Cornucopia



Cornucopia



seed
REDISTRIBUTION
PROJECT



Cornucopia is a ‘public engagement’ project and an experiment. It's an opportunity to participate and collaborate. It's a way to explore themes of fertility, growth, food security, biodiversity, plant genetics, weather and soil. It is, also, a space to play - with the idea of public engagement and dissemination, with preconceptions about ‘proper’ gardening and with the aspirations of social media.


The idea is simple: if you have a packet of Cornucopia seed, plant it. See what happens and share your experiences and pictures on Twitter and Instagram. Will your corn grow? Will it be plentiful? Will it have many different colours? Perhaps it will not germinate, or perhaps it will produce seedlings that don't grow. These are all possibilities.


Background
About Me
Meet the Corn
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Background





During the heatwaves of summer 2018, a crop of Fiesta corn was grown at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. It was grown as part of an art exhibition called Reproductivities: Remaking Life, a collaboration between the New Hall Art Collection and the Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc).


In the autumn, Murray Edwards’ gardener gave away many of the cobs, which displayed a beautiful diversity of colours, sizes and shapes. I saved the kernels from the cobs I received and am now redistributing them at seed swaps and wherever and whenever I have a chance.



about me





I am Katie Dow, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, working on a Wellcome-Trust funded project called Changing (In)Fertilities. As part of this project, I coordinate a work package called (In)Fertile Environments. This work package explores people’s perceptions of fertility and infertility in relation to environmental issues and climate change - in humans, non-human animals, plants and soil.


I am particularly interested in learning about how experiences and perceptions of fertility are shaped by awareness of environmental harms, how environmental conditions shape reproductive possibilities and the relationships between concerns about fertility and about the environment.



meet the corn





The original five cobs. Or should that be 6? One of those plants had twins!



Meet the corn





Fiesta seed has a stunning level of diversity, as you can see from these cobs, which were all grown from the same kind of seed in the same patch of land.



Growing tips





How to grow Fiesta corn (in an English climate)



- Germinate indoors (or in a greenhouse if it's mouse-proof) in April or May. Start taking the seedlings outdoors during the day for about a week to acclimatise before planting them out.

- Plant out in June (or after the chance of a frost has completely cleared) with plenty of organic matter.

- Plant in blocks of 4 rather than rows, to aid pollination.

- Give them plenty of water and use mulch to keep the roots cool and moist. Corn is shallow rooted, so keep them out of the wind by planting in a sheltered position, build up soil around the stem bases to keep them stable and avoid root disturbance.

- You might like to try the Three Sisters companion planting system, which was developed in Mexico and has been used by many Native American communities. In this technique, corn is planted close to beans and squash - and this is how these seeds were grown at Murray Edwards College last year. The corn provides the beans with structure to grow up, the beans provide the soil with nitrogen and the squash grows along the ground, preventing weed growth.

- Fiesta is an ornamental popcorn variety, but can also be used as a sweetcorn. It's best to plant it in a warm, sunny position so the kernels can fully ripen.

- When you've finished harvesting your corn, don't forget to keep some to save the seeds (more tips on this later in the year)!


More tips from the RHS, Gardeners' World and Real Seeds.





If you'd like to know more,
or where to get some seed,
contact me:


kld52@cam.ac.uk