To the friends of The Rocky Mountain Corn Project and lovers of freedom worldwide, wherever the close of the year 2021 may find you:

Greetings from the mountains in the Free State of Montana.

As I pen this report to you in the dawn before the sun rises behind the mountain, I look out the window and see elk grazing through the stubble of our corn field as they move deliberately toward the treeline leaving fresh trails in the snow. The thermometer  hovers at zero as the herd continues their relentless and continuous search for food – the food that generates the body heat allowing them to survive the deep Montana winter despite losses to predators and “winter kill.’’

Since we humans cannot graze cellulose and convert it to energy like elk and other four-footed ungulates, we must deploy other strategies and tactics to ensure our survival with the wolves of a hard winter snapping at our heels.

Please use our 2021 Crop Report to help increase your food production and live free from an array of predators that threaten our lives and livelihood.

For those who would not be serfs or slaves in the tyranny of the Great Reset envisioned by the World Economic Forum, this report is dedicated to you.

Our mission is to keep providing you with the highest quality seed in your quest for food freedom come what may. We will always be open for business and will ship the same or next day until we are banned from the internet. We are working on ways to deal with that contingency and will keep you informed.

Read on to find out how the latest crop of our Alpine Varietal of Painted Mountain Corn Seed is testing out with a 99% germination rate.

2021 Crop Report
Rocky Mountain Corn Project

Year 2 of Field Operations at this AO

To help you succeed in your endeavors:

A Few Tips and Lessons Learned in Growing a Stellar Crop of 2021 Alpine Varietal Painted Mountain Corn Seed 

1. Don’t bite off more than your can chew.
   
   Plant only the areas you can reliably cultivate, irrigate (if required) and manage with the cycles of nature with minimum reliance on resources outside your immediate control. Don’t rely on promises that may or may not be kept.

2. Don’t wholly depend on volunteer labor or scarce local resources. Be self-reliant. 
   
   We have an optimistic tendency to plant large based on the commitments of local resources and labor that is enthusiastic with early prospects but disappear when we get to the heavy lifting. Chief and I pick up the slack with Herculean efforts to make it happen. Depend only on responsible people with “skin in the game” who live local – no commuters. 

3. Save labor.
   
   If you flood irrigate, ditches should be configured to allow a continuous flow of water throughout the field, with minimum manual intervention.

4. Always have cover on the soil. No bare ground.
   
   Always plan ahead and plant cover crops appropriate to your climate and specefic field to improve soil tilth and fertility. 
   
   See Chapter 2 of our Gabe Brown exposition for more details on Armored Cover: https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/the-rocky-mountain-corn-project/plant-grow-rich-chapter-2 (Please note, there are some broken links buried inside these articles which are not fixable. We are working on a new website to rebuild the content, but in the interim you can still navigate between chapters using our menu in the Rocky Mountain Corn Project)
   
   Note About Cover Crops: In 2021 we were primarily concerned with soil regeneration, but we also grew a family garden and focused on seed corn production.  We planted potatoes, beets, zuchinni and green beans, all proven producers if planted on time. Experimentally, spaghetti and other winter squash plus carrots and kitchen herbs were planted along the banks of the irrigation furrows with a continuous flow of water. Despite the jungle of a wild cover crop provided by nature, we renewed our stock of corn seed and had an ample yield of garden produce.  

5. Don’t stand on false principles just to make a point when a crop is in jeopardy. 
   
   For example, even with a gravity fed irrigation system don’t hesitate to deploy all available irrigation resources in case of unexpected drought. In dry and windy high-altitude environments, area overhead sprinklers are easily installed with garden hoses and timers to irrigate on a nightly schedule.
   
   We are high and dry here but June is usually one of our wettest months and ideal for sprouting young plants. In 2021 though, not a drop of rain fell from the hot brassy June sky. Water evaporates very quickly anyway at high altitudes due to the low vapor pressure.
   
   The hot cloudless days of intense radiation exacerbated the situation and we had to scramble to save the crops that were beyond the reach of the flood irrigation system. Fortunately we were able to easily deploy the portable overhead sprinklers we had on hand that were used in previous fields. Sprinkler irrigation at night limited evaporation losses in our extreme environment.
   
   If you live in a more humid area nighttime overhead irrigation may not be the best solution if it increases fungal growth and insect predation. Your mileage may vary.

