What's Wrong with these Pumpkins?
Hello, Stuffie Friends!
Well, once again, Dan has delivered by bringing us on another exciting adventure to the Minnesota Arboretum! We heard there was a pumpkin patch event looking for volunteers. Delicious and attractive food waiting for us all over the place? Yes, we’d be happy to help!
The first order of business was to get signed in as volunteers. We’re regulars, so that was easy. Dan made sure that we understood we couldn’t touch anything. What! That is not the Stuffie way! How are we to enjoy the pumpkins without climbing on them or sniffing them or snacking on them? It was tough, but we agreed.
I think they know us by now. Before we left the volunteer station we were offered a wide variety of treats - nuts, chocolate, pretzels... We grabbed a few packages and got ready to head out on our assignment.
Our task was to greet attendees and hand out baskets. Wait- shopping baskets? How small were these pumpkins going to be? We discovered the “ pumpkins” are actually hand blown art glass! This was confusing to hear. Does glass grow in a field like pumpkins? (We still don’t know.)
We found out that the event is made up of an incredibly competitive field of talented glass artists. They submit a portfolio for consideration and then some are selected to have a table. Attendees come to see the artwork and they can buy whatever they want. The baskets get used to hold the art as they go. Part of the money goes to support the Arboretum and the rest goes to the artists. Pretty cool!
There was quite a variety of art- almost anything an artist can make from glass. Large, small - many pumpkins. We wanted to buy some, but the prices are a little beyond our “odd jobs” income. We decided to save our money for food and maybe extra blankets as winter isn’t too far away.
Ober also said he was concerned that we would play with the pumpkins and probably break them. He’s probably right that we’d be having too much fun to be really careful.
As you can see, there were loads of people there. And many were filling their baskets with beautiful artwork. It was a great evening to be outside- some of the best Fall weather Minnesota has to offer! We finished our shift and had time to look around. Gràineag and Flambee were attracted to the ghost table. Pretty spooky but enjoyable.
Amelia found some beautiful flowers but was disappointed she could smell any scent. She forgot they were glass- you can probably see why she was confused.
Snowball and Scottie found the ultimate Acorn! Too bad it too was glass and wouldn’t taste very good.
And how could anyone resist these multicolored masterpieces?
By this time, we were getting hungry. Luckily, we saw a cart full of apples.
Once we got on the cart we discovered ….. they were also glass! Boy, they looked real. We thought they were featured snacks because Honey Crisp apples were developed at the arboretum. The good news- the next event here is the Apple Festival. We’re sure they’ll have free samples. Dan said he will bring us back to help with that one. Thank goodness!
Well, this was a great time. We can’t wait to come back in a few weeks for Apple Festival!
Scottie, Amelia, Snowball, Flambee, Ferdinand, Ober, Gràineag, and Jacques