DANE COUNTY, Wis. — Fall has officially arrived in Wisconsin and with it come fall activities.
Many of those pastimes such as pumpkin picking and corn mazes require cooperation from the weather.
Sarah Schuster runs Schuster’s Farm in Deerfield, Wis., with her family. The farm offers a you-pick pumpkin patch, haunted attractions, corn mazes and more.
She said pumpkins love hot, dry weather while they are growing and luckily the rainstorm that came through last weekend had little impact on their crop.
“Overall, our crop is actually doing really well and we are also situated so that our field is on a hill and the farm is on top of a hill and that helps a lot with the pumpkins,” Schuster said.
She said many pumpkin farms in Wisconsin are located in flat fields but her farm is lucky enough to have natural irrigation.
“We are doing okay with the amount of rain and we didn't get hit as hard as some other spots,” Schuster said. “It kind of mushroomed around the farm as well.”
Karla Stadler said she brings her family to Schuster’s Farm every year and she has never had a problem with the weather.
“Our grandkids get to enjoy the day and nature and being with grandma and grandpa,” Stadler said.
Rain can also have an impact on corn mazes.
Gabriel Howard has been coming to Schusters corn maze for three years with his friends and said the ground was dry enough for him to break his corn maze speed record.
“I just hug the left wall. At the start, you have to hug the right or left wall; you choose at the start and then you just have to sprint,” Howard said.
Schuster said last year, Wisconsin experienced a very dry season, which impacted the corn growth; this year she said it was the complete opposite.
“Overall, the corn is doing really well,” Schuster said. “We try to plant our corn maze a little bit later so it is not as dry when it is time for people to start going through.”
She said the farm also has livestock, so while having a healthy crop helps bring in business, it also helps to feed the animals.
“Most of it gets used for animal feed, so it is important that when you are going through the corn maze to be respectful of the corn because it gets used to feed our animals,” Schuster said.