During the summertime, Washington Farms is the place to go to pick your own strawberries. But strawberries die with summer and in autumn corn is born. Traveling to Washington Farms involves a trip south down Highway 441 and through part of Athens’ next door-neighbor, Watkinsville. A few more miles down a country road that cuts through pastures and meadows brings you to a driveway marked by a giant spider made from a hay bale. The driveway winds through the farm, past the Goatel (inhabited by goats, of course) and the cow train and, eventually, the farm’s pride and joy: the corn maze.

This year Washington Farms is offering a service that allows wanderers in the corn maze to send a text message to someone at the farm asking for directions. The corn maze is open on Tuesdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. in October. Farm activities – available Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. – include pig races, hayrides, a petting zoo, picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, a Vortex tunnel, a pumpkin slingshot, a corn cannon and duck races. Fire pits are available for marshmallow roasting and cooking hot dogs. Tickets are $8. Washington Farms is a 15-minute drive from Athens, at 5691 Hog Mountain Road.