Knee High by the 4th of July – Wordless Wednesday

If you live near farmland, you’ve heard the saying that corn needs to be “knee high by the 4th of July”.  And, if you grew up with this saying, you know that around this time of year you start judging corn height to see how it is shaping up.  What I didn’t know, however, is why this saying even got started…

I Googled “knee high by the 4th of July” and found out that according to the Internet (and its ALWAYS TRUE, right?) that the saying was started in the midwest by farmers.  Farmers believed that if the corn was at least knee high by the 4th of July, they would have a good crop come harvest time.  However, these days its not good enough to just be knee high by the 4th of July.  Its supposed to be taller with all the modifications that have made to the corn seed.  Nowadays, the saying is “as high as an elephant’s eye by 4th of July.”  Not sure what elephant is that short, or exactly whose knees we are measuring by.

While, this is Wordless Wednesday and there are a lot of words here… I had to laugh to myself this morning when I was judging the corn like I was at the fair.

For the record, I am sticking with my knee high by the 4th of July measurement… its catchy.

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Julia is the divorced mom of twins, a blogger, a sometimes crafter, crazy snailmailer, and a corporate bean counter. In her "spare" time, she scrapbooks, travels, makes cards, blogs, designs jewelry, searches for missing cleats and pom poms, enjoys good dark chocolate, and sneaks naps.