Many years ago when I lived without electricity and had a great Home Comfort wood stove, I dried a lot of corn. Great product. You can toss it into stews and soups too.

Could a deer have knocked it down to make a bed? Strange how the flattened part is in the middle of the patch. I've got a single stalk of corn growing out of the manure pile by the barn, with three beautiful ears. It just appeared, I didn't plant it. Probably won't make great eating given that it's only feed corn, but I'm looking forward to the harvest.

You're welcome. To blanch corn on the cob, the timing you use varies with the size of the ears. See the attached link for the amount of time recommended for different ear sizes. The key to good corn blanching is to cool the corn quickly after it is blanched. If it takes too long to cool down, the corn will have a strong cobby taste when you eat it. I cool it quickly by having a stockpot full of ice water with lots and lots of ice ready and waiting when the corn is through blanching. I remove the corn from the boiling water and drop it into the ice-cold water to cool it down quickly. After it is cool, I remove it from the stockpot of cold water and drain it in a colander. Then I bag it, seal it and put it in the deep freeze. There is no law in the USA (although many such laws exist in other nations) requiring foods containing GMOs to be labeled as such. At the risk of repeating myself, you can only be sure you are not eating GMO food if you only buy certified organic corn or raise your own, or know an honest market gardener who will tell you what variety they raise and whether it is or isn't a GMO variety. Consumer groups and organic farming groups have tried and tried and tried, with no success, to get GMO labeling laws passed in the USA. Why? Because Big Ag fights these laws and Big Ag has very deep pockets. Most organic groups feel like Big Ag fights these laws because they believe if the consumers in the USA saw "Contains GMOs" on the labels, they wouldn't buy the products. That likely is a fair assessment. If you eat taco shells, corn chips, any processed food product that contains anything made from corn, including corn oil or HFCS (including, of course, soda pop), cereal made from corn, etc., and they are not labeled as organically grown, then you are eating GMO corn all the time anyhow. If you are eating corn-fed beef, pork or chicken that is not labeled organic, it likely was fed GMO corn feed. If you buy conventionally-raised eggs, they likely were fed poultry feed containing GMO corn. Mind boggling, isn't it? I know a lot of people who go out of their way to buy organic corn-on-the-cob, for example, but eat and drink processed food products that contain processed corn products that likely are from GMO corn, every single day. I think that it is easy to just "forget" about GMO corn being in processed food that contain ingredients derived from corn. You have to go out of your way and work really, really hard, particularly when buying food and beverages, to find organic products that contain no GMO ingredients. You just have to decide for yourself how important it is to you to avoid GMO corn. I try to avoid it to some extent, but everything I buy at the store is not organic. I wish it was, but organic food is pretty pricey. It is getting easier to find organic food in regular stores, and I shop at lot at CostCo (which means driving 80 miles one-way to shop there) because it carries a huge amount of organic products. I feel like they should have to prove GMO food is safe before they can sell it, but that really isn't how it works in this country. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP: Freezing Corn

Rodents or birds come to mind as possible culprits.