle: What do you get when you cross a pig and a cactus? 

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or the Winterset Living magazines, contact:

Kristine McDonald
Account Executive
Office: 515-953-4822 ext. 321
Mobile: C: 515-975-3543
kristine@iowalivingmagazines.com

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