Janice,

I am with you on the heat/humidity, It takes me an hour, to recover, from walking to the mailbox in a sauna!

-Amy

janice why to you detassel??? never heard of it

Farmers plant a variety of kinds of field corn.(which is used for livestock feed and your cornoil).

In order to develop a variety for instance that is resistant to bugs and drought(a hybrid)

The seed company has farmers plant two different varieties of corn. One row of resistant to bugs,and the next resitant to drought. The detasseler pulls the corn tassel of one of the rows to allow the next row's tassels to 'mate' with the pulled tassel row. Voila, a hybrid is created... As we all know a hybrid has to be created but it's seed can't be used to maintain the variety. The corn is "knee high by the 4th of July" and can be 5'-6' when detasseling. So it's hard on your shoulders and neck...looking up.. If you're short it stinks. The tassels don't always come out with a soft pull.

The corn is wet first thing in the morning and causes a rash, so you wear long pants and long sleeves, hat with a brim and gloves.

The dumb ones get sunburned and fry their faces. Then they try to continue with blisters from sunburn.

Detasseling is hot, sweaty, exhausting work that is best suited to teenagers and 20 somethings who are strong of back and willing to do the hot work for $6-$8 an hour. The seed company pays for this so they can charge the farmers for the next year's crop.

Someone who wants to 'manage' a group of kids, contracts for a certain number of fields that need to be done, This manager then solicits kids who want to make some money for the summer and don't want to flip burgers to do it, The 'experienced' workers get paid more and are given responsiblity as a superviser to make sure the job is done right. The manager doesn't actually have to set foot in the field if he/she does it right. The superviser might be 15 yr old because you can start detasseling when 14 yr old.The manger arranges for a bus to transport his crew to and from the job site and has to provide water for the workers, but that's it. The worker's hours don't start until they step into the field.

A teen can make $1,000 - $2,000 in about 3 weeks. That'll go a long way towards purchasing a car, buying clothes for school,etc. My son,20, who started when he was 14 will be putting his earnings towards his fines he has to pay for an incident that happened over a year ago. He was with 2 other guys and one of them kicked in a car window and boosted the stereo, some speakers, and supposedly 700 CD's THat's an unreal number of CD's My son has already paid 1/3 of the total fines but because the other 2 guys are deadbeats, Jesse is going to pay the rest of the fine so he can get on with his life...get his driver's lisence, etc. Jesse has learned the hard way that it does matter the character of the friends you choose and run with.

Enough of my rant! Jesse is a good kid, who's had a hard lesson.I hope this hasn't been too long for anyone to read.

BTW, I'm in Iowa.

This is a hot, difficult job best suited for young people looking for some spending money.

so really what you are saying, is that detasseling is ............

CORN SEX??????

kim