When it is time to harvest the broom corn, the plants are tabled. Tabling is when the stalks of the broom corn are bent over, about 30″ from the ground, towards the next row in a diagonal direction. As the stalks are bent over the next row, it creates the look of a table top in the field. Tabling allows the tassels to stay straight as they continue to lengthen and help prevent birds from eating the seeds in the tassels.

Last week, the BHHA tabled 10 rows of broom corn in our historic garden by the Albert Krans Livery Stable Museum. We will be harvesting the tassels this week in order to make fall decorations that will be sold at the Colony Store. Thank you to Jeff Kaiser, Warren Schulz, Ben Strand and Corben Strand for all their work on the garden this year! Before and after photographs of tabling are shown below.