The corn growing in a plant bed on 101st Street started as an experiment by local resident Racey Gilbert, who may be a resident of the concrete jungle but also knows terms like “tassel and “go to term.”

Racey’s Covid hobby may be the best one we’ve encountered in the past five months — yes better even than the wonderful baked good you all made — and it appears likely to yield a real harvest. Not only that, it looks like he’ll be doing this again. “Now that I know it works, that scraggly patch will look better next year,” he said.

Here’s his whole email to us.

Hello-I am the mysterious corn farmer of 101st Street. The corn was planted as an experiment: would seeds germinate, would they grow, would they tassel and go to term?

The first planting was covered by trash bags for few days and only a few seedlings made it.

The second planting was better.  By then, I had the sign up as well, which helped a lot.

June brought a 30 day drought.  Hauling water got tough quick.  I started meeting all kinds of people who loved the idea, and were very supportive.

A man down the street offered me the use of his hose, the last piece necessary for the experiment to succeed.

The corn was growing well now and, lord be praised, some of the old seeds, had decided to germinate.

Then I had a stem problem, they started to buckle, and those plants died.

Finally, out of 14 plants 5 have made it to tasseling, and are now healthy and will set ears. The experiment was a success.

Thank you for your interest in these difficult times, enthusiasm makes the world go around. Wait ’til next year! Cheers, Racey Gilbert

Cheers to you Racey!