Operation Corn Maze 2011

Before last year, I had never been to a corn maze. I grew up in the country. I could run around in the corn all day long for free. Why was my mom going to pay for that? My Uncle Pat and Aunt Patricia probably wished I hadn't. One year a friend and I got the great idea to go in and flatten part of it, you know, like a crop circle. We were making a 'house'. I think I was like eight. Yeah, that went over well. (Now that I'm on the other side of the dilemma I'm surprised I wasn't strangled, 'cause some of these kids who like to ride four wheelers through our crops, yes I mean right down the middle of the feild ruining it like they have no sense of common decency or manners, yeah I'd like to pinch their heads off sometimes.) Ever since then I stopped making corn houses.

The corn maze however gives me that opportunity again. Last year was our first one and I think we did alright for a couple of folks that had absolutely no clue of what they were doing. If not for the help of our awesome family and friends and the best first employee ever, the Hayride Driver aka Red Robin, we would have never made it. This year we're really excited to get the ball rolling on our next maze (and we'll be excited until after the first weekend when we're so tired we can't move and then we'll think, is Nov. here yet? Everyone thinks it's easy to cut a path in some corn and take money, and it is a sweet gig because we have so much fun doing it, but it is a lot of work and effort and long hours.) We're in the planning stages of operation Corn Maze 2011. It's going to be different this year. I'm on a personal mission to be more organized and less messy. I've even drawn up a map.

One of the new things I want to do this year is punkin' chunkin'. I'm super excited about this. Not exactly sure how we're gonna pull it off, but essentially it will be a slingshot of some kind and you will just put the pumpkin in, pull back hard as you can, and let 'er fly. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. I don't think the Husband's too excited about it, but I'm determined to do it. It'll give the adults something to do and the kids something to watch and I think it's awesome.

We're going to do the maze a little differently this year. We want to have the Haunted Maze separate, so we can kind of ramp that up, add some more things, make it scarier. It's going to be about 4 acres, the size of our maze last year. The regular maze will be about 10 acres and we're going to have a design cut in it and hopefuly a scavenger hunt of some kind (haven't quite decided how I'm gonna do that yet, if you have suggestions, fell free to let me know).

Another new thing this year is the corn crib. I'm sure anyone whose been to Hill Ridge Farms has seen this, it's basically a sandbox filled with corn. A lot less messy for parents and something even the little ones can enjoy. Also for little ones, I want to do a straw maze this year, something smaller, more on their size that they can play around in without getting completely lost.

I spent last week updating our website (that's a whole other blog for a whole other time, maybe next week :)) for those groups who are already trying to plan fall activities. I know it's only July and you think it's not that far but we will be opening Sept. 17, which is only two and a half months away. If you have a group you think would like to come please check out the site, give me a call, shoot me an e-mail or message on Facebook. I'd love to talk to you about pricing and options. We had a lot of groups come out last year, some on the weekends, some during the week, and I think they had a lot of fun based on the responses I got.

So check us out, keep us in mind. I'll be at Micro VFD July 31 10-3 for their Christmas in July Show, signing autographs, er, I mean selling jams, blueberry and strawberry and apple, and giving away coupons to the maze with purchase so come out and support a good cause and get some great jam. We love to have groups of all shapes and sizes, don't think because you're groups not 30 strong we don't want you. We love to see kids out there having fun on our creations. And if you have any suggestions, something we didn't do right last year, something you'd like to see or do on the farm let me know.  We'd love to hear from you!