Westview Orchards and Cider-Mill

"First I would like to give a little background of our organization. Westview Orchards and Cider-Mill of Romeo are celebrating an anniversary of 195 years. We are a family owned orchard and one of the leading agri-tourism operations in the state of Michigan. Our owners are female which makes us the only female owned orchard in the nation. Our operation is one of the cleanest and reflects our hard work in making our business successful for so many years. Each year the owners work very hard at designing the ideal corn maze, which is an integral part of our operation.

We felt we should let everyone know how the Farm Works products have really helped our business. Early last year we were looking into our annual “Fall Family Fun Corn Maze”. For seven years we tried creating and cutting our own corn mazes, but experienced many complications (usually the hardware and software) and trepidation as you only get one chance to actually make it work. We even tried using a corn maze “professional” to accomplish our goals. For those who have used a “professional” can understand it can cost many thousands of dollars. You watch them and they make it look easy. Well I can tell you with our previous software it was anything but easy. We were in need of a better and less expensive way to cut the maze.

So we did some research and came across Farm Works on the internet. It was here that we learned a lot about their products and heard great comments from others using the software for other parts of their operation. We contacted Farm Works and discussed the program options and made the decision to purchase it. In order to gain experience and confidence in the product we tried a few small-scale attempts at laying out a sample maze in our parking lot. The sample maze turned out successful and the software was easy-to-use.

If you recall I said, “the professional made it look easy”. Well, we made it look even easier. The simplicity of the software program made it a breeze to cut the maze. Once you GPS map the field boundary, use the desktop software to design the maze. If you can dream it, you can cut it. We scheduled a “fly over” of the finished corn maze, and it turned out absolutely awesome. It was a tough year with little rain; however, it still looked wonderful and the maze was a hit. We are excited about the corn maze this year and plan on using Farm Works Software to create the maze again. I am serious when I say, “You will spend a little time with the handheld in the field, a little time on your computer and then you will be cutting your own maze.” You will be able to say the same thing, “That was easy why didn’t I do this before?” An important aspect of the software that we enjoy is the management side to the operation. We have begun using other parts of the software for our animals, equipment, and chemical usage. We really like the fact that we can consolidate a lot of records into one program. Just like any new system we continue to learn and grow with the system on a daily basis.

Thank you for the great system and keep up the good work."

David Staley
Washington, MI
http://www.westvieworchards.com/