I enjoy the taste and smell of fresh corn on the cob, dripping with butter and sprinkled with salt. I don’t mind the mess when the butter and sweet corn juice run down my arms to my elbows planted firmly on the table. I savor each kernel. I also like popcorn, corn chips, corn dogs, and corn muffins.

Last year I discovered I can also delight in what I now call corn on the stalk. With its roots still firmly planted in the ground, the cobs fully attached, and its blond tassles blowing in the breeze, corn smells wonderful.

Another corn delight is when I get to sit quietly near the field and listen to the wind on its way. I can hear it washing across the field of green stalks anticipating the moment it washes over me and to the field on the other side. It sounds like an ocean wave on approach and departure. I whisper to Jon, “Here comes another one,” as the breeze catches the leaves and passes over us again.

The puppies sit with their faces into the wind. Tucker opens his mouth as if to taste the passing current. Sophie raises her little nose higher to catch the fragrance better. I sit with my eyes closed, my hand in Jon’s, and my nostrils and skin on high alert.

In the winter I can hear the wind blowing through the downed and drying stalks. It’s a little like hearing the ghost of summer rattle around in the fields restless for a warmer season.

So each day I can, I head for the field where I take a moment to stop and smell the corn on the stalks.

Downed stalks are evidence that the local deer and raccoon populations are feeding on its crispy bounty these days. Then soon, the harvest will come and the farmer’s cows will be fed all winter.

I’ll wait out the dusty days of harvest, the cold days of winter, and the planting time in the spring, looking forward to corn on the stalk! When I can inhale humid breezes full of the fragrance of earth’s golden crop.