Posts Tagged ‘Ohio Corn Maze’

A Winery with ADHD you might say….

Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

Marketing our place is well…..challenging. Let’s see back in the 1800’s my wife’s family settled here in Marlboro Township Ohio. Since then they have been hunters, farmers, leather tanners, school teachers, truck drivers and what ever else put food on the table.

Making Hay while the sun shines

Making Hay while the sun shines

Today we are a farm, farm market, “Agri-Tourism Destination” with a corn maze, pumpkin patch and whole host of family centered attractions and activities. We even have a pumpkin cannon that can heave a pumpkin about a half mile. Back in 2005 we opened a winery and have about 10 acres of grapes mixed in with the 600 or so acres we farm. Most recently we have opened a craft brewery that is doing very well.

New stainless tanks this year!

New stainless tanks this year!

Try and fit all that in one blog, face book page, G+ page or just about any other vector that makes sense. I’m often unsure if my post about the latest beer bread we made from spent grain from the brewing process will motivate someone to stop liking our face book page. After all they liked us after a trip to our pumpkin patch and corn maze.

GoPro view of our 2014 Corn Maze "Sea Turtles"

GoPro view of our 2014 Corn Maze "Sea Turtles"

You might say we offer a Vintage for all the seasons of your life. On the same day we have hosted birthday parties for one year old’s and 92 year old’s and even threw a bachlorette party in between. We serve five course paired wine dinners and craft beer tasting events as well and toasted cheese and hot dogs. It all depends when you are here and what you like.

One day they left me to watch the beer boil!

One day they left me to watch the beer boil!

At the same time we don’t try and be all things to all people. We offer a reflection of our personalities combined with what the land we live on and work with provides for us in the form of a competitive advantage. We are not the cheapest place around but feel we offer one the best values for your time if you enjoy an authentic agricultural based fun experience.

Crusin' the Vines, Metal Muscle Nites

Crusin' the Vines, Metal Muscle Nites

We do weekly car cruises that connect generations. Families come out to see grandpa’s car outside instead of just covered in the corner of the garage on holiday visits. This blogs author grew up with the older guys in the neighborhood wrenching on 57 Chevy’s and 68 Chevelle SS’s etc.

Three generations returning from our pumpkin patch

Three generations returning from our pumpkin patch

So before the sun sets on another Ohio summer please visit with us if you have the chance. And don’t worry well will be here all winter open as well getting ready to bring you new things to see and do down on our farm.

Our goats up on Goatapalooza ramp walkway enjoying a sunset view.

Our goats up on Goatapalooza ramp walkway enjoying a sunset view.

A quick recap of the 2013 “Growing Season”

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013

“Fall 2013” is just about done for us! It has been a long time since I sat down behind the keyboard to make a blog post. I left you back on March 8th 2012, a lot happened since then. That year we had a bumper grape crop and bust of a corn maze. In 2013 we had just the opposite. If you watch the video I posted from the last post those grape buds made it just fine, then the fears I had in 2012 hit us in 2013 and we lost over 95% of our grape crop. The good news is the corn maze had the best crop ever which made for an awesome maze and a overall great “Fall”!

I took this picture of a full moon rising over they vineyard Friday May 28th as I left the corn maze field after working ground to get ready to plant it the next day.

Bad Moon Rising

Bad Moon Rising

That was not a welcome sight to me knowing what a sky can do like that when High pressure weather patterns arrive in late May. I figured we’d have a bad frost but no idea HOW bad. When my wife left the winery at 11:30pm that night there was already a light frost on the window of her vehicle.

Grape vines morning after a freeze

Grape vines morning after a freeze

The feeling a farmer gets when they look at a crop like in the one in the picture above is hard to describe. There are a lot easier ways to “make a living” but I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything. You just sorta learn things like this happen and you try and maintain a “long view” and find the positive. My father in law also lost 17 acres of sweet corn that night, but he took a gamble on trying to put some corn out in “low ground” that grows awesome crops and got burned.

Close up of "fried" grape vines

Close up of "fried" grape vines

The “Big Picture” you just keep telling yourself and keep on swimming as Dory would say (aka Finding Nemo). That same day I took the pictures of the fried grapes I loaded the corn planter and got busy planting the 2013 corn maze. We had already started getting fall campfire/corn maze reservations back in April and I needed to start getting ready.

Loading the Corn Planter

Loading the Corn Planter

I like to plant the corn a bit later than you normally would so that it stays green as long as possible into the fall season for purposes of the maze. This worked well this year and I will get back to that with future blog posts just on how we do the corn maze.

Looking over the hood while planting corn

Looking over the hood while planting corn

The corn maze growing season really had its ups and downs. I have done a lot of work to the corn maze field and it paid off this year. We fixed some drainage problems and have been on a steady annual program of applying cow manure to help with both fertility and organic matter.

But the sun came up each and every morning!

But the sun came up each and every morning!

But the sun came up each and every morning! One of the reasons I do what I do is this is my view from my “office”. People work all year to get to a “place like this”, I live it everyday. Besides all the “normal” stuff we do we also embarked on a other special projects designed to make our fall destination a one of kind place and over this winter I’ll try and review the year both in projects and all the special events we do.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your trip to our farm as I cover some of the things we do.

Corn Maze/Agri-Tourism & Ohio Civil War History Come together @ Maize Valley

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Kay making first grid pass for 2009 Corn Maze

Kay making first grid pass for 2009 Corn Maze

Our 2009 Corn Maze Adventure is off and running!! This year’s theme is the Civil War. We are hosting a re-enactment here at Maize Valley on August 15th and 16th. We are even bringing out a limited edition wine for that weekend with a special lable recognizing the two battles that were fought in Ohio and the respective commanders. We plan on having the maze open by that weekend providing the weather cooperates.

I have placed a few videos at the bottom of this post to quickly walk you through how we have gotten started to date. I hope to put together a more edited version for teachers if I can find the time. We get so many questions as to how do you create those corn mazes? I hope this helps answer a few questions our guests might have. We use a GPS guided cutting system as well, more on that later.

We have partnered with Maze Quest this year for a new interactive game inside the maze as well. More details will be coming soon keep an eye on the website or suscribe to our e-mail list for more info.

Wagon rides, pumpkins and so much more make Maize Valley THE Place to Be!! And just one more way we Make Great Wine…FUN!!