The male flowers, the "tassels", have started showing and the resultant dusting of pollen is attracting quite a few insects. The male flowers are said to be staminate meaning lacking pistils. Female flowers are referred to as pistillate.
The female flowers have formed the silk which started showing up just a day or two after the tassels. According to conventional wisdom it can be difficult to pollinate corn so backyard gardeners should plant in blocks, not rows. The pollen is generally spread by wind and planting in single rows is a very inefficient for corn pollination. There are many ways to prepare sweet corn but the ears do not keep well and should preferably be eaten the same day as when picked.
To keep things organic, the only food given to the corn plants has been fish emulsion diluted with rain water about every ten to twelve days along with a small amount of kelp (also diluted with water). The organic fertilizers are available at the local organic gardening store. I tend to avoid the "big box" stores for stuff like this.
The corn is located is full sun and the weather here in temperature zone six has been very damp with rainy days outnumbering dry ones. I plan to plant corn again next year using the "Three Sisters" method.



