Each fall, we put up our 'Pumpkin People' in our front yard. We don't have many, if any, kids show up on Halloween, but we do live next to a park and there are a lot of walkers who enjoy the display.
The pumpkins are grown from last year's pumpkin seeds, and we get their clothes at St. Vinney's (St. Vincent de Paul). We have a marvelous time picking the outfits and then putting the people together. J, my partner in crime and in this life, built the frames out of 1"x2" boards... (the cheap ones you can get at the lumber store), and the frames are based on a stick figure drawing. One main stake about 3 feet long, pointed on one end and a small board on the top with inverted nails, to hold the pumpkins in place. This stake serves as the spine and gets pounded into the straw; the arms are cut in segments and held together with screws, so the arms bend. Next put the clothes on and stuff with straw. Poof, you’ve got Pumpkin People!
The really neat thing about the whole display is that everything is either used when we got it or will be used after the display comes down. The straw we get each year to cover our garden and flower beds for winter. It protects the garden as mulch and feeds the dirt as it composts through the winter. The stick frames were made from left over wood from another project and we use the same frames year after year. The clothes we buy at the thrift store, as I mentioned above. The thrift store makes money to help their cause, and we get neat clothes for the pumpkin people, which in turn, become cleaning rags. The pumpkins go back out to the garden as compost, while the seeds germinate and grow more pumpkins for next year! It really is a nice cycle that makes for no waste and is very cheap to do. Another goody is that if your pumpkins just happen to be sweet pumpkins, you get a pie or two out the deal as well.
Happy Halloween Folks!
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