6. Make strategic purchases of equipment to make up for the lack of local labor. 
   
   Highly recommended equipment that served us well and may prove useful for the small farmer who does not have a tractor:

• Small lightweight Honda Rototiller
• Powerful Husqavarna Brush Cutter/Weed Wacker
• Top Rated Cub Cadet 4 Cycle Walk Behind Power Lawn Mower

7. A greenhouse can be useful in a short growing season. 
   
   But careful strategy is necessary to avoid increasing labor without appreciable returns. We used a greenhouse in 2021, but only for late-planting of experimental crops for research purposes. In our environment, transplant shock makes early greenhouse starts problematic – without clear advantage in the final crop.
   
   However the renewed availability of BIOZOME when used to moderate the adverse effects of transplant shock makes transplanting more attractive if the transplants are short and strong and not “leggy” and weak. Success depends on individual greenhouse technique and expertise which is a subject unto itself.
   
   We unequivocally recommend the BIOZOME product for all-around use. It has multiple applications that will boost your chances of success in marginal conditions. If I was limited to only one soil amendment to stock up on, this would be it. Click here purchase: https://store.obio.com/biozome (Note: This is not sponsored and we have no affiliation) 
    

Early Spring – When the Ground Thawed

What We Did

Chief purchased a heavy grubbing hoe and dug a new configuration of irrigation ditches for the entire field by hand. Not advised, except in the case of personal choice. Given a choice, most people will choose what they like. Chief really loves her grubbing hoe and enjoyed the many hours spent moving earth by hand -  kind of a human backhoe. She revels in earth and all the detail. Being also a keyboard virtuoso, her speedy words follow the image below. Modest as she is, note that when she refers to “Chief,” she is talking about herself. 

The new irrigation ditches were more of a zig-zag than a sinuous snake – allowing for the triangular plots between the ditches to be flood irrigated later in the season. At least, that was the idea.

Four corn plots separated by irrigation ditches were laid out. The plots were covered in crop debris, and gnarly wild amaranth and lamb’s quarters roots, which made our high-wheel cultivator almost impossible to run through the plot. We decided to hand-rake the debris into piles and torch it. Time was of the essence with Chief working her full-time day job. We don’t share this to recommend it – but only to show you what can be done, regardless of obstacles, limited hand-tools, and scarce time.

After clearing the debris, we roto-tilled, then staked with string, delineating rows and furrows. The high wheel cultivator was used to plant all of the sprouted corn seed within the planting window. By June 1, all the seed was in the ground. 

The same procedure was followed for beets, green beans and potatoes. All crops were sited to prevent growing the same plant in the same soil for successive years, while paying attention to beneficial companion planting.

This was year 2 for an old, severely depleted and overgrazed alfalfa field, which was still evident in the hard-pan compaction and lack of organic material – even after our efforts in year 1. In year 1 we proved our point that it was possible in this location to grow significant food with only hand-labor. However, regenerative agriculture requires controlled animals which has not yet been possible in this location (see mob grazing covered in "Plant & Grow Rich: Chapter 3 https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/the-rocky-mountain-corn-project/plant-grow-rich-chapter-3). 

Observation and note-taking are essential. We observed that the water in the continuously running irrigation ditches would not percolate more than a couple of feet from the ditch proper. The center of our triangular planting areas would remain bone dry unless flooded, which would wash away all our freshly planted seed. 

Five overhead area sprinklers with timer controls were positioned in the plots between the ditches. Connecting hoses and polypipe were installed. The entire system was purchased and installed by hand at minimal cost.

Advantages in Local Networking With Like-Minded People in Your AO

In 2021 we networked with a local family, whose reliability and like-minded interests were proven when they showed up at the end of 2020 on the cusp of a winter snow storm to dig potatoes. Everyone worked, down to the smallest of their young sons, and we were impressed.

In your AO, find those reliable, hard-working people who share your interests, and collaborate. The advantages are many.

To facilitate the plant-starting operation of our new allies, we used leftover materials on-hand from the fencing in 2020 to erect an 8 foot deer fence around an old greenhouse which the family cleaned and resurrected to good use in spring 2021.

We also secured several cubic yards of sheep manure from a local source. We could have piled it all at our field and invited our new friends to come and get some – but we decided to prioritize distribution of the manure to each area where it was needed. Our field, the greenhouse, and the young family’s newly plowed field some ten miles down the road.

Seed was shared, Chief benefiting greatly from trading various hardy bean varieties for medicinal herb seed.

