If you leave smallhouse and travel a few miles north on 58th Ave, you’ll find yourself in the old, rural section of Vero Beach where citrus farming once flourished. Although many groves have recently sold to land developers, Countryside Citrus remains a family enterprise with an eye toward the future. Today they opened Indian River County‘s first (ever) maze in the 4 acre cornfield behind their store:
……and I was there! (i’m the one with the camera following my friend Ivana….whose granddaughter is barely visible over her left shoulder. 😉 )
What a perfect day to wander around outside…a bit windy but a very comfortable 82°F.
Mazes like this are designed by a company from Utah, with a simple yet clever name: “Maize Inc.” For the past 16 years, they’ve used a combo of CAD and geometry to turn more than 2000 cornfields into agritainment destinations. The idea is to take a few wrong turns, get lost, double back and maybe even start over, but never, ever feel panicky that an exit’s out of reach! Upon entering, maze-goers are handed a map and soon pass a “crop cop” watching the field from his perch on high!
FYI: we had no need of his services! Ivana’s granddaughter was an excellent navigator! 🙂
It took approximately 30 minutes to complete the maze and then it was off to explore the rest of the farm. A free ice cream is included with the 9.00 admission fee, so we sat by the pond for a little break while we ate!
The view from the opposite side was equally pretty:
Like most working farms, Countryside Citrus has everything you’d expect. We passed this tractor enroute to the store just beyond….
Inside we found a nice selection of fruit and other wares:
We really had a lot of fun at Countryside today! Before we left, I sampled a Southern snack I’d never, EVER heard of: boiled peanuts..and were they ever GOOD!
As one who comes from the land of baked beans, boiled peanuts required some research! I found an interesting FAQ and some great recipes in this article from Southern Living. Definitely something to make at home!
Enjoy the weekend, everyone!
Until next time……
🙂 🙂 🙂
Related articles
- Amazing Maize Maze (ruralhill.wordpress.com)
- Enter at Your Own Risk: 10 A(maze)ing Corn Mazes Near Seattle (redtri.com)
- Maze Makers: How Cornfield Labyrinths are Designed (tested.com)
- There Is A Maze In England That Is Shaped Like A Dalek (buzzfeed.com)
- Corn maze celebrates UMF’s 150th anniversary (bangordailynews.com)
- Spooky Pit Stops: Find a corn maze in 47 states! (pitstopsforkids.com)
- An Amazing Maze of Maize (suitcaseandheels.com)
23 thoughts on “A Maze of Maize!”
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small house/BIG GARDEN 
My hubby loves boiled peanuts. Sounds like you had a lot of fun!
They were so good! Do you have a particular way of making them that you could share?
Boy, that sounds like so much fun! 🙂 I have a poor sense of direction so I’d probably need the help of the crop cop. 😉
it was! I’ve done a corn maze before in Massachusetts but it wasn’t designed by Maize, Inc. From what I remember, they devised their own and it was equally good!
Lots of fun!
I’m going to visit the Maize website to see if they have anything up in the tri-state area.
Fantastic! Anyone who doubts blogging/linking being effective advertising need only read your comment!
I love a good maize maze 🙂
Aren’t they a blast?
The corn at this one hadn’t grown as high as the maze in Massachusetts where I’ve done this in the past. Up north, the crop was at least 3ft over our heads and the lanes were much narrower! To assure you wouldn’t get lost, each group was given a really tall pole with a flag on top so the crop cop could spot anyone getting panicky!
Real fun way to spend a morning outside!
CH and I love boiled peanuts! We started eating them when he was assigned to Ft. Rucker in Alabama and that was in 1976. They are addicting! Corn mazes are fun and we have a few around here. Your pictures of the pond are lovely!
I read that boiled peanuts are the state snack of South Carolina! Guess their popularity spread throughout the South!
GREAT POST!!! Awesome photos!
thanks!
I wasn’t thrilled with the photos but they were adequate anyway! It was wicked windy and the sun was at all the “wrong” angles for what I was trying to catch! Not like taking pics in my own yard where I know exactly what angles work best for avoiding glare thoughout the day!
What a great way to spend a day! I can imagine how enjoyable the ice cream was after spending time in the maze, especially by such a pretty pond. My mother was very fond of boiled peanuts, and my dad brought them home to her on occasions. I think they are quite tasty, though a bit salty. They seem to only be available at certain roadside stands.
This post was a terrific reminder of my first maze. Your aerial view shows a much more complicated picture, but the maze I tried was still exciting to me. It was a race; we were in 4th grade, all enthusiastic, and we ran in teams of 3. We were supposed to figure it out for ourselves, but we could hear other groups laughing and shouting from the other rows.
Excellent post!
So can we say that a maze of maize is amaizing?
What a great tour! Thank you, Karen!
Never heard of a maize maze. Seems like it was good weather and fun too.
I’ve never had boiled peanuts, and the thought of a corn maize in Florida is a bit funny. I have no trouble, though, picturing them back in the Midwest where I grew up!
Boiled peanuts?!? This was news to me as well. I had no idea you could boil them.
Finally a corn maze I might come out of because it has a crop cop. For directionally challenged person, this is a good thing. 🙂
Boiling peanuts in shells is very common in Asia. If you go to Asian food shops, more than likely they’ll have them. During my childhood in Indonesia, people sold boiled peanuts that still on the stems. They tied them into small bunches to sell…. They are good when still fresh and warm:) Prone to get spoiled and slimy too quickly.
you pictures are truly inspiring and wonderful, I love the blog. 🙂
The corn field maze is so cool. Love your blog