Group Reservations

Our Guide to Educational Field Trips on the Farm

Brad’s Produce is a family run, fully operational farm.  We strive to offer our visitors an enjoyable and educational farm experience that they will remember for years to come. Our field trips offer the following options:

• Pumpkin Life Cycle Lesson and Craft
• Hayride and Pumpkin Picking
• Pumpkin Decorating
• Straw Maze
• Tile Maze
• Maize Quest® Corn Maze Adventure
  

We also have picnic tables available and plenty of space for blankets to make your own picnic area.  We welcome you to bring a bag lunch and stay for as long as you can.  There’s no charge for this – we just need to know in advance so we can plan accordingly. 

Hours
We are open Monday through Friday from 9am – 6 pm for school groups.  Please call for exact beginning dates as the timing of when pumpkins will be ready varies depending on the weather!  Our last day for field trips is November 4.

Reservations
Reservations may be made online or over the phone at 410-734-GROW (4769).  Please ask for Karin.

Before you get here
Please remind your group to respect other visitors and to be on their best behavior.  Chances are your group will not be the only ones here!  We require one adult to each team of 4-6 children for the corn maze.  Please have your exact head counts ready for us (children and adults) as well as your money.  We accept payment from one person for the entire group.  Cash, check or charge is accepted.  Be sure to stress to your adults that their price does not include a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.  If they wish to pick one, they need to come into the sale barn immediately following their hayride to pay for it.  We don’t like to be the “Pumpkin Police” so please be sure they are aware of this before they get here!

In the classroom:
It’s not required for you to do anything educationally to prepare for your trip, but it’s fun for your students to know a little before arriving.

• Research the history of farming or the history of pumpkins.
• Discuss rainforests and what animals may be found in a rainforest.  Why don’t we have rainforests in Maryland?
• Explore agriculture and how it affects our lives in Maryland.

Field Trip Options

Pumpkin Life Cycle Lesson and Craft
This is held in our barn or directly outside of our barn.  Children and adults sit on straw bales while one of our teachers leads a mini-lesson about our farm and how we’re different from other farms.  The life cycle of a pumpkin is also incorporated into this discussion.  Children will then make a pumpkin “chain” that they can take home with them to illustrate the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Total time for lesson and activity is about 45 minutes.

Hayride and Pumpkin Picking
Our tractor wagon will take you on a 20 minute hayride through the farm out to the pumpkin patch to pick a spookie pumpkin (it’s bigger than a softball, but smaller than a basketball) then bring you back to the starting point.  Total time for the hayride and pumpkin picking is about 40 minutes. 

Pumpkin Decorating
We will lead you to an area that we have set up with straw bales and tables where each child can decorate the pumpkin they just picked in the field.  Each child will be given a sheet of stickers with different facial features so they can decorate their pumpkin anyway they’d like!  Total time for pumpkin decorating is 20-30 minutes.

Straw Maze
This is a “mini-maze” perfect for children under 5 years old.  It’s located right next to our barn and allows little ones to get the maze experience without feeling overwhelmed in our larger corn maze. Total time can be from 5 minutes to 20 minutes – depending on your timeline.

Tile Maze
Located right outside of our corn maze, this maze fools the eye!  It looks much easier than it is.  Made up entirely of tiles laid on the ground, the object is to get to the center of the maze.  The trick?  You can only make right turns!  This is a maze that you’ll enjoy watching others solve as well as completing yourself! Total time for the tile maze is about 20 minutes.

Maize Quest® Corn Maze Adventure
This is our most challenging maze on the farm!  Our theme for 2008 is “The Rainforest Adventure”.  Travel our pathways through 8 foot stalks of corn to discover the secrets of the rainforest.  Visitors not only navigate through the pathways, they learn about the rainforest and their teammates while doing so. Our maze offers much more than a challenging cornfield experience.  It’s educational.  It promotes team-building.  It creates memories that aren’t available inside the classroom.  Total time for completing your gamesheet and finding your way out of the maze is anywhere from 45 minutes to 75 minutes – depending on each group’s navigational and problem solving skills!

For group reservations, please click here.