Exchanging complimentary areas of knowledge was beneficial for everyone involved, and the work is always lighter with more hands. Help your neighbor transplant onions, and they will turn up when the potatoes need digging. 

Planting Regime

Initial planting was attempted using an Earthway push seeder which proved to be unsatisfactory due to the rough and uneven seed beds.

Corn does not require smooth seed beds and we did not have the time or energy for more preparation work. We proceeded to plant both the corn and the rest of the crops by hand in trenches dug with the always reliable high-wheel cultivator.

Skilled assistance from a friend came in handy on the longest planting days.

The principle crops were planted within the optimum May planting window. Small quantities of Jobe’s organic fertilizer were distributed in each row along with a mixture of BIOZOME, glacial rock dust, Azomite and liquid marine kelp as sources of essential minerals.

BIOZOME contains species of archaea, a primordial organism that breaks down inorganic minerals into organic forms that plants can quickly absorb. As a result, the plants are highly mineralized providing healthy, nutritious and tasty food. The typical American is highly deficient in essential minerals, leading to the host of degenerative diseases that afflict most of the population.

BIOZOME Rescues Our Neighbor’s Transplants

After our new friend started transplanting her greenhouse starter plants into her freshly plowed field, the intense June sun put them into terminal transplant shock. To put it mildly - they wilted. We provided an emergency ration of BIOZOME from our personal stock to help most of the plants survive. Impressed with the results, the family subsequently invested in a larger quantity of BIOZOME for their use. 

Cover Crop

Due to the timing imperative to meet the May planting window for the main crops, planting of the cover crops was delayed until Mother Nature intervened. A thick cover of lambs quarters, wild amaranth, native grasses, wild mustard, clover, and the long-established alfalfa emerged. We were occupied with the opening salvos of a battle with weeds in the food crop that would continue into all out war for the summer.

The principles outlined by Gabe Brown really work. Even in the case of the unplanned wild cover crop, Chief observed an explosion of plant diversity, improved soil quality, and better moisture retention in the areas where the wild cover crop was left untouched.

Chief of course was delighted to find various wild herbs she could harvest – which to most might have seemed like weeds.

We have decided to delay the cover crop until the early Spring of 2022. We have opened the fence to allow wild horses, elk, bighorn sheep, and deer to knock down the weeds while converting crop residues into valuable manure.

This is our adaptive solution to not having appropriate livestock for the mob grazing as demonstrated by Gabe Brown. (See Plant & Grow Rich: Chapter 3 https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/the-rocky-mountain-corn-project/plant-grow-rich-chapter-3) Now that the demands of harvest, hunting season, and holidays are over, we will cut all remaining growth in the field with a brush cutter, allowing the biomass to over-winter in the field and enrich the soil.

The cover crop would ideally be planted in the early spring through the mat of biomass laying on the ground with a seed drill, a most valuable piece of equipment to acquire and retain going forward. This procedure is in accordance with the principles of Regenerative Agriculture as elucidated by Gabe Brown. (See Plant & Grow Rich: Chapter 4 https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/the-rocky-mountain-corn-project/plant-grow-rich-chapter-4)

Irrigation

The normal Spring rainy season of the northern Rockies did not occur in 2021. Hardly a drop of rain fell in the month of June. Solar radiation was intense. Even perennial grasses refused to grow on southern exposures unless irrigated. Our overhead sprinklers saved the day. The sprinklers were programmed to come on at night to minimize evaporative losses.

Weeds

The growth of weeds was so extensive that we had to focus most of our efforts in keeping the corn aisles clear and chopping the most egregious weeds that threatened to choke the young corn plants.

We realized that we were over ambitious in attempting to plant and cultivate ½ acre with two people (one only available on weekends). We would have been better served if we had tackled ¼ acre and kept the young plants clear from the first blush of weeds when they can be easily scraped off with a hoe.

Without the proper seed drill, the simple fact remains that in this harsh environment, every weed competes directly with our plants for moisture and nutrients. In the harshest June days, we did see the first bloom of weeds protect the corn sprouts from dehydration of the soil, but the aggressive weed growth quickly strangled the corn shoots.

It is a delicate balance in the race to the sun at 6,000 feet. Every growing season we debate and try new techniques to keep the soil covered without slowing the growth of our crops.

The shortage of labor directly impacted every decision. We learned the hard way that some people are happy to sit at home and draw unemployment.

