It was just a couple days after Eagle View Elementary School's annual fall pumpkin sale, when all students took home basketball-sized pumpkins, some of which were grown in the school's nature area.

Who says you can't have fun while learning?

That's the goal of the Eagle View Nature Area, sponsored by the Pelican Lake Conservation Club and coordinated by Jim Minerich, a longtime teacher who is now retired.

This year, Science Camp participants planted about 200 pumpkins and 100 gourds in the planter boxes and along the fence in the nature area courtyard behind the school. For the past four years, nearly 600 pumpkins were grown in a 125-square-foot garden at the school; however, Minerich said it was time to rotate crops, so he decided to try growing corn there this year because the stalks could be sold and corn used for the nature area's geese.

He was pleasantly surprised at the results.

After deciding to plant Roundup Ready field corn, Minerich thought a "maize maze" would be fun. So he found a pattern on the computer, and when the corn was two to three inches high, he and Mike Nelson used football field spray paint to spray the path.

Minerich cultivated the corn where the maze path would be, and fertilized the corn with the help of some students.

"I always have kids stopping by to help," he said.

In fact, students at last summer's Science Camp at the nature area performed an experiment with Minerich's help. They cultivated the weeds between corn rows on two-thirds of the garden, and didn't cultivate the other one-third.

"You know what the difference was? Nothing," said Minerich, noting they found the results interesting because fuel costs are tremendous to cultivate a large plot.

He used four spinners and hoses that he ran Miracle-Gro through for irrigation on the corn field.

"We've got the best corn in Crow Wing County. We've got corn 11 feet tall with huge cobs," Minerich said.

In August, the corn maze opened to families. Along the path are posted signs with trivia questions about corn, such as "How many kernels grow on a cob of corn" and "How many days does it take corn to mature (grow)." Students were given a fact book to research the answers.

"We're trying to make an educational 'maize maze' out of it," Minerich said, noting his wife, Sara, also was a huge help in making the maze a reality.

Minerich likened the corn maze to the movie "The Field of Dreams," which included the line, "If you build it, they will come."

"In that case, the baseball players. In this case, the kids," Minerich said.

He said there likely won't be a corn maze next year as pumpkins probably will be grown in that plot again.

The Eagle View Nature Area wouldn't be possible without Minerich or the Pelican Lake Conservation Club (PLCC). The PLCC donated funds to develop the nature area, and the club funds the one-week Science Camp each summer for students entering fourth grade.

The nature area belongs to the students. They help put bark on the courtyard paths and take care of the planter boxes. Special needs students helped build benches in the courtyard.

Each fall, students plant about 500 tulips in the planter boxes in the nature area courtyard and participate in the Journey North program. At Science Camp, students take the tulip bulbs out of the planters and learn the anatomy of a plant and flower, labeling those parts on the tulip.

"It's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of work. But when you see the kids at that pumpkin sale ... that's what it's all about," said Minerich, stressing the nature area isn't about him; it's about the students.