Day Tripper

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I don’t know why I even bothered memorizing the address: 1137 Highway 1.

As if a huge field filled with thousands of sunflowers could possibly escape notice.

I slow on the road to gawk. It’s hard not to. The yellow dazzles as I pull into the makeshift driveway to the farm.

I’m trying to resist the obvious pun here, but this place really is amazing.

Dakeyne Farm‘s sunflower maze is a beautiful, summery twist on the well-known autumnal corn maze (which I also love).

Tucked away on a country road between Falmouth and Hantsport, its two hectares of cheery yellow flowers overlook farmers’ fields (with “Oreo cows”), rolling hills and a tidal river.

Jen Murphy is part of the brains and brawn behind the maze.

She and her partner, Ken Wilson, along with some of his siblings, wanted to keep the family farm alive. Wilson’s parents had sold their dairy quota, and the kids knew it would be too expensive to try to get back into that business.

Someone came up with the idea of a maze, but they didn’t want to infringe on their cousin, who operates a nearby corn maze.

So, sunflowers it was.

“We had a backyard full of sunflowers, so we knew ourselves it was fun to play in them, ” Murphy says.

Fun indeed.

The flowers aren’t tall enough to dwarf most adults, but it’s still a joy to get lost in the maze. Although we received a map at the entrance, my travelling companions and I didn’t really bother to consult it, preferring instead to just enjoy the walk.

Murphy says they had a bit of a tough row to hoe at first.

They had hoped to plant the seeds by June 1 but their shipment was held up at Canada Customs for a month. When they finally did manage to plant some seeds, it rained for 20 days.

But, with two growing seasons under their belts now, they’ve gotten the hang of it.

At the end of last summer, they harvested a minivan full of seed heads, and Murphy spent the winter plucking the seeds off by hand using a banjo pick. (“It’s a technique you figure out after the first 300, ” she says.)

While Murphy and Wilson hope to one day harvest the seeds for oil – a cereal bowl of seeds produces about half a cup of oil – for now, they’re saving them to plant next year’s crop.

It’s a lot of work, but Murphy says she could never tire of looking out at the field of sunflowers.

“They’re always smiling at you. They make you happy. You can’t walk through a field of sunflowers upset – you just can’t. You can start upset, but by the time you’re in the middle, you’re feeling better.”

If you go:

• 1137 Highway 1, Mount Denson.
• Closes after Sept. 23, but will reopen the weekend before Halloween as a “haunted maze” for young children.
• $10 (adults), $5 (kids 3-12), $25 (family of four). Cash only.
• Bees abound at Dakeyne Farm, but Murphy says if you don’t bother them, they’re unlikely to bother you.
• Other activities on the farm include kite-flying, soccer croquet, a sunflower seed-spitting contest and more.

This article appeared originally in The Chronicle Herald.