In 2012, our 8-acre rendering in corn and dirt was of Jean François Millet’s ‘The Sower‘ besieged by, counterclockwise from top right, a murder of crows, the winds of Aeolius, a giant locust, a brazen woodchuck, and a thieving raccoon. Hence we titled the maze The Sower’s Banquet. Ah, the joys of agriculture! Not familiar with the original painting? The Sower is part of MFA Boston’s Collection.

Embracing the Spirit of the sower, the maze celebrated the Neolithic Revolution, and the end of our paleolithic lifestyles. We saluted agriculture, and all the wonders of civilization farming has made possible!

Maze-goers were challenged to live the life of the farmer. Through a series of questions, challenges, and disasters, those walking the maze accrued and lost revenue. There’s an old joke that says, “In the lottery you risk a buck to make a million, and in farming you risk a million to make a buck.”  If you came out ahead after a trip through the maze that year, you went home with a farm prize.