Peaches are HERE! Gala & StarFire freestone yellow peaches, Jade White Nectarines & Eastern Glo Nectarines – Make an efficient trip and get ALL THREE!
Farm & Winery Open Hours
Pick-Your-Own: Mon-Sat 8AM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Farm Market: Mon-Sat 8AM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Bakery: Fri-Sat 8AM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Winery: Sat 12PM-5PM, Sun 1PM-5PM
Sunflower Festival: Aug 6-8, 13-15,20-22
Maize Quest: Opening Saturday Sept 4, 2021!
Maple Lawn Farms
Why you have to try stuff, even at the risk of failing.
Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “To be a true maverick, you have to break some of the rules. Not the law, but the rules.”
He explains further that if you spend your life following the norms of society, you can never create something truly new. I know Arnold is not without his faults, but it is true that a barely fluent foreigner with big biceps became an action movie star and even governor of California.
Those were not well-worn paths at the time. To do it, he had to break some norms.
Here at the farm, donut peaches, sometimes called Saturn Peaches for their crazy shape, are not the kind of fruit you plant to pack and ship in bulk quantities. They are a risk because they don’t even fit well in our baskets, but they are interesting, FUN, and TASTY. So we gave them a try.
You can try them this season for the FIRST time in the farm market THIS WEEKEND!
White nectarines, Yellow Nectarines, and the very beginning of the Starfire Freestone peaches are ALL fruit trees we’ve taken chances on, and now YOU get to enjoy the risk we took by planting them years ago.
Maize Quest was a big risk. When we started in 1997, no one had heard of a corn maze, let alone visited one – because we were one of the FIRST ones ever! Now, our corn maze adventures are part of Fall family traditions, but it was a crazy risk back then.
My parents were very supportive, but they told me to write a business plan, present it to my loan officer and get my own loan to start the business.
Pretty risky for a 22-year-old kid out of college, right? Ah, but I was young and foolish back then. I didn’t even realize how risky it was because I have always been so optimistic. (My soon-to-be-wife, the “Lovely Miss Janine,” did realize the risk and reminded me quite often:-)
The Sunflower Festival was a risk. I had never grown sunflowers before, and we planted three football fields worth of them the first time! Then, half of them bloomed 30 days late! (Anyone remember that?)
This year’s festival is right on track to be the nicest, cleanest, most interesting field of 51 varieties of sunflowers we’ve ever grown. Tickets are available to reserve below.
Along the way, we’ve failed hundreds of times! Bad budgeting, attractions that don’t work, terrible weather, deer eating our fruit trees, and so many more.
Had we not taken the chance, we wouldn’t have made those mistakes, BUT we also wouldn’t have created the mazes, fields of flowers, orchards of fruit, and treats you enjoy.
It’s odd, but you can’t succeed without failures.
So, what risks have you taken in your life that turn into wonderful opportunities? Ask you parents, even your kids, and enjoy finding the good in taking a chance as you create something new.
See you this weekend for peaches, nectarines and Aug 6th for sunflowers!!!
Farmer Hugh
Sunflower Festival is heating up with hundreds of tickets and time slots already reserved! Don’t miss your favorite date & time reservation->
