2017 - Volume #41, Issue #6, Page #19
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Hay Castle Attracts Visitors To Virginia Farm
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The hay playground is part of the farm’s agritourism business that includes a pumpkin patch, maze, and other activities.
“It’s a whole new art form,” Nuckols says about his castles, which are different every year.
“I grew switchgrass for a yield study and had lots of extra bales,” Nuckols says, explaining how he started building the castles 8 years ago. “I have an engineering background and have always farmed. I’m really good at stacking hay.”
Those skills are useful in stacking as many as 500 bales in up to six tiers. Nuckols uses mostly 4 by 5-ft. round bales, but also incorporates some smaller bales. A 30-in. culvert makes a safe tunnel for kids to crawl through; and he builds hay steps, climbing walls, bridges and slides. Cornstalk thatch on turrets and bamboo elements add a “Gilligan’s Island look.”
He also puts up hay tower displays at the farm’s entrance with signs that include hours and other information. Visitors come back year after year so each year’s castle is different. Nuckols builds one every September and takes it down in November. He feeds bales of good hay to his cattle.
The hay castle is an optional activity in the $10 admission fee that includes a pumpkin and other extra activities such as a pumpkin hunt. Nuckols notes that he grows sorghum for the maze because it is denser and more drought resistant than corn.
As the season winds down and Nuckols takes down the castle, he says he will be imagining what he can add next year to make it even better.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, White Fall Farm, 6135 Riceville Rd., Gretna, Va. 24557 (ph 434 942-6272; www.whitefallfarm.com; ajnuckols@gmail.com).
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