Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 30, 2024

That was upgraded to “high as an elephant’s eye,” last I knew.

Mrs. Olsen is the incredible shrinking woman??

I wonder if Mrs. Olsen ever tried smoking corn silk.

“If you tech it, they will grow”

I always heard “high as an elephant’s eye by the Fourth of July.” Here in southeastern Pennsylvania, corn is lucky to be 3 feet tall this year on June 30!

No, it’s still knee-high by the 4th of July. And some of the fields around here aren’t going to make it. Can’t plow when it won’t stop raining long enough for the fields to dry out.

Frazz is correct.

Nehi was a soft drink company. It changed its name to Royal Crown in 1955. Radar O’Reilly of M.AS.H. was fond of Grape flavor.

I remember my dad saying that, which meant that if the corn was at least “Knee-high by the Fourth of July” then it was doing okay (growing well enough to be ready by harvest time). I also remember that it was almost always, at least, shoulder-high by then.

We were just talking about how modern agricultural methods mean the “Knee high by the 4th of July” saying really doesn’t apply any more. I have farming blood, my Father’s Dad was a farming laddie, but he moved from Pennsylvania agricultural to Canadian cattle ranch cowboy & then on to working on the BN/SF railway in Illinois. And my stepmom grew up on a farm that continued to be a wheat-soybean-corn farm until the 1980’s, when my Uncle had to sell up. I learned annawful lot about farming!!!

Modern seed hybrids and changing weather may allow for earlier planting and faster growth, but when I was growing up on a farm in Canada 24th of May weekend was accepted as target date for planting corn (and gardens) to avoid losing the crop to frost. Knee high by 4th of July may now off by a few weeks if daily temperatures are high enough, but high as an elephant’s eye refers to the final crop height later in August after the rapid growth from summer heat of July and early August. Of course I have heard of crop heights 10 to 14 feet in the mid-west .

The planting season didn’t used to start in February.

Regardless of source, seeds need relatively warm weather – not broiling – and plenty of water – not gallons per second from storms – and winds that carry pollen to plants – not raging blasts that move buildings.

What week the planting season starts has changed, too. So, between new varieties and (even more around here in the NE) with the planting season starting earlier due to climate change we ALREADY have 20¢ an ear local corn in grocery stores (cheaper in farm stands) and it is really good this year. The earliest used to be a month later here just a couple of decades ago.

One thing i have noticed since CoVID was in pandemic stage is that supply chain problems still mess up availability of national and international products so they are less likely to be on sale than local products. Local products have great sales, and the ones which are not seasonal have their sales also happening more often.

Friends in states scattered around the U.S. have encountered the same pattern. So, corn and tomatoes are cheap and great here, but those and celery and citrus, which are grown a lot near a set of friends thousands of miles away, are the reverse for pricing for our two families. Which varieties are available for produce also differs between us.

It is very, very, very much how things were when we seniors were in our twenties and younger. Shades of the old days, all because of changes to the distribution industry.

Many people have not revised their menu planning yet to reflect what is most available near them, but that is the best way to adjust to the distribution system having changed: cheaper and healthier and less polluting. Crave the old days? This was part of them! What was old is new again.

I have been keeping garden records for about 40 years. The daffodils I planted on September 17th, 1997 bloomed on May 7th 1998 for the first time. Each year, they have averaged blooming earlier. This year, it was March 23rd. No change in anything except the climate. And the entire rest of the garden is following the same pattern. Those who don’t believe in climate change are either lying because Faux has instructed them not to see it, or they have never planted a seed in their life.

Some places expect ripe sweet corn by the 4th of July and are having a bad year when they don’t get it..

Or Mrs. Olsen comes from New England, where that saying is still relatively accurate.

“Just how tall was she?”

Another saying is “knee high to a grasshopper”.

That must’ve been some grasshopper!

I’m thinking it gets higher earlier in the growing season. Mucho fertilizer plus hotter days.

…not to mention climate change…

In the regions where the phrase " knee high by the 4th of July" is used, the meaning is, that if it is not that high by that time, itis going to be a failure crop.

One agri-tech change I’ve noticed it that it’s no longer possible to use a corn field as an emergency pit stop.   I don’t fit between the rows.

The saying is still a reasonable rule of thumb, actually. If it’s knee-high by the fourth of July, there’ll be plenty of time to get it grown by harvest time. It has nothing to do with changes in technology, though. It’s more to do with climate, because it’s all down to when you’re able to get it in. Earlier thaws and fewer spring floods means its starts growing sooner which means its taller by the Fourth of July. This doesn’t mean larger plants; it just means an earlier harvest.