Monthly Archives: March 2011

The amazing, marvelous, unprecedented, … and ancient contraption you’ve all been waiting for !!! (and a picture of Kalea)

Neighbor Esteban and grandson Erick put the machine to the test while Luris, Colleen, Kalea, and a host of others not shown look on.

“There must be some reason that no-one has ever introduced corn-shellers into rural latin america,” my dad said. I agreed. Shelling corn by hand, or beating the grains off with a stick with all the cobs in a net bag, the traditional way, is a lot of work. And, after all, corn-shellers have long since become relics in the U.S., but I figured it was worth a try. I’m excited to say that we were wrong. We hastily built a box and debuted the corn-sheller recently when I heard that my neighbor had spent the whole morning shelling corn by hand with his little old wife… and still had three massive sacks left to go. Less than an hour later, he was all done. So now people flock to our home wanting to view this marvelous contraption, invite us to parties, and humbly beseech us to consider renting the machine out for others to use. Their mouths gape open when we tell them that our machine could be over 100 years old. Obviously, this is just the beginning. Can you get hold of an old corn-sheller to send us? I promise it will no longer collect dust.

The Zuluagas, us, and a couple of girls that paraded Kalea around day in and day out.

We were treated to a wonderful weekend of teaching by Dr. David Hormachea from Chile at a retreat this past weekend. Thank you to Einer and Girlesa Zuluaga for taking us along.

Kalea seems to enjoy the sights and sounds of Catrigandi.

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Filed under Agriculture, Miscellaneous