LINO LAKES, Minn. – (Sept. 10, 2015) – “I am the fourth generation, we are approaching our 100 year anniversary here at Waldoch Farm,” said Field Manager Doug Joyer. People in Lino Lakes and surrounding community have been eating the produce grown at Waldoch Farm for decades. You can stop by and buy a sack of corn that was picked that morning. Or in the spring you can get your garden supplies and vegetable starts. In fact everything produced on the farm is sold right on the same property. “We have 35 acres of fresh produce and we sell it all direct on the farm here to the customer. We do pick your own produce and picked produce,” said Joyer.
As the growing season winds down and the fall weather creeps in people come to Waldoch Farm for another reason – good old fun. “A clean, friendly farm with several activities that will keep them busy all day,” said Joyer.
The star attraction of the fall fun is the 5 acre corn maze. This year the design of the maze pays homage to the farm’s founder. “Every year I have an idea of what I’d like to see it become this year we had a photo based on our great grandpa, my mom’s grandpa, Grandpa Bill. It is an iconic photo of him in his late years,” said Joyer. Making the corn maze takes time and careful planning. “So we take that photo, I send it in to the company that helps us out and they convert it into a grid form and a good maze. It’s a grid because the corn is planted at 90 degree angles. Kind of like when we were in elementary school if you had to transport a drawing or picture to your own drawing you have a grid laid out and you just connect row five with an arch like this to row 10 so it really breaks it down per foot,” said Joyer. Each person that enters the maze is provided with a map and a scavenger word find can help orientate groups as they walk the paths. But if you get lost you could end it spending quite a bit of time traversing the trails.
“This corn maze is about 5 acres, it’s probably two to three miles in paths in it so if you walk it without making a wrong turn you could get out in about 15 minutes. But if you took every path it’d take a good half hour to 45 [minutes]. Then also if you get lost, it could take you longer than that, so it’s a good walk,” said Joyer. The corn maze is not all they have to offer. Hayrides, play structures, a mini-maze, pedal carts, a corn bin are just some of the other activities. One of the most popular things to try is the corn cannon – which is exactly what it sounds like. “We have a corn cannon which is one of the things on the farm that if you hit a target that your shooting at you win a candy bar and we’re aiming at an old thrasher machine that is pretty fun to hear the corn explode on. It’s pressurized air that shoots a cob of corn through the air and it’s a very fun little activity that we have,” said Joyer.
Being a working farm there are also many animals to see in the barnyard area. “Everyone likes the barnyard. We got a few new critters over there. We got the Pygmy goats this year and an alpaca and some miniature donkeys which we added to our normal animal array of sheep, different type of poultry, and a couple horses over there too,” said Joyer.
As Waldoch Farm closes in on 100 years in Lino Lakes, they know that their survival is thanks to a lot of hard work and a community that supports them. “Where we have the community grow around us but not take us over,” said Joyer.
The corn maze and the rest of the fall activities will open on Saturday, September 19. Most of the activities will be open daily until Halloween. For more information about Waldoch Farm click here.
