Artists pitch in for The Scarecrow Show at Animas Valley Farms
Jeff Madeen, who with John Essen opened Animas Valley Farms two years ago to practice organic farming within Durango city limits, gets help from Michael Lofton to secure the scarecrow the friends built together. It’s one of about a dozen that will be at the farm for tonight’s Scarecrow Show. All are for sale, and those not sold will remain on display at the farm for about a month. The four-acre farm on the north end of town produces potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes and many other vegetables and provides organic vegetables to the Durango and Ignacio school districts as well as selling to the public.
Elizabeth Kinahan’s scarecrow sits gracefully while keeping watch over the vegetables at the Animas Valley Farm. Partners Jeff Madeen and John Essen worry most about rodents eating the vegetables on the ground, but blackbirds will be an issue when the corn comes in later this summer. “We’re going back to old ways,” Essen said. He said the scarecrows are a healthy alternative because he and Madeen refuse to use poisons on the farm.
Greg Parham’s scarecrow towers 28 feet above the fields of Animas Valley Farms. Other artists who created scarecrows for tonight’s Scarecrow Show are Johan Amadeus, Sandra Butler, Scott Dye, John Essen, Dan Groth, Crystal Hartman, Bradley Kachnowicz, Tim Kapustka, Elizabeth Kinahan, Shay Lopez, Jeff Madeen, Jules Masterjohn, Lisa Pedolsky, Adam Reeves, Joan Russel and Shan Wells.
