My Life Amongst the Hippies: PC does some PR at the Mushoom Fest

So, we live in a Hippie sort of town. You might have guess that from the blog title. Well, you wouldn't be surprised to hear that we have Hippie kinds of festivals here. And what's more Hippie than a 'shroom fest?

It's out at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. Every time I say that I can hear my cousin, Bobby, in my head in his little boy voice saying "you said pis-gah! *giggle*". Of course, Bobby is now 20 something and taller than me. But he probably still likes words like pisgah and pantyhose. My family is crazy like that.

This mushroom festival, a addition to being a groovy good time, has a scarecrow contest. Last year the Eugene Waldorf School Parent Council took 1st prize. Will we do it again? Only time will tell. Ask me tomorrow. Regardless of win or lose however, the exposure for the school is all good, and we parents enjoy tickling our creative side with some nature sculpting.

Our theme for the scarecrow was Alice in Wonderland's caterpillar. Like this one:

Or, since the school promotes a tv free lifestyle, probably more like this one:

How do you make a giant mushroom scarecrow? I had no idea. Fortunately, the entire population at the school seems to be made up of those far more artistic than I could ever hope to be, and there was no shortage of ideas. First, get some natural materials. Or as Carolyn said "Bring nature, just bring a bunch of nature. And be there at 10:00!" I brought evergreen boughs and a garbage bag full of red leaves. This photo of someone else's contribution is much prettier than my black plastic bag and cracked laundry basket of stuff was:

Supplies also needed: a giant U of O umbrella (no other kind will do!), wire fencing, hay bales and a jumbo roll of chicken wire.

Set small children to work stuffing frame with leaves. Next use florist's and chicken wire to sculpt a caterpillar frame:

Here's the work in progress. Stem of mushroom has been stuffed, top is getting filled, painstakingly, with red leaves (we made an amanita, aka death angel, mushroom. Don't try to eat it!).

Here are some old ladies workin' on the caterpillar. Notice I'm the only one wearing gloves. Yes, they all laughed at me about it. But hey, I was the one who ended up doing the prickly work with the spruce branches and cut wire ends!

So, wonder where did all those kids ran off to? What do Waldorf hippie kids do when their parents are otherwise engaged? Climb stuff. Build forts. The usual. There was also a giant hay pile the little boys enjoyed rolling and wrestling in.

Behold, the finished scarecrow! And some of the folks who worked on it.

BTW, of course we couldn't give our 'pillar a hookah! We'd have no problem finding one in this town, but we'd be in a wee bit of trouble come Monday for putting a hookah on the school's project. So, what to do? Well, since it was a Waldorf caterpillar - what would it most likely be doing up on his 'shroomy home? Knitting. Of course!