Navy Blue
I was excited to go to Charlie Overbay's corn-husking party. I wanted to know how the corn faired with the drought and the grasshoppers. Charlie pointed out Dave Christensen from Big Timber, who was already husking corn. Dave is the corn breeder, something he has been working on for 50 years. Each year he hopes to make better corn. It has been a long time since I have talked to someone who was so passionate about his job. He absolutely believes it to be essential.
The corn itself is drought and cold-resistant. It isn't grasshopper resistant, and they did a lot of damage, but I was surprised at the corn itself. Charlie doesn't irrigate at all, and the corn seems to adapt. Dave was saying it gets stronger and stronger every year. The plants were short, but the corn itself was respectable.
Dave said, "We sell it in 50-pound packages to the US and other countries' seed companies. We grow it in different color blocks, although I make most of my money when people buy it using it as oriental corn for fall decoration. That's not the real reason for growing it. It's human food eaten around the world by people that are starving. People can buy a pound, and they can continue to grow it forever."
"I started with a strong conviction when I was a very young man." I was born in the '50s, a happy time in the world, but I didn't think it would last. This corn is a descendant of the Indians of North America. Hardy corn will survive."
After the corn is husked, it is processed at the Big Sandy car wash.
"This is a really interesting time in the world's history. All weather maps show that 1/3 of the western United States is under severe drought, with water drying up. Breeding this corn is critical and necessary to adapt to getting tougher and tougher. It is my life's purpose."
"Genetic work hard to explain." He hopes to continue to create a food supply that will feed more and more as the world droughts create more starvation.
His website says, "The climate is challenging, but we've settled on a few varieties of vegetables and grains that produce reliably over the years. We loved its colors, nutritional value, hardiness, and ability to thrive in rocky, marginal soils at even higher elevations."
"What is Painted Mountain Corn? Simply put, it's corn that grows where no other corn grows. Bred to withstand the harsh climate and short growing season of southwestern Montana, we've found that it's the only corn that will grow and reliably produce at elevations above 5,000 feet in the northern Rocky Mountains. Bred from a variety of semi-extinct western Indian corns, Painted Mountain Corn represents a gene pool with 1,000 years of selection for reliable production in the arid and nutrient-poor soils of the western United States. With a proven record in climates with marginal growing seasons worldwide, Dave Christensen
has created a super-corn that thrives where even barley and other cereal grains have difficulty."
Charley Overbay, the owner of C&S Produce, raises Painted Mountain Corn for Dave. "I have been growing Painted Mountain Corn for Dave Christensen since 2014. Other crops that I grow include potatoes and winter squash. Over the past nine growing seasons, we have had some wet years and some dry years. No matter the weather, precipitation, or pest pressure (grasshoppers), the Painted Mountain corn is the most dependable crop on my farm. When I think of this corn, I think, If there is enough moisture to get the seed to germinate, I can get a harvest from it. I love growing Dave's corn. It is extremely hardy and very beautiful!"
"Dave's primary breeding/development goals are to increase the nutritional density (value), increase the climate adaptability or general crop hardiness, and increase the beauty of it! I think he is doing a great job of all three goals."
"For the past nine years, I have been learning as much as I can from Dave Christensen to continue his great work after him."
Dave also has multiple other corn populations that he is developing that will thrive in various regions/weather conditions. In 2022, I grew 4 of Dave's corn varieties on my farm.
Dave works with another grower near Shonkin and the Highwood Mountains in this region. His name is Ole Norgaard with North Frontier Farms. He grows a black (Morado) corn called Montana Morado Maize.
