There’s fun in getting lost on purpose
Corn fields in autumn are “as high as an elephant’s eye.” That’s what makes them such good locations for a maze. We visited several local corn mazes, from the free small one at Hoerle’s Farm Market, to two other fancier creations. What’s fun in getting lost on purpose? Try it — you might like it or some of the other attractions nearby.
In Greek myth, a labyrinth (or maze) was constructed to contain the beastly Minotaur. Traditionally, the centre of a maze has a monster or surprise at its heart. This idea helps create the “spooky” feeling of a confusing maze. Mazes are found all over the world, usually built of stone although often over the years their meaning has been lost. They were sometimes used as a substitute for a pilgrimage without leaving the home church. Some modern Christians use them as a means to meditation.
Corn mazes do not take the same amount of time to build as the great yew mazes of Britain have taken. The farmer begins once his corn has reached a few inches high, by cutting the design into his field of corn. In Canada the design is usually representa-
tional rather than the classic left turn/ right turn maze. The design is often significant to the farmer — like the John Deere tractor at the heart of the maze at Leaping Deer maze, or the 2006 Hanes Maze that celebrated 75 years of Hamilton Wentworth. Around the design are misleading paths forming a background. Modern corn mazes even give visitors a map but it doesn’t help much.
At the Hanes Corn Maze, near Clappison Corners, Kevin Hanes, whose family has farmed there for six generations, began 18 years ago with a weed whacker and five acres of corn. Now his maze is 20 acres, and includes farm animals to be visited, a corncob gun and a pumpkin cannon which he built himself one winter. There are checkpoints in the maze so that visitors can solve a mystery word. Everyone gets a prize — perhaps a postcard picture of the maze taken by a drone camera. After the fun, visitors can visit “The Tiny Shop” Bakery and enjoy a delicious piece of pie or Empire Belgian cookies.
The Budd family has been farming hogs for 28 years, and they have used their knowledge in their Adventure Farm where their extensive corn maze is situated on their 375 acres. In addition to the corn maze, they have climbing structures for little tykes, made out of straw bales or giant tractor tires. There is a corncob express for small children to ride in a wagon train pulled by a tractor. Knowing animals as they do, the Budds have created a goat walk where goats can climb a wooden promenade to reach a cup of grain that is winched up by visitors. According to Julie Budd, goats love to climb — and the 10-metre promenade is no barrier to a cup of grain. There are even pig races twice a day when the pigs are cheered on by enthusiastic watchers, all for a few cobs of sweet corn.
For other visitors there are corncob shooting guns, with targets across a field. Older teenagers will enjoy the pumpkin cannon shooting eight-inch pumpkins at wrecked cars set up as targets. Instant rivalry and a sense of humour come into play at the rubber duck race, and the chicken chucking contest, where rubber chickens are launched into a fry pan from a fixed slingshot. For the last 10 years, the Budds have created a corn maze as the highlight of their “adventure.” Somewhere in the design will be a cutout of a John Deere tractor. This should be a familiar motif after visitors have toured the museum where there are old John Deere tractors and all their accessories.
Both the Hanes and the Budd families show the enterprise that is needed in modern farming. A side effect is the enthusiasm and sense of fun that they can pass on to us when we visit.