Growth

The soil amendments we added plus applications of fish emulsion and ample water stimulated plant growth of both food crops and weeds. We had to ignore the overgrown weeds choking our other crops for a while as we addressed the corn. From observation of plant growth we found that there were wide variations in soil fertility from row to row throughout the field. We attempted to even out the variations with several applications of fish emulsion and Biozome.

The field site is located in a bowl of surrounding mountains that reflect and concentrate the sun’s radiation to intense levels during the main part of the day. We persevered and adapted by working early and late into darkness.

Harvest

The Provider green beans came off first, with the prolific Eight Ball Zucchini not far behind.

The more you pick, the more they grow. 

Chief outlines a few points on the harvest below. Read "90 Days or Less - We Grow 3 Sisters & More" for more details: https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/how-to/crops-we-grow-in-90-days-or-less-3-sisters-more 

The first ears of corn ripened and dried in time for a late-summer dinner with friends.

Practical as we are, decorative arrangements don't last long - here you can see a prize seed-worthy ear in the center, which was later added to the drying pile and will be shelled and mixed with the other seed.

Tomatoes were grown in the experimental greenhouse jungle, and a steady harvest starting in late summer continued through winter solstice.

As the harvest in the field went into full swing, the joy of each ear of corn, shining like jewels in the high-altitude sunlight, brings our family to smiles and comments - no matter how many years we've seen it before. 

The process for harvesting corn by hand with two people was simple. First, walking wheelbarrows down the rows under the wide blue sky, snapping off ears step by step.

A folding chair and the truck backed up close makes shucking an efficient process.

A full load adds up quickly - ready to transport to the drying bin.

Slick metal sides prevent mice from climbing in.

While the corn was drying nicely, greenhouse experiments started producing. Cucumbers, Cantaloupe, and Butternut Squashes were just the beginning.

Ginger, turmeric, goldenseal, comfrey, and other medicinal herbs were grown in pots; while red and purple sweet potatoes vined across the greenhouse and climbed up tomato and squash plants, creating a jungle of green vegetation.

As the ground began to freeze, potatoes, carrots, beets and turnips were dug. 

The carrot crop was small, but sweet and crisp after the first few frosts. 

More pictures and details on the root crops here: https://rockymountaincorn.com/blogs/how-to/crops-we-grow-in-90-days-or-less-3-sisters-more

As the harvest concluded, we moved some herbs indoors under a grow light. 

Our attention in November turned to the harvest of wild game meat. 

With the meat stacked into the deep freeze, and the corn reaching optimum dryness, the next cycle begins.

Our first germination test came out to a perfect 99%, right on target for the premium quality we strive for in our Alpine Varietal of Painted Mountain Corn.

Be advised, this is a variety of Painted Mountain developed by our family through careful selection to increase the size of the ears and overall crop yield. We have heard many times from our customers that the average Painted Mountain Corn seed available from other sources can be older, of unspecified provenance, and after storage in unknown conditions at the seed warehouses, results may vary. We encourage you to practice your own seed-keeping and select for the best traits suited to your local micro-climate.

While there are no guarantees in performance across the wildly diverse locations and climates our customers grow in, we process our seed by hand with care and attention to detail at every step. Your order is packed by hand, fresh from the bulk seed vault at the time of purchase. 

Corn shelling and the pemmican chronicles coming to you soon.

CONCLUSION

New Ordnance Returns

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are abroad in the Land as pestilence and death have certainly been unleashed by the globalist beast with its population reduction plan. The weapons of famine and war are lurking in the wings of their agenda to keep the mass of humanity in a constant state of fear and under control. 

Fortunately in my view, the apogee of their machinations is behind us. Their schemes exposed, the perpetrators are beginning to panic - preparing escapes from justice to bolt holes and bunkers in the Rockies while the most affluent alert ground crews to be on stand-by and keep the Gulfstreams fueled and ready to wing away to those New Zealand retreats.

So, be of good cheer as 2022 unfolds.  The tide has turned and the heads of the beast will try to slip away, all the while cheering on their duped legions to keep fighting and encouraging their minions to die for the lost cause.

Our job is to stay the course and be vigilant while they self-destruct.  Don’t play their game but prepare the ground of encounter on your terms, not theirs. Ready for action like the Greek Hoplite citizen/soldier farmer of yore with both swords and ploughshares close by.

You will know when to plant and when to reap and when the harvest is nigh.

I am your humble servant,
New Ordnance

Thursday, the 30^th  Day of December in the Year of Our Lord 2021
Somewhere in the mountains of the Free State of Montana