Statesman

Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: Outdoors

Media Credit: Nathan Williams

Media Credit: Nathan Williams There are scarecrows, pumpkins and fun to be had at the Silver Brook Corn Maze.

The cool, breezy days of mid-fall spark a harvest mood for me. I (thankfully) don't get as much time around farms as when I lived in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. This time of year though, I miss driving by farms with hayrides and bonfires and pumpkin patches.

I was able to satisfy the agriculture urge this past Saturday when my friend Lindsay and I traveled from Duluth to Wrenshall to visit the Silver Brook Corn Maze. Complete with pony rides, farm animals, dappled pumpkins for sale--alas, no pumpkin patch--and the eponymous corn maze, Silver Brook has something for everyone. Silver Brook is a hobby farm owned by Heidi Guest, who has been operating it as a corn maze for the past seven years.

We started off our time at Silver Brook tackling the professionally designed corn maze that this year is in the design of a scarecrow. Overlooking the muddy paths that threatened much of our escapade, it was a good challenge for two maze-novices like ourselves. There was even an educational bent to it with 15 different checkpoints posted that gave us fun facts about scarecrows throughout history and their role in different civilizations .Who knew they had scarecrows in Japan? I should have paid better attention during all those Akira Kurosawa movies.

After completing the maze somewhat successfully--we missed out on a few checkpoints--we paid a visit to the resident turkeys, hen and ponies. Lucky for me, there was a larger adult pony named Moreno who was strong enough to handle big kids. I can't remember the last time I was so excited to fork over $5.

One of the corn maze's teenage staff setup a stool next to the pony and I hopped on for a 10-minute ride around the perimeter of the farm's main lawn. I'm pretty sure the quizzical look on the faces of the children I rode past and the semi-amused expressions of their parents were because they saw how much fun I was having, and not because it was creepy and weird for a grown man to be going on a pony ride, but I'll never know.

We rounded out the day by posing for photos in front of the farm's 14-foot tall scarecrow and petting a friendly goat at one of the animal enclosures. Although there was no pumpkin picking to be had, and we missed out on the afternoon's scheduled hayride, our trip to the farm was a great way to spend one of the few nice afternoons of this fall. This coming weekend will be the last of their fall season, so grab a few friends and a few bucks, and make the voyage to Wrenshall.


Just the Facts

What: Silver Brook Corn Maze - http://www.silverbrookcornmaze.com/
Where: Wrenshall, MN: 25 miles southwest of Duluth; directions are on the farm's Web site
When: This Saturday and Sunday are the last days for 2009
How much: corn maze - $5, pony rides - $5, pumpkins - $5, goat-petting - free

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