08/20/2024
Oklahoma farmer named Carl Barnes. Barnes, now in his 80s, is half-Cherokee, half Scotch-Irish descent. He began growing older corn varieties in his adult years as a way to reconnect with his heritage.
In growing these older corn varieties, Barnes was able to isolate ancestral types that had been lost to Native American tribes when they were relocated in the 1800s to what is now Oklahoma. This led to an exchange of ancient corn seed with people he had met and made friends with all over the country.
At the same time, Barnes began selecting, saving, and replanting seeds from particularly colourful cobs. According to Barnes, the rainbow seed originally came from a crossing of "Pawnee miniature popcorns with an Osage red flour corn and also another Osage corn called ‘Greyhorse'."
'Glass Gems,' seen here, was the title that Barnes' protegee and fellow farmer, Greg Schoen came up with for a blue-green and pink-purple corn he grew in 2007.
