In The Weeds by Liza Drozdov

Author:Liza Drozdov [Drozdov, Liza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Rose

Smoke billows off the charcoal grill as the cornhusks catch fire. I run over to spray them with water and the flames subside, then I’m able to use my tongs and move the cobs of corn off to the side of the grill. The worst of them go right into the compost bucket, but most aren’t too badly charred. That’s the whole point of BBQ corn anyway, that char adds the flavour.

The real problem is, where the hell is Maggie? She’s supposed to be working the grill and she’s nowhere to be seen. Irritated, I look around and see no sign of her. The driveway of the Womyn Collective is filled with a steady stream of cars and trucks, and they raise clouds of dust from the dry gravel as they drive past looking for a place to park. Groups of people are milling around the farm and flower fields, going into and out of the shop, but none of them wear the familiar white jacket and black-and-white houndstooth patterned pants of a chef. None of them are Maggie.

Today is the annual Farm Crawl, a day when the local farms open their doors to guests who get to see the inside workings of a real farm. The local CSA started the Farm Crawl ten years ago, and it’s grown ever since, with people travelling a hundred miles to enjoy the day. For a modest fee of ten dollars, guests get to self-tour the various suppliers in the region. They could see the farms in whatever order they chose, and leave some farms out if they weren’t interested, or stay longer at ones they were curious about.

The promotion in general is to promote the local food movement and showcase farms that support sustainable food systems and use green technology. This year the farms participating are the organic CSA farm, Millvale Dairy so they can show off their water buffalo, a lavender farm, a goat farm that made an award-winning cheese, an alpaca farm, an ostrich farm, and of course the Womyn Collective.

The Womyn are celebrating corn today, even though they don’t grow any. They’ve created a large painting depicting several corn goddesses from various cultural traditions: Demeter, Yellow Woman, Xilonen, and the Zuni Corn Maidens. Each of the goddesses is holding ears of corn or bushels of corn, or wears a gown decorated with corn, or has a headdress made of corn. It’s definitely colourful and clearly art created by committee. Or by a commune, in this case.

I’ve set up the BBQ grills and tables under a small pop up tent in front of the painting. The tent provides a bit of shade from the relentless sun, but the heat’s inescapable. It’s another day of extreme heat warnings for the region, and another day of zero precipitation. Add to that the heat from the grills and it will be a really difficult day to get through.

We are serving corn on the cob, grilled in the husk, with either chili-lime butter or honey-herb butter.

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