Home Ag. prospects: Putting the Lawn into Production!

Let's be frank here; I don't like mowing the lawn. And I am cursed (many would say blessed) with a 2-acre lawn, a solid chunk of which grows at a near-rediculous rate. For much of the time that I have owned this property I have wanted to put this "jungle patch" into production, and grow a large garden. However my current job situation (extremely busy) all but prevents this (I don't have near the time or energy to maintain a garden with "traditional" practices, such as hand-pulling weeds and a mixture of companion planting and nicotine spray to manage insect pests). So I have come up with an alternative that also supports my poultry hobby; grow my own feed corn!

Pictured to the right is the result of my "homegrown" (quite literally in this case) soil quality test two years ago. Whilst out woodchuck hunting I "borrowed" a couple of modern hybrid dent corn seedlings (which are virtually dependant on fertilizer) and transplanted them on my lawn, just outside of the "jungle." I only used fertilizer of any sort (TSC-brand 12-12-12) once, WAY too late in the season. Yet the picture shows the results. The two surviving cornstalks, though decidedly stunted, each yielded an ear this size, very close to the size of the whole-ear corn sold commercially as squirrel feed! I'd say my soil quality test was a success!
I have currently staked off most of the "jungle," an area that measures 25x100 feet, and plan to till this area under within the next couple of weeks. By doing the math, and using the preferred planting rate for modern field corn of 36,000 seeds per acre, I figure this entire area would require about 1,200 seeds (which equals just under a pound of seed). The problem is that corn seed is sold in 80,000-seed bags costing between $70 and $400! I will need to talk to the farmers I know and see about buying a couple of pounds of seed...
I want to set aside the last few feet of this mini-field aside to grow a few tomatoes and a couple of rows of sweet corn, but that's all the gardening I have planned for this year. As I stated I simply don't have time to do more... The corn (both the sweet and field varieties) require minimal maintenance once established (especially since I'm not going for maximum yield, it's mostly for fun, and to put my land to use). Of course come fall I'll have 1,200 ears of corn to harvest (by hand!) and store, but I do have the space and (hopefully, by then) the time...