More Scarecrows in the Park

Here's some more scary fun and creativity from the Annual Kiwanis Scarecrow Festival in the park in Bernardston. Enjoy the goblins tonight!

The Beatles haven't missed a festival yet.


The old woman who lived in a shoe with so many children!


My entries that year ended up being pretty representative of part of this household. Here's the The Scary Knitter.


I heard they didn't have enough scarecrows so I whipped up The Sheep Farmer.


Here Julia is with her Mom and Dad Scarecrow.


"Oh Mom, when will you ever stop?"

Tis the Scary Season

The Annual "Scarecrow in the Park" Festival is on-going at Bernardston 's Cushman Park. Take a drive on over if you live close enough. The creativity really gets going and it's lots of fun for all.

Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate - so clever.


A beautifully rendered natural scarecrow pumpkin woman.


Even the scarecrows will be voting next week.


Mike from Monster's Inc.

Julia and her friend Bridget (along with Alice, Kristin, and brother Matthew) knocked together Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus one Saturday morning. Hannah/Miley were a hit with lots of little girls.

More Scarecrows to come tomorrow.

It's still October - Scarecrows Rule

And you thought my scarecrow posts were over. Sorry. Today I'd like to share with you some of the more amazing creations the really dedicated scarecrow builders made.

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Pumpkin Scarecrow done by the local bridal shop.


The Beatles are visiting again - this time as Sgt. Pepper.


My friends Clara and Peggy built Mustang Sally.


This wise old owl was so amazing - it was built out of pinecones, bark, fungus, cornstalks, and lots of other natural things. It stood about 8 feet tall.


My neighbor Joanne who is a dollmaker made a pumpkin family. She built the heads and props out of paper clay, painted them and waterproofed them.


Then she hand-stitched all the little signs in backstitch.


Joanne is an amazing craftsperson - a collector of all kinds of antiques and fabrics. She took the scarecrow challenge to the N-th degree. Here's Gordie and his pet spider in a jar.


Aren't they all totally amazing? Wouldn't you love to stumble upon Scarecrows in the Park and explore it with a young child? Thanks to the local Kiwanis for supporting and organizing such a great event for the community.

Now back to regularly scheduled yarn, farm and color activities.

Scary, scary sheepcrow

I know you all have been waiting in anticipation for my October scarecrow post. For those of you new to the blog, here's what I built last year. Here's what other people built last year.

The backstory for new readers..... In Bernardston, MA there is a Scarecrow Festival. The local Kiwanis Club sponsors it and the community is invited to build scarecrows on the Town Common. The first year, over 80 scarecrows appeared. It was so much fun to see the creativity in the community. In subsequent years, the numbers have sadly dwindled. My friend Mike is one of the organizers and being the good friend I am, I feel pressured to participate and not let him down. I know it is a good thing for the town and once in a while, I should do something nice for my local community. I was rushed as usual and grasped at straws, knowing if it wasn't easy, I wouldn't do it. This book thing is cutting into my free time. So, in the rain. late Friday afternoon, Julia and I set up this year's scarecrow....

We call it "Julia had a scary lamb." It may look a bit familiar to you. I re-worked "Julia at the scarecrow field." To make the lamb, I pounded together some scraps of wood and staple gunned some raw wool I felted in the washing machine for last year's scarecrow sheep. The skull, courtesy of the local coyotes, topped it off. Mom, what were you thinking?

I was thinking it would be another scarecrow body for people to look at. After all, that's what is all about - the fun of fall and the harvest.


There was a big festival on Saturday to celebrate the scarecrows. It was really well attended and I heard the food was fabulous. Maybe next year, we can arrive at the festival early so we don't miss the food.

Sunflowers and Scarecrows and Surgery

We literally grow thousands of sunflowers in our field on Leyden Road in Greenfield. This year we planted about 15 varieties. Not exactly we, but The Farmer. If We counted on Me to make a successful crop, we wouldn’t have much. The Farmer has the talent and determination and dedication and vision to a project and a piece of earth to make it happen.

When the sunflowers start blooming, it is up to me to try to re-coup some of the money we put into this wacky but beautiful project. We drag the haywagon down to the spot. I paint signs to attract customers. I pick buckets of flowers and then we wait.


We build some pseudo- scarecrows to attract attention. They certainly are cute, aren’t they? I raid our closets and then go to the Salvation Army to find extra stuff. This year, we built a family of three, like we are. Friends have said they resemble us. Me, I just think they are fun. And we’re not exactly trying to scare off the birds. After all, the plants are for them too.

We're going to Boston to NEMC extremely early Friday morning. Julia is having surgery on her eyes to help correct her strabismus. This is a common problem with children with hydrocephalus. Correcting the problem with surgery should be helpful for her immediately. She has had the surgery once before about five years ago. Although it isn't long nor is it an overnight thing, it is still dangerous as any surgery is. And this time, she knows she is having surgery (unlike the last time), and she is terrified. We're just hoping it will help her vision and her coordination between the eye muscles and her brain. We tried some holistic approaches many years ago but they were quite useless for Julia. The first time she had this surgery, she started reading book covers the following day. It was quite amazing. We'll see what happens this time. Julia's doctor is at New England Medical Center's Eye Center and his name is Dr. Mitchell Strominger. If anyone else out there is having similar problems with their child's vision, I highly recommend him. He has a good way with children.

Single Sock Syndrome

The single sock syndrome is an odd one. It still amazes me how singles multiply. I keep all of ours in a basket in the bedroom and about every six months do a "go-through" to match them up and then toss out the singles. Just recently though, I have been using them to stuff little handmade toys - I cut them up in small pieces and they make the nicest, softest stuffing - better than polyfill because they make a more solid animal.


Here's Julia with some teddy bears from "Colorful Stitchery" and they're stuffed with orphan socks. They would be great holiday gifts and take no time at all. They're all made of felted recycled blankets and sweaters I bought at the thrift store. I dyed them with acid dyes to get the bright colors. These dyes are easy to use and yield bright colors. I give instructions for the entire project (bears and dyeing) in my book. You could also use your old handknit sweaters after you felt them.

My clever friend Kay, co-owner of 7 South Bakery made a scarecrow she calls "Sole-Mate." She shamelessly begged customers for single socks and to noone's surpise, she was inundated. I donated several for her scarecrow cause.

I think this is the best idea of a use for a single sock, don't you agree?.

Fall color is almost over in Massachusetts

The farmer found this piece of rotted wood which reminded him of a bird. We constructed this prehistoric bird scarecrow from it, sumac, and beech leaves. I love the natural feeling and the colors of the leaves. (Yes, you have to use your imagination a bit...)


My "partner in swine" Mike made these wacky creatures from bread dough and flour sacks. Aren't they great? Julia thinks so.

The Beatles visit Bernardston.

The beech leaves are about the last to turn here. You can see all the green ones left in woods in the distance. By next week, there won't be much left to photograph so enjoy it now. (I know - enough with the leaves!)

A drop dead sunset in our front yard.
Stripes of green, red sumac, and tan goldenrod. Sock, anyone?