Jackie Dougan Jackson grew up like many farm kids. She spent sunbaked summer hours detasseling corn, and tending the crops so it can be pollinated. For farm kids, detasseling is one of the ultimate chores. For the 85-year-old Jackson, those memories still put a song in her heart.
For 22 years I lived on the Dougan dairy farm outside of Beloit, Wis., about a mile and a half. It became also a seed corn farm. I used to sing, here we go a tasseling, a tasseling, a tasseling here we go a tasseling out in the Dougan corn. We tassel fast, we tassel slow, we tassel every female row so hardly any tassels show out in the Dougan corn. I had another one about stand up, stand up for Dougan you little sturdy oat. But I won’t go on with that song we’re not talking oats right now we’re talking corn. -Jackie Dougan Jackson
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