Festivity Sweet Corn

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This is a unique and special corn, with rich flavor, beautiful multi-colored ears, and strong, resilient plants. The multi-stalked plants can bear 3 to 4 ears per plant. Ears are up to 2" across, with 12 to 16 rows of kernels in white, yellow, pink, blue, purple, and red. At our tastings this summer, Festivity was a favorite for its rich, complex flavor. Like all traditional sweet corns, it is not as sugary-sweet as modern hybrids.

Farmer Jonathan Spero crossed ancient Anasazi multi-colored sweet corn with modern corn, then spent seven years selecting and stabilizing this open-pollinated variety. He strove for excellent eating quality, while leaving the plants a bit variable. As he explained, " When people depended on their gardens for their food, variability was an important trait. They needed crops with a range of adaptations, so they could get food and seed for the next year in spite of floods, drought, storm, disease, and pest pressures." Mr. Spero bred this corn as a dependable food that people could grow and save seed for themselves. He pledged it as an OSSI open-source variety.

The Open Source Seed Initiative exists so that breeders who originate new varieties can protect them from exploitation and patenting by corporations. It means that the breeder has freely given up her patent rights in order to keep the variety in the public domain forever. The OSSI pledge reads: "You have the freedom to use these OSSI-pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others' use of these seeds or their derivatives, by patents or other means, and to include this pledge in any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives."