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Growing Home: Heirloom Popcorn

There is a unique rediscovered heirloom popcorn known as “Bear Paw” popcorn. It was grown mainly in New England from the 1930s to the 60s and was featured at movie theaters and the World’s Fair. The corn’s ears flatten on the end and split into two, looking like it grew a thumb. If you want to grow your own popcorn it needs to grow far away from sweet corn varieties because if they cross pollinate your popcorn may not pop well. Or if the wind sends pollen from the popcorn and lands on your sweetcorn, goodbye sweetness. Another tactic is to first sow your popcorn seeds, then wait 3 weeks to sow your other sweetcorn seeds.