Perfect Corn Maze Prep: Donnell Century Farms
MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — A local farm is proud to host what they say is the largest corn maze in West Tennessee. At Donnell Century Farm, seven generations of farmers have been making mind-blowing mazes within their eight acres of corn for more than 10 years. “The mastermind would probably be my mom,” said Andrew Donnell, co-owner of Donnell Farms. “She was looking for a way we could teach more people about agriculture and get the hands-on experience.” Donnell says this year’s design is the largest in West Tennessee, featuring pig races and the farm’s name. He says the planning process can take months. “It really depends on when we start on it,” Donnell said. “We start planning during the winter. We’ll start mapping it out, then we’ll put it to graph paper, keep designing and drawing. The actual cutting of the maze will take a week or less.” The family got a little high-tech help this year. A drone was used to map out the design, which then was plotted out by hand with flags. From there, a mower followed the path of the flags to cut out the maze. “It’s really awesome to have the drone and be able to fly over and see instantly what you’ve done,” Donnell said. “It’s a great feeling to fly over and go, ‘oh wow, I was worried about that.'” The maze even has an anti-bullying message with the help of a square pumpkin named Spookly. It also features other hands-on games as well. “Our corn maze this year has Mazeopoly, which you go through, find different stations, answer questions and become Farmer of the Ear. There is another game called Farm Scene Investigation, or FSI. This is a game where you have to find out “whodunit” or who is who as visitors look for clues throughout the maze.” For more information on the corn maze and all of the fun family activities at Donnell Farms and other farms across the state, visit the Seen on 7 section of our website.
