HARDIN — Speedy and Flo's Sweet Corn (link) is set up to sell its produce for the season in Montana and Wyoming.
“We use the machine and the machine can’t keep up. So we use (the) basket," said Valente "Speedy" Ramirez, about the hand cornpicking process.
The family estimates that across Billings, Bozeman, Buffalo, Livingston, Miles City, and Sheridan, they sell hundreds of thousands of ears of corn per day, often selling out.
“(My dad) says it doesn’t seem like hard work, but it’s hard work," said Flocindo Ramirez, about 63-year-old Speedy.
He said he believes his father does not complain about the work because of his living conditions while growing up in Oaxaca, Mexico.
“(At) about seven, eight years old, I used to pick dry corn in Mexico — (a) big basket. Not like this, but twice as big. So, we’re used to it," said Speedy.
Marrying Angela, his wife, the same year, Speedy moved to Montana in 1984.
“What we had – we just married. We (had) nothing, no money, no nothing," said Angela Ramirez.
Flocindo, who said he "had it made" growing up in Montana when compared to his parents' lifestyle in Mexico, also said he believes his family's ability to grow corn well comes from their Zapotecan heritage.
“Our ancestors, way back when, that’s all we did was just farm," said Flocindo. "There’s no such thing as non-GMO corn, because every corn is genetically modified from the plant called teosinte. It was domesticated in the caves of Oaxaca.”
Reserved about the 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. workday of labor, heat, mosquitoes, and travel, Speedy said he remains grateful for his land which, over the last 16 years, has grown from one acre to 45 and includes cantaloupe, pumpkin, watermelon, cucumbers, and onions, alongside other produce.
"I look back on what I have now – I’m really happy (with) what I’ve got," said Speedy.
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