the dreaming tree

it looks like i’m going to take a job detasseling corn in illinois for july. i’ve applied, so as long as they say yes, i’m going to go. a couple of my friends are doing it, too. now, probably most of you are wondering what in the world i’m talking about. detasseling corn is where you remove the flower, or tassel, from the top of the plant in order to prevent self-pollination. this allows the farmers, or whoever, to create a hybrid seed by planting the detasseled corn among other varieties that have not been detasseled. basically what i would do is walk up and down rows of corn all day, attempting to remove pretty much 100% of the tassels in each row. this is one of those jobs that has become almost exclusively immigrant/migrant labor, but there is a company remaining that likes to hire americans, and mainly college students, to do the job. it lasts about three weeks, and we’ll be camping the entire time, somewhere in the middle of illinois. it’s hot, and pretty grueling work, but it sounds like one of those experiences that will add a lot to my life…lots of different people, all thrown together for an intense few weeks, seems like it will yield some pretty interesting results. plus it pays pretty well. so that’s what i’ll most likely be up to in july. here’s the website if any of you are interested in reading more or seeing pictures…or applying: sunshine enterprises.