Mother Earth News - Mother Earth News 1983

At this time of year - when last summers corn crop has been shelled, providing the livestock with a cribful of winter feed and the family with enough cornmeal to last until the next growing season - my clan and I are always faced with a veritable mountain of cobs. And while those kernelless cores wouldnt command much of a price at the market, weve discovered that the stripped ears are surprisingly useful (and therefore downright valuable) on our homestead. In fact, once youve tried out some of the ideas that follow, youll likely wonder how you ever got along without keeping a cob or two on hand!

To begin with, weve found that its helpful to store a few of the abrasive ears next to the barbecue grill. A cobs nubby-textured surface is great for cleaning greasy wire racks and when the job is done, the dirty scrubber can be dried to serve as fuel for the next cookout, or as a fire starter in our woodstove.

A corncob can serve as a clothes brush, too. For example, if youve ever traipsed through the woods, youre probably familiar with those dry little burrs called beggars-lice that have a habit of clinging to your clothing. Well, whenever I come home covered with the stickers, I dont waste my time picking the pesky seeds off one by one. I simply grab a corncob and scrub them off with a few quick swipes. The same tool can also come in handy when you pull your Sunday suit out of the closet, only to discover that its been hanging next to your mohair sweater!

With the arrival of spring, corncobs make ideal seed-starter pots, and theyre a good bit less expensive than their store-bought counterparts, too. To make one of the all-natural containers, simply cut the cob into 2 or 3 lengths. Next - using a sharp pocketknife - whittle out the inside of each section, leaving just a thin bottom layer fill the cob cups with compost and plant your seeds. Later, when the shoots are large enough to be assigned a permanent spot in the garden, simply scrape open the closed end of each cylinder, and plant the whole shebang! The cob will decompose in time and return its nutrients to the soil.

Come summer, when the youngsters are out of school and looking for some excitement (and your patience is beginning to wear a bit thin), those nubby cylinders will prove useful again. Corncobs, with a few alterations, can become splendid lawn darts. Your teenagers may enjoy making these toys by themselves, but the smaller fry will likely require some assistance in cobbling up the project.

To make a set of darts, youll need four to six corncobs, three good-sized feathers - with a slight curve to them, if possible - for each cob (your farm fowl could lend a helping wing here), and one 3- to 4-long stick (or you could use a large nail) per dart.

Once youve assembled the materials, position the three feathers so that they curve outward, and push the tips of the quills into the wider end of the cob, as shown in the photo. (You may have to use a small finishing nail to start the holes.) Once the darts wings are in place, insert the 3 to 4 stick in the narrow end of the cob, leaving a point thats 1-1/2 to 2 long. (You might want to sharpen the exposed end of the stick.) Finally, draw a target in the dirt or on a large sheet of paper, and - after discussing safety precautions with the young competitors - join your family in a game of outdoor darts!

Of course, no article concerning corncob projects would be complete without at least some mention of whats perhaps the bestknown use for an empty ear: the corncob pipe. You can make your own Huckleberry Finn smoker by cutting a 1-1/2 length from the wider end of a cob. Hammer a nail hole in the side of this section, about 3/8 inch up from one end, making the opening large enough to accommodate a small hollow reed or a store-bought pipe stem. Now, use your pocketknife to hollow out the cob, leaving about a 1/4-thick wafer intact for the bottom of the bowl. Then simply insert the reed or stem into the nail hole and admire your authentic corncob pipe! (If tobacco isnt your vice, congratulate yourself and let the youngsters use the finished product for blowing soap bubbles.)

There are still other ways to recycle the versatile cobs, including putting them to work as paint rollers and tool handles, and youll likely come up with a few more as you get accustomed to having the nubby rounds on hand. In fact, you just might - when planting next seasons corn crop - be as eager to harvest the cobs as you are to eat the kernels!

PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

Corncob crafts can include: [1] a grill brush (here its attacked to a drill bit for fast cleaning) [2] biodegradable seed-starter pots [3] a lawn dart (note the placement of the feathers) [4] a tool-handle grip [5] a homemade smoker.

DOG IN THE DELIVERY ROOM? Not all hospitals deny patients their rights. In fact, when Kathy Malone and her blind husband Jim went into the hospital for the birth of their baby, Jims guide dog was allowed to go right along with them. The pooch accompanied the family in both the labor and the delivery room. It seems that not a single staff member opposed the canines presence.

KEEPING THEM DOWN ON THE FARM: The Census Bureau has noted a nationwide increase in the number of small farms over a four-year period, and believes this to be an indication that the historic exodus to the cities is reversing. According to the bureaus associate director, the number of small farms across the country (the term small is applied to spreads of less than 50 acres) has grown by 3% and while that may not sound like a significant gain, the total number of small farms had been decreasing for so long that any upward trend is worthy of note. (Its also interesting that 90% of all U.S. farm operations are owned by families or individual and that 48,000 of the 50,000 corporations that own farms are themselves family-owned.)

THERES MORE THAN A FLY IN THAT SOUP: Whether or not you consider grasshopper legs a delicacy, chances are you consume hundreds of pieces of insects a day. A normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich can contain more than 50 bug fragments, and the FDA permits up to 20 drosophila (fruit fly) eggs in one glass of tomato juice, and 75 insect parts per two ounces of cocoa mix. The good news is that the bug parts - although many folks find the notion of consuming them unappetizing - are actually quite high in protein, vitamins, and minerals.

NOW, YOUR SMILE CAN REALLY BE ELECTRIC: Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed electric braces complete with three tiny batteries, a transistor, and a resistor that are tiny enough to hide under the lip. Using an undetectable 20 millionths of an ampere to move the teeth into position, the metal marvels are supposed to do the job in about half the time that conventional braces require.

THE HEAVENLY BOMB: Now that the Equal Rights Amendment has been defeated, Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum (with a membership of 50,000) have chosen a new calling": to work against a nuclear freeze. A major newspaper has quoted her as proclaiming, The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise god.