Brandon came home and asked me a very strange question the other day. Can you hear corn growing? My first answer was a resounding NO! (and some one's been pulling your leg.) Then I started thinking about it. Actually, you might be able to hear part of the growing process. When the cob reaches maturity and the husks are stretched tight, you might hear the sound of them "popping" as they broke loose from the corn. Maybe that's what his friends were talking about. On a hot summer's day, it might actually sound like a crackling if a lot of them were popping loose around the same time. This really has me curious. After all, in Belgium, there is a field of corn on every corner. You'd think that the grocery stores are full of it in the Fall, but that is not the case. The locals won't touch the stuff. They don't grow sweet corn here, just your basic feed corn. It almost has a stigma attached to it..."What? I don't eat corn on the cob! Are you calling me a cow?"
Anyhoo, back to the original question. I did a little research online, and the consensus is that you can hear it crackling on a hot night. By crackling, are they talking about the stalks butting up against each other in the wind, or a sound coming from inside the corn? And only at night? I'm starting to think that this is one of those urban legends that are designed to talk a sweet, naive girl into going out into the corn field at night with her randy young suitor. Upon further research, this is the theory: Corn is a very fast growing plant. It grows an average of an inch or two per day. This is something I can totally get on board with. Our local corn is shooting up faster than the nerdy kid's hand (from the Polar Express) during a pop quiz. (Just making sure you were still paying attention.) As it grows and shifts into new positions, it makes a popping or ticking noise. This is easier heard when the corn is in large amounts, and at night when it is quiet. It's an interesting theory. Maybe one of these nights, when the skies are clear and it's not too windy, I'll grab a lawn chair and head down the street to the closest corn field. I'll have a seat and just listen for a little bit. Who knows what I might hear? Probably the locals dialing the authorities up. What are those crazy Americans up to now? And why is she sitting in my corn field?
