Much of the produce that was once offered at the Halifax Farmers Market was grown in Cow Bay. Patterson Road at the bottom of Flandrum Hill was named after a farmer who worked his large fields here before houses cropped up. Today, there are no large farms in the area, though some individuals still have gardens in their yards. Years ago it was common practice for gardeners to erect scarecrows in an effort to ward off crows and other birds that might gobble up seed or fruit before harvest time.
Scarecrows were customarily roughly put together mannequins (usually just old clothing stuffed with straw with a hat on a stuffed sack head). As a child I had fun helping create scarecrows or other bird scaring devices for my grandparents’ garden. Today, unless their purpose is solely decorative, scarecrows are a rare sight. I wonder why this is. Maybe crows aren’t as numerous as they used to be.
In the 1960s, The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh was a Disney series that told the story of Dr. Syn, a clever vicar who disguised himself as a scarecrow by night to engage in smuggling activities against the crown. He was assisted by a couple of accomplices who also wore frightful masks to hide their identities.
Although set in England, the series could have been filmed locally, as the natural landscape with its marsh and seashore seem so similar to many areas in Nova Scotia. The silhouette of the Scarecrow on his horse looked eerie against a background of the windswept coast and his laugh was enough to give a child nightmares. Scarecrows don’t seem half as scary to adults as they do to children and crows.
Here is the opening sequence from the Walt Disney series along with an excerpt from one of the episodes.
Photo credits: Jessica Pomeroy
October 26, 2009 at 8:58 am
Boy, did that opening bring back memories…Sunday nights in my family were always the best because of Walt Disney and Wild Kingdom. We got to eat dinner on our little TV trays while watching and that music brought back so many of the wondermous adventures we went on w/ good ole Walt and friends! They just don’t have shows like this anymore, do they? Thanx for sharing and I love the photos of the scarecrows – maybe I’ll be inspired to make one of my own!
October 27, 2009 at 8:15 am
No, they don’t have shows like that anymore Cindy. Most shows for kids are brightly coloured, fast-paced and action-oriented. Much of the dialogue is in-your-face. Those with a slower pace are totally irrelevant to adults. Disney was able to appeal to all age levels in one hour. It was a highlight of Sunday evenings in my home too.
Glad you were inspired
October 26, 2009 at 10:10 am
Now there is an apt Halloween post! Scarecrows and pumpkins and gigantic spiders are popping up here, too. Maybe Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and I will go trick-or-treating this year.
October 27, 2009 at 8:22 am
Gerry, scarecrows seem more popular in recent years. Pumpkin people were the popular Hallowe’en decoration in these parts not all that long ago. Folks used to arrange pumpkin headed life-size mannequins wearing flannel shirts and overalls on lawn chairs or hay bales in their front yards.
If trick-or-treating was opened up to adults, this would probably also prompt a change in the types of treats offered. More chocolate. Less candy.
October 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm
A name popped into my head — Patrick McGoohan. Boy he had some good series. The Prisoner (which is now being remade) and Danger Man. Now I’m dating myself. Watched the Scarecrow clip and was amazed that the good vicar saw fit to judge and hang that evil doer … Don’t like to miss my daily Flandrum Hill fix.
October 27, 2009 at 8:27 am
Yes Sybil, that’s the guy. He was also the veterinarian father on ‘The Nine Lives of Thomasina’ which I absolutely loved as a kid.
That evil doer doesn’t actually hang. He’s only tricked into thinking he will hang. They don’t show that in the youtube video. It was Disney of course.
Although I don’t post daily, it’s nice to know that you are here regularly
October 27, 2009 at 11:07 am
Phew. Glad they didn’t hang him. You keep reminding me of these things from my past. Googled Thomasina … I’m sorry to tell you she ONLY had THREE lives
Counting down to November 16 for my move to Eastern Passage … getting excited.
October 28, 2009 at 6:00 am
Sybil, THREE lives sounds more familiar. Thanks for clarifying.
Hopefully you’ll get here before the snow!
October 26, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Being a city kid, scarecrows have always been just a Halloween fixture, but friends of mine with a 5-acre hobby farm have them all over the place, for real. I recall one sitting on a bench at the end of their driveway, even. They enter them, as well as their largest pumpkin, in a contest at Minter Gardens. My own scarecrows are the kind Michael’s Craft Store sells, and are my fall decorating theme.
I enjoyed the movie clip–I never saw the movie but may have to rent it, if I can find it.
October 27, 2009 at 9:48 am
Joan, I had forgotten all about beautiful Minter Gardens. Living in an active farming area certainly gives you an opportunity to see any scarecrows that might be out there. I miss seeing all those fields and cows.
The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is out on DVD but is probably not available at mainstream outlets. I have a copy but it’s very low quality.
October 26, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Today’s decorator scarecrows, like so much else, come from China, and I wonder if the Chinese have or used to have scarecrows of their own. If not, what do they think of the ones they make for export to the West?
October 27, 2009 at 9:53 am
Pamela, in a quick search I discovered that some of those imported scarecrows are made of pest infested bamboo. Some were recently destroyed in Baltimore when the problem was identified.
I don’t think they’re used in China. To answer your question, they probably wish we had more strange customs that they could fabricate decorations for.
October 26, 2009 at 9:07 pm
The scarecrow that I remember most is the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. The poor fellow who didn’t have a brain. But he was such a likeable fellow! Don’t remember seeing the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, though.
October 27, 2009 at 9:57 am
Kathy, isn’t it odd that the Oz scarecrow was brainless while the Romney Marsh scarecrow was Oxford educated?
October 27, 2009 at 7:31 am
Ah, I love scarecrows! But we don’t have them much either
Thery are quite decorative though.
October 27, 2009 at 9:59 am
Yes they are decorative Nadezhda. I use smaller ones as indoor fall decorations.
I wonder how effective they really are at scaring crows away. Maybe that’s why they’re not used as much any more or not at all in some parts of the world.
October 29, 2009 at 10:38 am
I was told that they are not effective
My aunt uses empty cans, she said that they were better.
October 29, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I confess that I find scarecrows rather creepy. :-}
But I loved that YouTube clip, though I don’t recall seeing the series down here in South Africa. Mind you, we only got tv in the mid-1970s, as far as I know!
And sooo many of the series were dubbed from English and French into Afrikaans, with local Afrikaans actors doing the voice overs. I recall my confusion when I first heard the REAL voices of some overseas actors. Very strange, but it also brings back lots of happy memories of all the series we watched as kids.