How blessed I am to live in this beautiful, diverse, FREE country!

This evening’s news featured young teens and children from Mexico risking their lives to come to the “land of opportunity”.

I pray that I never take the freedoms and opportunities that our country offers for granted…(I fear I sometimes do…but the 4th of July is a good time to reflect and remember and refrain from complaining.)

And if my ramblings are not corny enough, I have a fantastic and simple way to prepare corn-on-the-cobb from my friend Bernetta…

Simply cut off the stem-end of the cob and micro-wave 3 1/2 minutes…That’s all. Carefully remove husks (they’re hot!).

The silks will peel away with the husks, leaving you that mouth-watering ear of corn that is ready for some butter and salt and pepper.  Enjoy!

Want to mention that the Sweet Corn pictured above was purchased from Mr. White at his fruit stand in Macon. Our Sweet Corn patch is not quite ready for harvest.

Before I married a farmer, I thought all corn was Sweet Corn. Wrong. They don’t taste the same—believe me!!!

The rows and rows of corn grown in the Midwest is Field Corn and is grown for livestock feed AND ethanol production.

FYI-More than 98 percent of U.S. ethanol today is produced from grains such as corn and sorghum. This process yields both fuel and livestock feed. One-third of each bushel of grain used to produce ethanol is returned to the market in the form of livestock feed-distillers grains, corn gluten feed, and corn gluten meal.

Now that’s “food for thought” as you enjoy your corn on the cob and corn casserole dishes this 4th of July! Have a wonderful and safe time celebrating!