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Following the Yellow Brick Road - A Magical, Educational Gardening Experience (6)

Posted on 18 Jul, 2007 6 comments

Scarecrow.

He is the first character Dorothy meets on her journey to the Emerald City. This is when I began to look at the movie. In the book, he wears blue, because it is the colour of the Munchkins, so I wanted a blue costume. I had kept my son’s outgrown royal blue school sweater to use as a hanging basket liner, but thought that the colour was perfect and that the logo would act as the school’s signature to the garden. The rest was up to them. They made lists of what is needed to make a scarecrow, constructed him in the classrom, and transplanted him into the garden – a brilliant scarecrow, if I may say so! I had to choose what type of field he is standing in. In my opinion, it would originally have been a wheat field (the prairies, Kansas, bread basket of America, etc) and I am sure that this is what the author meant. Having deliberated on a choice of wheat or sweetcorn (as in the movie), we decided upon the latter, because it would be fun for the children to grow from seed and we could, perhaps, grow something readily edible.
In the movie, the Scarecrow begins his song with the lyrics, “I could while away the hours, Conferrin’ with the flowers, Consultin’ with the rain…...” What a great allusion to gardening, I thought! (Except that, in hindsight, we could have done without so much rain) In our project – animal, mineral or vegetable – he is definitely a vegetable. He possesses only 2 of the 5 senses –
Sound and Sight. He does not need to eat or sleep, he does not feel pain (the only thing he fears is a lighted match), he has no joints like a human being or animal. He wants a brain, because he thinks he doesn’t have one, yet, as the story progresses, we see that he does have one, because he comes up with good ideas to get the group out of tricky situations. Like most of us, he already does have a brain, but doesn’t always use it. This became so apt for the garden, as more and more people began to realise that they had ideas for it (not least the schoolkids -who had to think about the construction of their scarecrow), and began to actually use it!

We also studied the human body, beginning with Scarecrow, who was simply a frame stuffed with straw, with no joints or skeleton to help him stand erect and move as we do, and with none of the human needs, i.e. food, sleep, etc.

I had also, in my research, discovered that many people had interpreted the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a lightly disguised
political satire of the times (1890s). I can see why, but I can also see why that would be just as relevant today. In our modern life, where our own politicians and government are trying to get us all to be so green, and trying to be seen as being so green, there is one sentence in the movie that sticks out in my memory; “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?”
This, in my mind, applies, in particular, to a certain Council who were caught landfilling – not only supposed recyclable products – but also the recptacles for collection (the wrong specs were ordered)- in an effort to be seen to be complying with guidelines, but were stupid enough to be caught! – I love Scarecrow! (this is the beginning and end of my own politics. It is written only as an example of why I think that the Wizard of Oz is so relevant today)

Comments

Peter

19 Jul, 2007

Hi David, I am so impressed by the effort and research you and the kids have put in to the garden - and at the results, awesome!

Tussiemussie

19 Jul, 2007

David, I bet your children are learning so much from this, and you make it such fun for them, lucky children. I would love to hear their comments on it all!

David

19 Jul, 2007

Some favourite comments are:-
^Daddy, is it sore when a house lands on you?"
"Let's check out the greenhouse".
"Well, don't go past the poppies or we'll have to lie down, and won't get there."
"Don't pick the broad beans, because they are green, and the Wizard of Oz will be angry, and we won't get home."
"Daddy, The Wizard won;t be happy."
"Why?"
"My football broke his plants."

Tussiemussie

20 Jul, 2007

LOL, they sound like great kids,

Jess_chapman

30 Apr, 2008

Hi David,

I absolutely love your scarecrow. I have recently inherited the responsibility of managing the school gardens and leading the 'green growers'. We have a lot of land (including a vegetable garden, private garden and wildlife garden). I really want to make a scarecrow with my club of keen, green fingered children. I was wandering if you could give me basic instructions as to how you made you scarecrow. Any other tips, ideas or projects would be warmly welcomed as I don't really know what I am doing but have enough enthusiasm to try anything!

Many thanks
Jess xx

David

1 May, 2008

Hi Jess, in sunny (I hope) Brighton! Welcome, firstly, to GOY and, also, thank you for your interest in our project.What a mammoth task you certainly have inherited - but, what gr8 fun you will have! Well, as I wrote, the children designed and made the various parts of Scarecrow themselves. I just had to go in and help put the various body parts together, lol! But, I was amazed by their inventiveness! The head is a plain, foam football, with features cut out from felt (totally weatherproof). They glued strands of wool to an old felt hat, using longer strands to tie "under the chin", where it remains undisturbed. B4 tying on the hat, they screwed the football onto one end of a broom handle. The arms were an old wooden metre (yard, in my day) rule, the hands a pair of gardening gloves. The broom handle was screwed onto a length of fencepost, and 2 other short broomhandles screwed onto this to form the framework for the legs, with my old gardening boots screwed onto the ends from underneath. Use any old clothing, stuffed with straw (ours was donated by a parent from a local farm, but a £4 bale from Pets At Home or similar would be enough for the job. They filled the gardening gloves with Tesco Value pet sawdust (less than £1). So, a very inexpensive project - and they learned a lot about anatomy, too! The Wizard of Oz is great for learning about this. Scarecrow is totally vegetable. He cannot stand or walk properly, because he has no skeleton frame to hold him up. Tin Man is, of course, mineral, but he can walk and perform tasks coz he has joints. Lion is totally animal. The oz project has also been gr8 for me (I have learned so much, too) at home. We studied different types of weather (winds, snow, rainbows, etc); direction (north, south, east, west); precious commodities (rubies, emeralds, gold, silver, tin, oil, etc). What about Dorothy? She has no parents, not even a single parent, she is an orphan, leads to study of family and extended family. Emerald City is the rich centre of the Oz universe, leads to lessons in money calculations, the value of the above-mentioned precious commodities, mainly gold and oil, and the effects on us all (at this time I find the oil most appropriate since I can no longer easily fill the car with petrol anywhere due to the industrial action here in Scotland). But, in green and gardening terms, Emerald City is, indeed, the richest part of our garden. Where our seeds are sown and nurtured, where our food is grown, and where the plant food is produced. The "Wizard of Oz" is, in my book, a brilliant theme, not just for gardening, but for a lifetime of teaching and learning. I would love for you to take it on, if you want to, the whole school may
take it up and end the year by producing it as a stage play/musical (have seen it done, brilliantly, by 10-yr-olds).
Our own Oz garden will be committed to "ethernity" here on GOY towards the end of this year, so, why not do it? Myself, and anyone here on GOY, would be happy to help with tips, ideas, etc., I'm sure. But, I have so many ideas for other "themes" (themes work very well as a framework to go by, in my own opinion), so, please, don't hesitate to get back to me. Oh, and I almost forgot - for the veggy growing - take a look at the schools section of Harrod Horticultural. It is www.buddinggardeners.co.uk, for lots of school garden info, advice, tools, competition, etc. I'm sure that, once you get going,you'll find that the wider community will soon be in there with you. With all Best Wishes - David

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