Summer Memories

From Iowa’s Tall Corn Fields to Washington’s Peaks

It’s the end of summer, and childhood memories from summers past fill my thoughts. I grew up in Iowa where the corn stretches out in neat patchwork fields as far as you can see. Plants are always knee high or higher by the 4th of July. Iowa is the land of black loamy soil where kids catch lightning bugs in jars on hot August nights and summers last an eon — every child’s delight!

My first summer job at age twelve was working for Cargill de-tasseling corn. The work day started at dawn before the sultry weather took its toll. My co-workers and I stood on a moving platform that inched its way through endless corn rows. Our job was to snap off corn tassels (every single one!) so hybrid plants prevailed. De-tasseling corn was an Iowa rite of passage much like strawberry picking in western Washington state where I’ve lived for many years.

I remember when our son Chris arrived home after his first bout of berry-picking. His baseball cap and clothing bore the marks of an all-out berry pelting. I wondered if any berries made it into the bucket! It brought back memories of corn silk and little green worms the boys couldn’t resist throwing at us girls in the Iowa corn fields.

When I was a young child, my dad took me to a neighbor’s garden to pick the summer’s bounty…