shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Dec 6, 2015 12:35:31 GMT -5
It just occurred to me today that I have absolutely no idea what the Kents were growing on that farm they raised Clark on. Is it ever stated anywhere? Do we ever see anything growing in the fields, or any animals in the pens? do they have farm hands of any kind?
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Dec 6, 2015 12:41:13 GMT -5
I vaguely remember seing corn, but you're right, it's kinda vague.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 6, 2015 12:42:36 GMT -5
I think the earliest reference I can that I can think of was Johnathan Kent's journey in the after life in Superman #500 where he begins by thinking he's in his corn fields before they turn into the jungles of Vietnam. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 6, 2015 13:21:24 GMT -5
If I remember my Silver Age mythology, I think the main crop was Red Kryptonite. No wonder they shut down the farm and opened up the grocery store.
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Post by spoon on Dec 6, 2015 14:02:20 GMT -5
Like George Washington, he was farming hemp. To produce rope.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2015 14:19:43 GMT -5
Here's the best pictures that I can find ...  Looks like Corn to me.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 6, 2015 14:27:30 GMT -5
If he's like any real farmer he grew a variety of crops. Considering he lived in Kansas it was probably a rotation of corn, beans and wheat. Growing only one crop is bad for the soil.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 6, 2015 15:01:38 GMT -5
Like George Washington, he was farming hemp. To produce rope. You'll believe a man can fly. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 6, 2015 15:04:12 GMT -5
It's corn when they show Clark doing it himself in Kingdom Come, too, IIRC.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 6, 2015 16:20:17 GMT -5
If he's like any real farmer he grew a variety of crops. Considering he lived in Kansas it was probably a rotation of corn, beans and wheat. Growing only one crop is bad for the soil. Now that you say that I think I remember something to that effect in a Man for all Seasons |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 6, 2015 16:29:18 GMT -5
The crop rotations here run a number of options including sugar beets, potatoes, beans, wheat and alfalfa. The last one is ubiquitous because it rebuilds the nutrients in the soil. The ones I cited are the most common rotation for Kansas. Soybeans are probably also a possibility as they add a ton of nutrients back into the soil.
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Post by Action Ace on Dec 6, 2015 21:03:25 GMT -5
It just occurred to me today that I have absolutely no idea what the Kents were growing on that farm they raised Clark on. Is it ever stated anywhere? Do we ever see anything growing in the fields, or any animals in the pens? do they have farm hands of any kind? If it's Kansas, odds are it is wheat. That is, by far, the most common crop in the state. I think corn is the crop most often shown in various media though. I guess the writers/artists/whatever are more familiar with it. When the Kents move into town and have the General Store, someone is very likely farming the land for them in a "tenant farming" arrangement. Various people are mentioned as "taking care of the farm" for Ma Kent after Pa Kent dies. Clark could do it all of course, but he probably wants to protect that secret identity. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Dec 6, 2015 21:34:28 GMT -5
I guess the writers/artists/whatever are more familiar with it. I actually think the reverse. It seems likely that the reason writers never really get into it is because they don't know anything about farming and don't really care to. |
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244 
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Post by zilch on Dec 7, 2015 0:11:46 GMT -5
Sunflowers?
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 7, 2015 0:45:30 GMT -5
Pre-Crisis, Smallville was on the East Coast (about forty miles northwest of Metropolis) so it's highly unlikely he grew wheat or corn. He may have been a truck farmer, growing produce for the local markets. He also had some livestock, as I recall stories where Superbaby took on an angry bull and had a pet calf.
Cei-U!
I summon the ol' John Deere!
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