OK, so technically this isn't "New" to our catalog, but it's sure been a while....
*Ark of Taste Heirloom* One of the most beautiful and best northern adapted dry corns we have grown (and listen Frenchy, we pronounce it “Callous” in these parts!). A classic 8-row northern flint originating with the Abenaki tribes of northern New England and Quebec, the variety consists of 8-10” single color ears in a color mix of mostly yellow/gold & red, with some less common orange. Passed on to farmers Roy and Ruth Fair of Callais, VT who put their own stamp of genetic selection on the corn, it eventually found its way to seedsman Tom Stearns who brought it to the commercial marketplace. Our stock originally came from Anthony and Carol Boutard, of Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, OR, who had been stewarding it as an important market crop for their farm for over a decade, selecting for long slender ears, regular 8-row kernel organization, and a higher portion of the recessive red ears, as they show superior cool soil emergence and earlier ripening. Roy’s makes a flavorful cornmeal, and is great for hominy, or a toothsome posole. Historically famous, this variety, or a very closely related one, was the one corn that survived the 1816 “Year Without a Summer” in northern Vermont, a year that brought a foot of snow on June 7th and killing frosts every month of the year. So quit complaining about the weather eh? 90 days. WG
