Making Hay

It's corn husk season!   The time of year that crazy guinea pig ladies (and guys?) go diving into the corn husk bins at the local supermarket.  I'm thrilled that my local Stop & Shop allows husking at the store.  Over the last three weeks there's been one or two big trash cans next to the stacks of fresh corn.

Drying on the deck

When I started diving into the barrel on Saturday morning, I got the usual questions:  What are you doing?  What do you use the husks for?  After watching me for a moment, I got a new question:  What parts are their favorites?  I explained that I like to remove the outer husk since it's tough and probably has pesticides on it.  Besides the pigs love the inner pieces and the silks.  Before I knew it, I had three strangers husking their corn to my specifications.  They pulled off the outer few leaves, then handed me the clean inner husks and silks.  How cool is that?!?  I had a bag full in no time.  One woman was so amused by the whole encounter, she said she was going to post about this on Facebook. 

Guess who was too terrified being outside to eat husks?

I had a lot of success drying corn husks last year and they made it into the spring.  I dried most of this batch Saturday afternoon.  Because I was selective at the store, I didn't need to do much picking over my pile of husks, and very little went to the compost pile.  It made the work go much faster, too.  Our back deck is perfect for drying; much better than at our old place.  It gets full sun and with the heat, they cooked up in no time.

Pinniped and Cannoli are currently enjoying a mix of fresh and dried husks and lots of fresh silk (I don't bother drying that).  If I'm lucky, I'll have a good supply of dried husk as treats for this winter, too.