Uncle Shucks Corn Maze 2012
Witch and Haunted House

We have some exciting new events for Uncle Shucks. This weekend we are hosting a party for the movie Hotel Transylvania.  Hotel Transylvania; Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of his best friends – Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Werewolf family, and more – to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis’s 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but everything could change for the overprotective dad when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis. We will have prizes and contests for our maze goers. There might even a visit from a Hotel Transylvania character. Come out and visit us and Hotel Transylvania for a fun and exciting weekend.

Uncle Shucks Corn Maze 2012
Witch and Haunted House

Sorry we have been gone for a little while, but we are ready for 2012.

It’s that time of year again: yup, that’s right, time to head outside and get lost in the corn maze. Did you know that corn mazes have been around for centuries, serving ceremonial purposes or amusing royalty in the days of kings and princesses. The “modern” corn maze has been around only since the mid-1990s. This year Uncle Shucks has gone with the Witch and Haunted House design.

Autumn officially begins in Dawson County. In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia Uncle Shucks is open. Returning on the festival grounds will be the popular Kiddie CORNer. This free activity area includes Tire Mountain, Tower Goat Walk, Soybean Maze and the Picnic Pavilion.  The tractor-drawn hayrides, feature a new 60-passenger wagon complete with wood benches and hay bales. There are also Corn-ference Rooms that groups can reserve for birthday parties, school field trips and groups.  Additional fee-based activities include the Corn Cannon, Bonfire area (weekends), festival food vendors (weekends), and Pumpkin Patch (October). Every weekend in October there will also be pony rides and face painting for children. Are you ready for 2012? What is your favorite part?

Uncle’s Shuck’s is an excellent outing for groups of all sizes:

•Great team building opportunity

•Unique outing for your youth group or church group

And, we offer special rates for groups of 20 or more:

•Kernel (Maze)- $9.00  •Cob Combo (Maze and Hayride)- $12.00  •Whole Bushel (Maze, Hayride and Haunt)-$15.00  •The Stalk-(Haunted Maze and Regular Maze)-$12

We are located North and slightly east of Atlanta in Dawsonville, Georgia, near Gainesville and Alpharetta. Visit our directions page for further information.

School groups, click here!

Scout groups, click here!

It starts with the perfect corn. Pick the best corn by first peeling away the husk. Look for juicy and plump kernels that are firm but not hard. You’ll want the corn silk to be moist and stiffish, without being too funky from sitting around in bins for too long.

To cook the corn, follow this recipe!

Corn on the Cob

Prep time: 5 minutes Total cooking time: 10 minutes

Rule Number 1: Do not overcook the corn.

Directions: Bring a large pot to boil. Remove husks and corn silk from 5 to 6 ears of corn. Drop corn into boiling water. Return to boil. Cover, turn off heat, and remove after 5 minutes. Add butter and seasoning to taste.

Happy eating from Uncle Shuck’s! Find more summer corn recipes and tips here!

Your educational, fun visit includes: ◦”Cornference Classrooms” (Teachers: we have three lessons, each meeting the GPS Georgia Performance Standards. Click on the links below for details.)

◦Estimating Pumpkin Weights ◦Corny Plant Parts ◦Soybean Recycling •Hayride along the Etowah River •Learning Corn Maze (Teacher guided .4 mile maze with 10 corn fact signs reinforcing the lessons) •Each Student Receives◦32 Page Coloring Book ◦Coupon for a Free Return with Parent or Guardian ◦Mini Pumpkin

Educational Field trips are available Tuesday thru Friday in October. Choose 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12, or 12-1:30

Field Trips last 1 1/2 hours, plus whatever time you want to stay afterwards. Schools are welcome to use the picnic tables under our giant 60′ x 40′ tent on a first come, first serve basis (the corn maze is open to the public during school tour times). Bring along blankets for additional lunch time seating.

Cost is $7 per person. Teachers, bus drivers and paid staff are free, all others will be charged $7.

Click here to make your reservations online, or call 1-888-OSHUCKS.

Mike and Shawn in the Corn

Do you know as much about corn as Uncle Shuck’s? Read on!

Corn is a member of the grass family. Cornstalks grow anywhere from 2 feet high (dwarf) to 20 feet high, but the average stalk tops out at about 8 feet. The ear or cob is the female part of the plant and houses up to 1,000 seeds.

Corn is native to the Americas. Corn was cultivated and domesticated in the Americas thousands of years before Europeans reached these shores. Corn as we know it today is a hybrid of a variety of grasses and looks very different from its wild ancestor, which originally grew in southern Mexico.

Most corn produced in the U.S. is grown in the Corn Belt, which includes Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. The U.S. supplies about 40 percent of the world’s corn.

Margarine is the solid form of corn oil, which is extracted from the germ of the corn kernel. Corn oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, soaps, and linoleum, not to mention its relatively recent role in the development of alternative energy sources.

Bourbon is a type of whiskey that’s been distilled from at least 51% corn mash. Ninety-nine percent of all bourbon whiskey is made in Kentucky.

Similar to Italian polenta, grits are a corn-based porridge made from coarse stone-ground corn. Grits are usually served savory with a generous pat of melted butter. Shrimp and grits is a popular southern delicacy.

When heat is applied, the water that exists inside the popcorn kernel becomes steam and expands, eventually breaking the hard outer covering of the kernel and turning it inside out. The soft starch of the interior becomes fluffy and white after the tiny explosion.

The term “cornhusker” comes from the method of harvesting, or “husking,” corn by hand that was common in Nebraska before the invention of husking machinery. The nickname is used by the University of Nebraska for its sports teams.

The average ear of corn has 800 kernels arranged in 16 rows.

Learn more about corn thanks to Sara Schwartz at Delish.com.

We then must repeat this process again in six weeks. Oh my…

The corn will average growing a foot a week once it is planted in early July. Now that’s quite the growth chart! Soon, Shawn Stalwothy from Maze Play will cut the field with a compact tractor and a 50 inch roto tiller using GPS and craft our grassy wonderland into a fall playground for the whole family!

The Funky Chicken Art Project is the working studio of James Sargous, painter and sculptor, and Christina White, woodcarver, with a gallery displaying their work and others. They welcome visitors to the studio and their sculpture gardens out back. Classes in woodcarving are taught by White on a regular basis in the studio. Visit their web site at Funkychickenartproject.com.

The Funky Chicken Art Project will be selling their awesome art during both Scout weekends.

At Uncle Shuck’s, scouts are very important to us. We are a family-friendly, scout-friendly, church-friendly and civic-friendly organization. As a kid, Uncle Shuck’s first mentor in life was James Neidhoffer, a huge supporter of the scouts up until the day he died. In fact Neidhoffer was a collector of butterflies, donating over $1,000,000 worth of the pretty critters to the Milwaukee museum well over 20 years ago. A few years ago, the Uncle Shuck’s maze a was a tribute to him.

So keep your eyes open for the Scout Guide Book and find the Uncle Shuck’s listing!