Planters of Painted Mountain Corn:

The 2019 growing season promises to be a character builder.

Unprecedented cold and snow are gripping the country from California and the Inter-mountain West to the Great Plains and the Mid-Western bread basket.

Damage to ranches and croplands is so extensive that there may be no crops at all in many areas: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-21/catastrophic-flooding-midwest-could-last-months-threatens-us-food-production

Here in Montana the lower valleys are still full of snow and the mountain snow pack keeps building. When it all goes out, the snowmelt east of the Continental Divide will drain into the Missouri river system and make it’s way down the Mississippi adding to the misery downstream. I hear stories of extreme conditions across the country.

Here are 5 tips to help you make it through the challenging growing conditions that we are facing wherever you may find yourself in the Northern Hemisphere.

1. Remember that all corn especially Painted Mountain does not like perpetual “wet feet” so plant in well-drained soil. The sprouting plants should be kept moist but after the root systems are established Painted Mountain does best if the soil is allowed to dry out between between irrigations.
2. You may have to plant later than normal this year depending on your local conditions and the length of your growing season. Monitor the soil temperature before planting. Painted Mountain will germinate in the low 50 degrees F - lower germination temperatures than any other corn.
3. Jump-start marginal growing seasons up to 14 days by soaking your seed for 24 hours in good water before planting – vitally important if your anticipated growing season between killing frosts is less than 90 days due to delayed planting and/or high altitudes.
4. Prepare to lose crops. This may be a year where despite your best efforts, crops will be lost. Store extra seed to carry you through years of successive crop failures that could be due to a number of reasons including the Grand Solar Minimum, Economic and Financial Debacle, Political and Social Unrest, Loss of the Power Grid, War and Radioactive Fallout. These events are survivable and  even thriveable if you are prepared.
5. Save the seed from your best ears of the Alpine Varietal of Painted Mountain Corn to plant the following year. Then repeat for subsequent generations and Painted Mountain will adapt to your local growing conditions even though the conditions are changing. Painted Mountain comes from a remarkably diverse and adaptable  gene stock of Indian and American Pioneer corns that make it an exemplar of Antifragility.

Not only does Painted Mountain survive adversity, it gets better and stronger when stressed.

In addition to these 5 planting tips to help you on your way, I strongly recommend that you immediately go out and buy more food to add to your larder before prices skyrocket. Keep stacking so that you will have adequate stored food to sustain you and your family through the difficult times ahead. Encourage others in your local community to do the same.

Thank you for your continued support of The Rocky Mountain Corn Project and our effort to feed families and communities real food.

To learn more about how we are expanding and accelerating these efforts, check out the annotations to the Table of Contents of my new book which is undergoing final edit and will be released momentarily:
https://theatomictrekker.com/preorder.html
Scroll down for the full annotations.

You will discover how to Protect Food Production and Protect Land and Crops under some extremely adverse conditions.

If you like what you see, you can sign up for the pre-order list.

Also, you may want to take a look at my latest post "How to Survive and Thrive During the Grand Solar Minimum While Others Die" and discover the 3 animals you will need: https://theatomictrekker.com/blog.html

Stay warm. Stay safe and best regards for a productive Spring Season come what may.

New Ordnance and the Rocky Mountain Corn Family