“The corn’s on time - last year it was late,” a vendor remarked, while bagging the dozen ears I'd carefully inspected at his roadside stand. I counted my change, happy with his forecast; the warm, wet summer, indeed, should yield a bumper crop.

“The stalks were making quite a ruckus growing in the field last night,” he added. “And what was in your dinner glass?” I silently wondered.

This cacophony of corn requires further investigation. I conducted a word-of-mouth survey among friends and family with an intimate relationship to corn farming. One such family member, Justina, has a grandfather who has grown corn in the South Lyon area for more than 70 years.

He flatly debunks the noisy corn theory and tells Justina you absolutely cannot hear corn growing; it’s an old wives' tale. “Quiet breezes rustle through the corn,” he says, “and that’s what makes it sound like it’s growing.”

A friend disagrees. Corn, she says, is like asparagus and grows rapidly in the right conditions. If you sit quietly in a cornfield on a hot summer night, you can hear it growing. In her book “A Well-Seasoned Appetite”, (1995 ) Molly O’Neill writes; “The rustling sound is easily explained: as it grows, the cornsilk expands like a telescope, its internode sliding out from a leaf sheath.”

Whatever your opinion, just about now the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye; orderly rows of corn fields are dividing mid-Western county lines like border sentinels.

Like most produce, the best way to enjoy fresh corn is immediately after harvest. The old rule for cooking corn is to put a big pot of water on to boil. As it comes to a boil, you have just enough time to go to the field, harvest the corn and shuck it before the water is boiling and ready for the corn.

Most of us don’t live within a stone’s throw of a cornfield, so we must content ourselves with other ways of procuring local corn. I’ve purchased corn at farmers markets with silken ears so fresh, the kernels are still dewy from the fields. Fresh Michigan corn also can be found at most groceries around town.

For many, a pot of boiling water, salt, pepper and butter are the only necessary ingredients for enjoying fresh corn. You can’t beat that, but I also enjoy summer corn steamed, grilled, roasted in the husk or cooked in savory cakes or puddings.

Taste a corn kernel before cooking -- you may actually prefer the sweet, milky flavor of uncooked corn, especially in corn salads.

When selecting corn, pull back the husks and select stalks with thick kernels, but not at the tip - that could be a sign that the corn is overly mature. If not using immediately, refrigerate the corn in the husks.

And back to that corn-growing conundrum. On another topic, wiki.answers.com informs: “Everything that vibrates the air creates the potential for sound, regardless of what conscious being is there to perceive it in the first place. If there is nobody there to perceive it occurring, then it could not exist as sound, only vibration. “

Apparently, my friends, the answer lies in the ears of the beholder.

Yield: 10-12 cups Time: 40 minutes Cost: apx. $12.50

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups pearl barley 6 ears husked corn 2 sweet bell peppers, roasted (optional) 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil 1/4-1/3 cup lime juice 1 tablespoon cumin 1-2 tablespoons minced chipotle pepper* 1 cup diced red onion (1 medium-sized onion) 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1/4 cup chopped parsley

*Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can be found, canned, in the Hispanic section of most groceries. Remaining chipotles freeze well for a later use.

Directions

1. Bring large salted pot of water to a boil.
 2. Cook barley in salted water until tender, according to package instructions.
 3. Cook corn in boiling water until tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain. When corn is cool enough to handle, with a sharp knife carefully cut kernels from corn. (Note: If your corn is particularly fresh and sweet, you may prefer using uncooked corn kernels in the salad.) 4. If using roasted peppers, remove seeds and membranes; dice. 5. Whisk together oil, lime juice, cumin and chipotle.  Combine corn, barley, pepper, black beans, cilantro and parsley with vinaigrette.  Season to taste with kosher salt and additional chipotle and lime juice to taste, if desired.