Seedbed, maybe you never thought of it that way but but making a nice cozy place for a seed to germinate is very important. Keep in mind planting corn for a corn maze is different that planting corn just to raise to harvest to sell. We spend a bit more time and money getting this field prepared than a “normal farmer” would.
Planting Corn Maze "No-Till"
In past years we planted the field “No-Till”, that is we would just plant into the field as we left it after harvest the previous fall. The planter has what are called “Row Wipes” that push aside the “Trash” (leftover organic matter and other plant material) left from last year and the row unit has steel disks that open up the soil, place the seed and close the seed trench. It worked fine but we wanted to start using cow manure as fertilizer and we needed to work it into the soil. This required we go “old school” and back the the moldboard plow.
Four bottom Moldboard Plow
At one point in time the Moldboard plow and it evolution through the 1800’s was as technologically advanced as Global Positioning Satellite systems are today. Click HERE to read it’s history. Advancements in design and materials changed the face of agriculture and thereby our country.
A picture of a "Disk" field working tool
After we plow the corn maze field we follow with what is called a “Disk”. Timing can depend on soil moisture, time of year or equipment availability. It has a series of disk shaped blades mounted on a shaft or an arbor. They are positioned at a slight angle to the direction of travel and to each other. There are usually four arbors with disks mounted on them. This is called a gang that is mounted to a frame via roller bearings that allow the disks to rotate as the tool is pulled across the field.
Field Cultivator
Again as I’ve mentioned building a Corn Maze in Ohio and planting the corn for a corn maze we do things a bit different than we would just planting a “regular” corn field. This corn has to not only yield but also be part of an experience for our guests. After the disk we work the ground with a field cultivator. It has small shovel-like tools mounted on a spring loaded arm and steel bar that runs from one side of the tool to the other. The purpose of this tool is to level the soil bed. It fills in ruts left by the disk and knocks down high spots as well.
Cultipacker
The last pass across the field before planting we use a cultipacker to further level the soil and also break up some of the dirt clods some more. We want to provide a firm but not overly packed soil bed for the seed. You want the soil fine enough to get optimal seed to soil contact without packing the soil and compacting it to the point it can crust if and when you get a rain. It is a judgement call. You can plant right into disked ground but again for purposes of the corn maze we do things a bit different.
Corn Planter
In out next post about planting a Corn Maze we will talk about the planter itself and how we actually place the seed in the soil.
Ok so if you havn’t seen the movie “Cars” you may not know who the i’ll tempered Combine “Frank” is that chases Lightning and Mater across the field protecting his flock of tractors from the “Tractor Tipping Duo”!
My father in law requested the tailings fan
Now I guess I just “think” different than other people??
My Son Brett lending a helping hand
Ya see some of the doctors say Brett is mildly “Autistic”. My “therapy” for him is to immerse him in hands on experiences that teach him to think and use all his senses to forge new pathways and live a full life. Farmer Bill’s take on a condition.
Parts and pieces parts
We will save all this stuff and haul it to the scrap yard this winter.
Looks like a Future ball pit if ya axe me!
Slide, slide, everywhere a slide blockin' out the.....
We think Maize Valley farm market and winery is Northeast Ohio’s most complete fall harvest destination. From Cabernet to Corn Mazes, from Haunted Scares to Syrah we have you covered. Years ago when we started corn mazes and pumpkin picking were about it. Now while they are still what you might call the “fulcrum” to our fall “lever” they are just one part of the Maize Valley experience. We have added NASHOG Pig Races, Duck races, an expanded play area, a haunted corn maze and woods walk, plus our awesome pumpkin cannon and more.
Factor in all the great food we produce on site, and even award winning wines if you so choose to enjoy with the rest of the experience while at Maize Valley, you can easily spend four to six hours with us on a sun drenched autumn afternoon. I guess we are a winery with ADHD and maybe more!
At Maize Valley we strive to deliver and experience packed full of value for the individual, family or group. Coming this fall for 2010, on September 18th the corn maze opens with a great big ole’ faarrrrr (fire), followed on the 25th by a balloon lift off. On October 1st our way fun haunted Carnage in the corn opens then on October 9th Megasaurus the fire breathing car crushing metal monster comes to Maize Valley to make it’s version of pumpkin pie! Add in campfires, and all the fall fun that build memories that last a lifetime.
You can visit their link I have with the pics above to get the history to how all this got started but as you can see it has just gotten way out of control. Just as it should, I hear there are some machines here that have around $400,000.00 invested in them. That was just the word on the street, uh er chunkin line, I can’t say for sure.
My little air cannon (pictured below) has about a 20 foot 8 inch diameter barrel. It was a grain leg drop tube used for filling bins back in the day when we were a grain storage facility. The tank I found at a propane supplier that was surplus material, and so goes much of the rest of the parts. I have a range of about 2500 feet, these big guys much more with a bigger pumpkin too!
Marlboro Madness Maize Valley Pumpkin Cannon
Low buck, safe, make a profit was my motivation these guys take it too a whole other level. I think Tim Allen would be proud! Again you can go to the Science Channels website or You Tube to see more but I will put a video clip here that I took at the event. It is sort of long and the shot takes place towards the end (1:45) as when you are filming them you never quite know when it is going to go off.
