Two Small Farms
Community Supported Agriculture
Scarecrow Walkoff at Mariquita Farm
Saturday, April 17th
10am gates open
11am Scarecrow building commences
12 noon judging!
Scarecrow Walk-Off by Andy Griffin
When Heidi Klum, the German überblonde model/actress/entrepreneur/designer and glamazon says, “With fashion, sometimes you are in….and sometimes you are out,” I have to believe her. After all, what do I know about fashion? I’m a one-man crime wave against style. But as a psychic antidote to the dirt and roots that make up my agricultural reality I’ve been known to bathe myself in Heidi’s fashion reality show, Project Runway, and she’s given me an idea.
Kids with ScarecrowEvery Halloween scarecrows in tattered straw hats are “in,” along with orange pumpkins, multi-colored Indian corn, white ghosts, and green-faced witches. This bugs me; maybe scarecrows are fashionable at the mall for autumn window displays but they don’t make sense down on the farm. We farmers plant corn in March and April. The corn germinates, and as soon as the seeds take up moisture and swell underground the shiny black crows move in to feed. Crows aren’t stupid. Sprouts are nutritious. We’re lucky to have any corn seedlings left when the crows are done taking their share. Farmers don’t need scarecrows in the fall when the corn that survived has been harvested. We need them in the spring!
So this year, I want to ape Heidi and issue you all a fashion challenge. On Saturday, April 17th, you are invited to Mariquita Farm for a farm open house and scarecrow walk-off. Please RSVP, whether you’re entering the contest or just planning to attend, by email to Shelley at csa@twosmallfarms.com by Friday, April 9th. We need to know numbers so that we have enough scarecrow skeletons for the contest entrants. We’ll provide each contest entrant with a scarecrow skeleton at the farm. You may bring any materials, helpers, or tools you deem necessary to create a perfect scarecrow outfit, but please, no pattern books! I want to see your personal genius for fashion sense on the runway. Gates open at 10 AM and the contest will start promptly at 11 AM. Each contestant will be given one hour to finish work and then all the scarecrows will be lined up for their walk-off. If even one crow is scared off I’ll be a winner, and since you are supporting the farm and sharing in the harvest, so will you. You can’t really lose. But eventual harvests aside, fancy prizes will be awarded to winning scarecrows in the following categories:
a. David Bowie/Cher freakazoid lookalike
b. Traditional hayseed hick
c. Lady Gaga/Beyonce diva bombshell
d. Geek chic, a la Bill Gates/ Al Gore
e. Free style -- wow me
The overall winner earns a dinner for two at a San Francisco restaurant to be named later. All scarecrow entrants will have their photos displayed on TSF’s Facebook page for the whole world to see!
Again, I know nothing about fashion, so I could use some assistance to make our muddy field approximate Bryant Park. Having a suave, debonair Tim Gunn type on hand to assuage the fears and insecurities of the various designers would be helpful. Someone who can approximate a dj with the appropriate techno/disco beats for the actual show would be slick too. I’d love it if we could assemble some fashionistas in touch with their inner Nina Garcia to help with judging too. Of course, in the end- and by “end” I mean Halloween, when the growing season is over- the real judges will have proven to be the crows. Any scarecrow with a pile of crow poop on its shoulder in the fall will have to be judged a loser, no matter how sexy it seemed in the spring. But that’s fashion. Sometimes you are in, and sometimes you are out.
-Andy
Scarecrow Walk Off Webpage
[Shelley’s note: We welcome your suggestions for judges, DJ’s and/or fashionistas in the area who we might want to participate! Please send your ideas to csa@twosmallfarms.com!]
[Julia's note: kudos to Carol Franger for not only creating the website for Mariquita Farm way back when in pure code, but also alerting me to Project Runway: a show she was certain Andy would love and she was correct.]
10 reasons to buy fresh and buy local
A photo of the 2 farming families
Two Small Farms
Mariquita Farm/High Ground Organics
Organically Grown Vegetables
831.786.0625
PO Box 2065
Watsonville, CA 95077-2065