Monday, October 20, 2008

Scarecrow Masquerade!

As some of you may know, I work part time for Wheeler Farm, a working historic farm owned by Salt Lake County. It is one block from my house, and I like to pretend it's mine. My backyard. My Disneyland. It's just about my favorite place on earth.

Every year for three Saturdays in October, we hold our Scarecrow Masquerade. Although the farm is open year-round from dawn to dusk, the fall season and farm events are always favorites for crowds, especially families with young children.


Here are some pictures of our pumpkin patch. The vegetation has been cleared away and only the pumpkins are left so that kids can go out and pick whichever one they want. The corn stalks were saved for adult crafting (picture later in post).




One of the attractions to the farm this fall, besides the pumpkins, is the new baby piglets. Momma had 13 piglets originally, but (and this is not uncommon in nature), laid on and smothered three of them not long after birth (unaware she was doing so).

There are 10 piglets now, and they're about two weeks old. You can't see all of them in these pictures. Aren't they cute???



Below is the Activity Barn (built only about 20 years ago) that houses the Farm office. It's also used for, well, Activities, such as wedding receptions, boutiques, and other groups that we rent out to.There are several barns on the property. One of them is the Machinery Barn, where we house a collection of antique farm machinery dating back over 125 years. This particular tractor is outside the barn and is a favorite photo op for kids.

Part of the Scarecrow Masquerade is making scarecrows. Families are urged to bring a shirt, pants and pillowcase (for the head) and we provide the straw stuffing and stick cross to build their scarecrow on.


Some scarecrows in process...


Here is a scarecrow family (note mother and baby on the right) that some of the farm workers made in early October:

Let's go for a wagon ride!! This is how we give tours of the 75-acre farm.


Visiting the chicken coops. During Summer Camp, the kids get to help the farmers gather eggs. And every evening (year-round) kids and adults can come and help milk the cows.


We have lots of Canadian geese on the farm, in addition to the American varieties and ducks. For some reason, the Canadian geese like to hang out sometimes with the cows in the pasture.

And here are those harvested corn stalks, stacked up neatly in a corner of the machinery barn. During the Scarecrow Masquerade, parents could come in here and make nice outdoor decorations (for porches or whatever) of corn stalks, Indian corn and cattails.

There are so many things I haven't gotten pictures of on the farm this fall. Like the changing colors..... will be taking more pictures this week. Enjoy your Autumn!!

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