Welcome to the Jungle

It's hot where you are. Not just hot; humid, stifling, thick. Looking forward, left and right, all you can see is green growth, thick, impossible to move through. Even though you aren't moving, sweat is running in a river down your back; your shoes are soaked with water and caked with mud. It's barely 8 am and already the sun is unbearable.

Welcome to picking sweet corn in Illinois!

Sweet corn picking is hot, wet, messy work--see how we do it!

This is the view of most of the corn that is shoulder high. We'll be picking over on the right hand side of the picture.The rows to be picked are 6 on the right of the truck and 6 more to the left of the truck. Can you see the end of the row? Way, way, waaaaaaay down on the horizon. It's about 1/4 of a mile.

First, grab about 4 or 5 burlap bags. Hold onto one and tuck the rest into your waist band or pockets. It will look like a very itchy skirt. Important safety tip: wearing a black shirt isn't recommended. Light colors work best. Dana and Jason were VERY hot by the end of the morning.


This is your row. Notice the lack of visibility. There is only about 18" between rows. To really experience how hot the corn field is, go into your bathroom, turn on the shower with the hottest water and hang out for 20 minutes or so. Think hot, wet, sticky.


Everyone wave to Carson! He is only about 4 rows away from me. He picked about 13 bags on Friday. There are 5-6 dozen in each bag and they get heavy. Carson is asking me why I am still on the trailer taking pictures. I had to put down the camera after this and pick corn myself.

I couldn't take pictures and pick corn at the same time. This shot is about two hours later as we are picking up the full bags. As we pick down the rows, we carry our bags to the nearest lane. When Bill decides that we have enough bags, we drive down the rows and put the bags in the truck bed and trailer.You can kind of see LeAnn, Brenda and Brandi and the bags of corn. Several of us walk alongside the truck and hand them the bags. The truck kept moving, not stopping. The irrigation had gone through the field in the night, so the field was extra muddy and we were worried about the truck getting stuck with all the weight of the corn. Each bag weighs between 50 & 70 pounds, depending on who filled it.This was my view for most of this exercise. Bill can't really see me and is more concerned with getting stuck or knocking one of the kids off the back of the truck. Running over your wife? Not really a big deal.


This is our fantastic crew: Karen, Dana, Bill, Carson, LeAnn, Emily (she picked 4 bags by herself), and Brenda. Hiding in the back are Brandi and Jason. We simply cannot run our operation without the help of these great workers. Notice that most are girls! Our corn is a very tender variety that must be picked by hand. Using machinery would damage the ears so much that they would be unfit for sale. We could grow a lesser variety, but we will not compromise the taste or tenderness of our corn, just to save a little time.

Produce farming is very physical demanding work in all conditions: hot, cold, rainy, extreme heat. We have a dedicated crew that takes pride helping us bring you the best produce that we can grow.