{"id":15816,"date":"2015-03-18T18:33:46","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T23:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=15816"},"modified":"2022-06-24T06:43:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T11:43:59","slug":"cornfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/cornfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wouldn’t quite call it a groundswell. However, more than one hundred different people searched for “cornfield” on Twelve Mile Circle over the last five years<\/a>. So obviously readers want an article based on cornfields and I shall oblige. Never say that 12MC doesn’t respond to its loyal fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I interpreted cornfield to mean Corn Maze because I couldn’t comprehend of any other reason to consider a cornfield even remotely interesting. Actually I think I preferred the British term for Corn Maze in this instance, Maize Maze. It sounded so much more a-MAZE-ing. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Corn Mazes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Corn<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Corn\/Maize Maze concept probably didn’t merit much explanation. A farmer drags a mower through virgin cornfields, cutting passageways into intricate, confusing patterns, forming a maze. Oftentimes patterns unfold into elaborate works of art viewed best from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitors explore the maze, lose their way, find surprises and generally have a great time. The concept wasn’t new. Hedge mazes date back several centuries as noted in an earlier article, Hazy Hedge Maze Memories<\/a>. However, impermanence was the difference here. Hedges took decades to reach maturity and their labyrinths remained fixed in place. A corn\/maize maze could change radically every growing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While mazes constructed of crops inherited an ancient pedigree, it surprised me to learn that this adaptation was distinctly modern. I’d thought that corn\/maize mazes had been around for a long time, guessing they probably traced back to the late 19th Century. Well, that was completely wrong. They’ve only been around since 1993. Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania (map<\/a>) claimed the first example<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept took off from there and not just in the United States. An organization called The MAiZE<\/a> included affiliates in more than 250 locations, primarily in North America. Another group, the Maize Maze Association<\/a> did much the same focused primarily in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked a few random examples from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canada<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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