Well I ain’t braggin but hey, sometimes even a blind nut finds a squirl….. or somethang like that? You C right up the street from us not even five minutes away lives this big ole’ metal dinasaur, and he ain’t purple! I have driven by it for a couple of years and this year I just stopped in to see if he might be interested in coming over to play?
Well his owner Mike West of Wild West Entertainment is just about as nice of guy as you could meet and he said “sure we can come over”. We worked out a dinasaur dinner budget (he’s gotta eat ya know), and well two weeks now are history, and the crowds just love to come to Maize Valley to see Megasaurus do it’s version of “Making Pumpkin Pie” Maize Valley Style. We are reloading for one more show on October 24th to highlight Megasaurus’s unique dinning style of cars and pumpkins. Now This is what I call Eating Local!
This fall has been a weather diasaster for us. We have had rain EVERY weekend since we opened the corn maze and fall harvest activities. But ya know what, our sales are down but not like they should be with the terrible weather we have encountered. We have lost all our Friday nights, and most all our haunted nights due to either direct rain or mud that made things unsafe. We upped the anti this year, the new maze games outlined in previous posts I think are paying off . The maze is staying in pretty good shape considering the weather, crowds and poor condition of the corn to start with.
I addition even though the haunt has not opened (one night so far) it allowed me to leverage marketing dollars from a local sponser excited about working with us and I was able to purchase several thousand dollars in radio that has in turn leveraged some other unique marketing ideas.
With this promotional push I had the confidence to go ahead and book Megasaurus which is a national quality act seen at Monster Truck shows all over North America (A similar machine sold for over $500,000 recently). And the story goes on with an agreement for next season as well and possible additional sponsors due the momentum and scope of our efforts to date and plans for next year. “And the beat goes on…..and the beat goes on”!
It’s all fun and games till somebody pokes an eye out or something like that I think Mom used to say… But hey when trying to carve our your place in the pumpkin selling world….sometimes it’s better to be lucky (have a megasaurus live up the street) than good!
In an ongoing attempt to let people know what and how we do things at Maize Valley I keep letting out a little bit of info here and there about how it is we keep making Great Wine…FUN!
You can do corn maze a bunch of different ways but what I am showing is just how we roll. This year will be our tenth corn maze and the system we use works for us, it may not for you but such is the case in many things agritourism.
Like making wine you cannot make just what you like, such is also the case in a corn maze. People come out to buy some of our fresh produce, maybe drink some award winning wine, but in the fall especially to have fun. The maze helps folks do that. So we cannot create something that just makes people nuts but rather is an enjoyable experience while on the farm.
So part of that is first a foremost safety. That is why I roto-till the paths so it reduces the chance anyone can fall and if they do so they don’t land on something that could injure them. I know it will happen but I try my best to see that it doesn’t. We try and get the paths like road before we open so a stroller or power chair can go through weather permitting.
So check out how we roto-till our corn maze paths and see some of what goes into your admission price too. And remember if you do come STAY ON THE PATHS OR WE WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE, for the pleasure of all guests that come after you.
WoW is stuff growing fast now, from Raspberries to pumpkins to corn we got it going on here are a few pics and video of what growing up down on the farm at Maize Valley.
Agri-Tourism is a big part of what we do at Maize Valley. The new word on the street, er maybe for us the path, is “Imersion Tourism”. We just know it feels right to help people work toward “Hakuna Matata” or no worries and a relaxing fun day in the country can be just the ticket for that.
But we ARE farmers, really we do grow a ton of stuff yet from Watermelons to Wine we do a lot. But we have to sell it too, otherwise we will not be around to do it again as my wife’s family has done for the last 150 odd years here. So a great deal of my blog deals with what a modern direct market producers deals with and what it takes to both grow the food you need to eat to live, but also provide a quality of life aspect that makes life worth living.
Here are some video updates of where our corn maze and U-pick pumpkin patch is 8 days after planting, hope you enjoy.
Yea, we are much more than just a winery, or a vineyard. We (Actually mostly Kay) still farms about 700 acres +/- a few, that is down from 3,000 acres a few years ago. But now we have crops that are much more intensive to produce and take more time and attention. Peppers and pumpkins are just a few, they planted watermelons last saturday too! They fly really good out of my pumpkin cannon, maybe that is why one variety is called “cannonball”??
The peppers you see above number just under 70,000 plants Kay told me. They are ready to be planted and go in the ground much like the tomatoes I showed in previous posts. We sell wholesale to vendors, to restaurants via Fresh Fork Markets. We also attend farmers’ markets in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Alliance, and Greentown. Links can be found on the lower right corner of the page for these locations, look under “Farmers’ Markets”.
You can also find them at our own farm Market, and in and on some of our entrees’ in our winery cafe’. New this year will be a line of canned peppers called “Pappy’s Peppers” named after my father-in-law, Kay Vaughan. That way we keep those green pepper flavors in the right glass container.
The videos will show the path a pumpkin seed takes to go from Bag to Jack-o-lantern. Much like the corn maze video I will try and follow this crop from start to finish.
