Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Julia Child in Corn

TRAX1: IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE FLYING OVER THE HOLYOKE MOUNTAIN RANGE THIS FALL.....YOU'LL PASS OVER BUCOLIC ROLLING HILLS......THE GLISTENING CONNECTICUT RIVER......THE FACE OF THE LATE JULIA CHILD....

OH -- YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING TO SEE JULIA'S FACE? WELL, IT WAS ALMOST SOMEONE ELSE'S.

AX1: we were thinking of marilyn monroe, indira ghandi....

THAT'S MIKE WISSEMAN, THE SUNDERLAND FARMER WHO -- FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS -- HAS TURNED 7 ACRES OF HIS CORNFIELD INTO THE FACE OF SOMEONE FAMOUS. HE TEAMS UP WITH A LOCAL ARTIST, WILL SILLIN, WHO DESIGNS THE MAZES -- THEY'VE DONE KING TUT, BABE RUTH, ALBERT EINSTEIN. AND THIS YEAR, SILLIN SAYS -- THEY COULDN'T RESIST CARVING THEIR EDIBLE CROP INTO A TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS CHEFS. JULIA CHILD -- WHO DIED IN 2004 -- WAS ALSO LONG-TIME MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT AND A GRADUATE OF SMITH COLLEGE IN NORTHAMPTON.
AX2: she's just an exuberant personality and has an interesting life story and is someone we thought everybody would get the spirit of.

BUT HOW TO TRANSLATE THAT SPIRIT INTO CORN? SILLIN FOUND A PHOTO FROM 'MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING' -- IT SHOWS A GLEEFUL JULIA POSED IN HER KITCHEN.
ax3: and she's in the process of about thwacking something with a big meat tenderizer, so the lines will end up being the trails in the maze.

HE COPIED THE IMAGE ONTO A GRID CHART, WHICH CORRESPONDS TO WISSEMAN'S FIELD.
AX4: and mike plants the corn in a north, south east direction, so his tire tracks will make a grid, and i use that to enlarge the drawing. i just transfer it up.

AFTER A FEW WEEKS, WHILE THE STALKS WERE STILL LOW, SILLIN STARTS MOWING ... . AMB2: mower?.

AX5:and i make sure everything matches up, bc it's easy to get off by a row or two when you're dealing with a field that's 150 rows long and 80 rows wide,

THIS IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO CARVE A CORN FIELD, SILLIN SAYS. IT?S JUST THE HARDEST.
AX6: there's a machine you can drive around and it applies an herbicide that will take the corn out at the very beginning. "why don't you do that?" bc we don't have one of those machines!

AX7: you can hire companies to come in and they'll do the publicity, they'll do the design, they'll even come in and cut it for you, -- but what we do is unique, and the reason we have a claim to fame is because will's designs are like no other.

THIS YEAR, SILLIN IS EXPERIMENTING WITH SHADING, BY CUTTING CORN TO DIFFERENT HEIGHTS. AMB3: whacking..

HIS TEENAGE SONS DO THE GRUNT WORK -- WHACKING AT THE RAZOR-SHARP CORN LEAVES AND PACKING DOWN THE EARTH FOR BABY STROLLERS. SURROUNDED BY 8-FOOT TALL CORN STALKS, THEY'VE JUST FINISHED JULIA'S MALLET -- AT LEAST, THEY THINK THEY HAVE. THE REAL MAZE-GOERS WILL HAVE AN AERIAL PHOTO TO CONSULT.
AX8: you'll be motoring thru the maze, and all of sudden, you have no idea what part of the maze you're in. but bc it's a portrait, you might recognize the fact that you're in an eye, or you're walking through hair, or hey, these are fingers.

BUT THE LOCALS ARE GETTING TOO GOOD AT THE ANNUAL MAZES, SO SILLIN AND WISSEMAN HAVE UPPED THE ANTE. THEY'VE CREATED OBSTACLES AND GAMES INSIDE THE MAZE -- ALL OF THEM, OF COURSE, FOOD-RELATED. SILLIN'S FAVORITE IS A SELF-MADE POTATO CANNON.

AX9: we have compressed air, pressure controlled spudzuka. -- we'll probably have pots and pans strung up on wire, so pp will try to hit the pots and pans with the potato. it should make a satisfying bang, when you hit something.

TURNOUT at the maze DEPENDS LARGELY ON THE WEATHER. BUT SILLIN SAYS THERE ARE PLENTY OF DIE-HARDS WHO COME RAIN OR SHINE.

AX10: there's one woman who comes by herself every year. she's just this charming little lady, she always says -- i'm back, i'm back! i've been looking forward to this all year! M: we're always afraid she's not gonna make it back out. Last year, she was in there a long time?.. (fade under)

BY NOVEMBER, THE STALKS ARE FRAYING AND THE MAZE LOSES ITS HOLD. BUT TRUE TO JULIA CHILD'S COOKING STYLE, NOTHING GETS WASTED. WHEN THE SEASON IS OVER, AND THE LINES OF HER FACE HAVE BEEN TRAMPLED BY THOUSANDS OF WANDERERS, THE SURVIVING CORN GETS HARVESTED......

ANYONE HUNGRY FOR JULIA'S FAMOUS CORN CHOWDER?

I'M KAREN BROWN.