If you farm the land long enough, you'll see "really bad years and really good years," Vernon Conrad explained while touring his family's land in Bixby.
And Conrad - who has farmed his entire life, along with his two brothers Melvin and Eugene Conrad - has seen plenty of both extremes.
Thankfully, this year looks like it will be a good one for corn, the biggest draw to Conrad Farms.
"We plan to be harvesting just in time for the Green Corn Festival," Conrad said, adding that recent rains should make the crops more plentiful than last year when the corn was harvested early but then suffered in the heat.
"It was so hot last year that it ended quick," Conrad said. "So, this year, hopefully, it will be a longer season. I think it will. We have been luckier on how much it rained."
The yield of one row varies greatly. A single row could produce 10 bushels or 40 bushels, Conrad said.
"Farming is just a lot of luck, a lot of times. I hope it's 50 bushels," Conrad said optimistically while surveying the field.
Legacy of farming
Conrad's parents, Chester and Pauline Conrad, bought their first 80-acre Oklahoma farm in Timberhill in 1931. They raised four children and worked hard to get by during the Great Depression.
"I remember just following Dad around," Conrad said. "That is just what a kids does, follow his dad. He taught us everything that we know about this. When he got married, it was right at the first of the depression ... and he would do anything almost to make a living," he said.
"He would chop wood and sell a rick of wood. But, back then, though, he didn't have a chainsaw; he just had a cross cutting saw. And he even sold broken glass."
In 1942, Chester Conrad bought the land on which Conrad Farms currently resides, 151st Street West of Memorial Drive. Motorists passing by would often want to buy the produce so he eventually moved sales into the red barn and started setting up tables and displays.
His three sons learned to farm and each took roles in the business, from planting and harvesting to the merchandising and marketing.
"He didn't force us or anything," Conrad said, teasingly. "He just never did fire us and so we just stuck around."
Some of Conrad's earliest memories include wrapping radishes into bunches with rubber bands. And, he also remembers when he first started harvesting corn.
"You've got to have somebody drive the tractor for the corn pullers, and I remember I was 8 and we had an old John Deere and it had a hand clutch on it. I was not strong enough to push that clutch with my hands so I used my feet to push that clutch."
The sons also learned to get used to the unpredictable nature of farming.
"One year we had a hail storm that made piles of hail. It was thick like snow," Conrad said. "It wiped out all the crops we had. That was probably about 40 years ago. It ruined the pepper crop, the green onions ... It looked like they had been mowed down. Dad just said, 'Well, that's the way it is. We will just replace everything.' "
But they also saw farming triumphs, growing the world's largest watermelons four times in one season, breaking their own record several times, and gaining national press coverage.
By the 1980s, the family was farming more than 1,300 acres and shipping tractor-trailer rig loads all over the nation and into Canada. But when the economy took a turn for the worse in the mid-'80s, they scaled back and put all their focus on the store and their local customers.
Now, Conrad Farms grows about 70 varieties of produce on about 400 acres of farmland.
Sweet, sweet corn
The stalks of Sweet Temptation corn stood about 6 feet tall a little more than a week before the planned harvest.
"It's a bi-color corn, which means it is white and yellow," Conrad said. "It's one of the sweeter varieties."
They had several different plantings so they can extend the harvest. The amount of time it takes to grow depends on the variety and when it was planted.
"The first planting will take about 90 days to mature, but as the season goes along, it will take about 65 days," he said.
Some of the ears of corn are so sweet, Conrad doesn't even wait to get back to the kitchen to eat it.
"I will eat it here in the field," Conrad said. "You don't have to cook it."
Every summer, the farm sells over half a million ears of corn in several different varieties. They also sell about 15,000 watermelons.
"Most of the stuff we grow here is picked by hand," Conrad said.
"It is grown here, picked by hand and taken to the market as soon as we pick it. It's fresh. You can't get any fresher. That's why people like it."
The Bixby Green Corn Festival starts Thursday.
GREEN CORN FESTIVAL
When: Thursday-Saturday
Where: Charley Young Park in downtown Bixby
The Green Corn Festival is a kick back to old-fashioned family picnics. The annual festival features music, arts and crafts, food, carnival rides and games.
The event is at the park south and east of 151st and Memorial.
A talent show is held on Friday at the Community Center and the annual Green Corn Parade is Saturday morning.
For more information, email
info@bixbyoptimist.org or call Jacquie Young, 918-366-6305.
CONRAD FARMS
Winter hours: 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m
Summer hours: 8 a.m. - 6:30 p.m
Phone: (918) 366-8942
JALAPENO CORN BREAD
2 cups yellow cornmeal
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1/2 cup corn oil
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
3/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeños
2 tablespoon butter
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in milk, corn oil and eggs. Using a rubber spatula, fold in corn and jalapeños; set batter aside.
2. Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet; grease with butter. Pour in batter; bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
- adapted from Saveur
EASY CORN CASSEROLE
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
1 (8 3/4-ounce) can no-salt-added cream-style corn
1 (8 1/2-ounce) package corn muffin mix
1 (8-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt
Cooking spray
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set.
- adapted from myrecipes.com
Nicole Marshall Middleton 918-581-8459
nicole.marshall@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Farming family
Food
The signature item is the Philly cheesesteak sandwich made with a uniquely American ingredient, Cheez Whiz, and the owners immigrated here from Philadelphia.
Most sandwiches may be ordered with white bread, bagel, rye bread, wheat bread, sourdough bread or croissant.
