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CAMPTON HILLS, IL-    On Sunday, September 11th at 2 pm, museum volunteer and farm hobbyist, Chuck Bauer, will give a lecture on the history of corn. There will be discussion of the type used in the 1840s and how farmers manipulated corn to create the variety we have today.

    In the early nineteenth century, corn was a staple of people‚s diets as it could be ground into meal for baking and cooking, dried and cooked, or even distilled into whiskey. More commonly, it was fed to livestock in particular to fatten ones hogs as pork was the meat that preserved best. Not only were the corn kernels edible, other parts of the stalk, husk, and the cob, all had several uses, as well.

          Today, entire industries are based on this crop. From food and food additives like corn sweeteners, chemicals, plastics, livestock feeds and supplements, and of course the ethanol mixed with gasoline are just some of the uses of this plant developed by the peoples of the Americas.

    Mr. Bauer was a polymer scientist/engineer at Amoco Chemicals for 31 years. Growing up in north central Ohio, Mr. Bauer always had an interest in farming and animals. Chuck took a special interest in corn while demonstrating the Garfield‚s corn sheller at one of the museum‚s Harvest Days events. He has grown several varieties of corn, including pod corn. 
 
    The cost of the lecture is $6 and refreshments are included.  For reservations, contact the museum at (630) 584-8485 or info@garfieldfarm.org. Garfield Farm Museum is located 5 miles west of Geneva, IL, off of ILL Rt. 38 on Garfield Road. The 370-acre site is a historically intact former 1840s farm and teamster inn being restored as an 1840s working farm museum by volunteers and donors from around the country.