10-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 20, 2003
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Kids Korner
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Life On The Farm With Berks County LVI Dairy Miss Jessica Duncan
Jessica drives the Ranger from her home to the corn
field with dog Mazie accompanying her.
The maze contains surprises, such as this, for kids.
Jessica, Luke, and her dad stroll through the corn
maze.
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
ROBESONIA (Berks Co.)
Life on the farm means never
ending variety for Berks Coun
ty’s Li’l Dairy Miss Jessica Dun
can.
Like most dairy farm kids, Jes
sica has her own calves and is re
sponsible caring for them and
other farm chores. But she also
performs some other amazing
duties at the family farm’s Dun
can’s Corn Maze, from Septem
ber through the first weekend in
November.
Jessica’s only seven years old,
but already she is poised and
confident in interacting with
adults and children of ail ages.
When Jessica competed for the
title of Li’l Dairy Miss at the
Berks County Dairy Princess
Pageant in May, she recited a
poem. She often recites the poem
when she visits nursing homes,
schools, and other events to
promote the dairy industry.
She flips through pages of il
lustrations she colored while re
citing the following poem, which
her teacher at Conrad Weiser El
ementary School helped her
write:
I Love Ice Cream
“/ is for icy, cold (shiver)
C is for chocolate ice cream
E is for excellent nutrition,
butter, cheese, and yogurt
C is for ■ calcium to keep
bones strong
R is for raspberry ice cream
E is for everybody loves ice
cream
A is for all the time is a
good time for ice cream
M is for milk mustache (she
takes a sip of milk, which
gives her a milk mus
tache)
Some of her unusual experi
ences include going up in an air
plane to view the corn maze from
the air.
“I didn’t get sick, and I could
easily read it,” Jessica said of the
message carved into the waving
cornfields: “Real Seal, 3-A-Day.”
The slogan refers to the dairy
promotion that reminds everyone
that three daily servings of dairy
products are needed for strong
bones and teeth and to avoid os
teoporosis.
In fact, the message was select
ed because Jessica’s job as the
Berks County Li’l Dairy Miss is
to promote milk and dairy prod
ucts. Her parents, D.J. and Loret
ta Duncan, carve a different de
sign in their fields every year.
Visitors find their way through
the cornfield maze by selecting
right answers to clues along the
way.
Jessica made up a sheet of
clues for visitors to use. During
special events conducted during
the corn maze hours, Jessica op
erates a tent where visitors can
participate in face-painting and
pumpkin-painting. She also
hand-stamps a pumpkin on visi
tors to the maze.
If the weather is hot enough,
visitors solving the maze can cool
off in the “Rain Room,” which
has a big fan that blows a mist
over visitors.
The Rain Room is one of Jessi-
Li’l Dairy Miss Jessica
recites her poem, “I Love
Ice Cream.”
ca’s and her 7-year-old brother
Luke’s favorite activities in the
maze. Another favorite activity is
the pumpkin sling, where people
use a sling shot to shoot pump
kins at a target.
“It’s fun to watch the pump
kins splat,” Jessica said.
Jessica makes sure her calves get lots of cuddling. Her
brother Luke also likes to play with the calves.
Jessica and her brother Luke cool off in the rain room
erected in the Duncan Family’s Corn Maze.
On occasion, she likes to ac
company the hayride given to
visitors. The tractor and wagon
rides take visitors around the
farm and area with a stop at the
calf barns. That’s where Jessica’s
special calves are growing.
During October, the hayride
stops at the Duncan’s one-acre
pumpkin patch for visitors to
choose a pumpkin.
Jessica also hands out ribbons
in dairy shows at fairs.
“I can’t wait until I’m old
enough to join 4-H,” she said.
If you want, you can visit the
Duncan’s Corn Maze for great
fun. The corn maze is located on
the Robesonia-Bemville Road,
one mile from Rt. 422 or six miles
from Rt. 183.
The maze is open every Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday from Sep
tember through Nov. 1-2, from 1
p.m.-8 p.m. Admission is $5 for 5
years old and older, and $2 for
5-year-olds and younger.
For more information, call the
Duncans at (610) 693-8056 or
check out the Website, www.dun
canscornmaze.com.
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