Wolf Hollow and Russell Orchards

Today Karma and I took Primo, Secondo, and Terzo took a trip to Ipswich MA to see Wolf Hollow and Russell Orchards. 

We went to Wolf Hollow first. It's official name is the North American Wolf Foundation and it's a non-profit organization. It was founded in 1988 by Paul C. Soffron "to preserve the wolf in the wild, through education and exposure." Wolfs in the USA were plentiful before immigrants from Europe settled here and took their prejudices about wolves with them. They were then hunted almost to extinction and have only recently begun bouncing back with the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately in May 2011, Senator Jon Tester from Montana slipped a rider into a standard budget bill that delisted the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act in six states (ID, MT, WY, MN, WI, and MI) and now their numbers are plummeting again due to hunting. This is incredibly sad since wolves are actually really important to the environment. If you don't believe me, you can watch this video called "How Wolves Change Rivers" to see what happened in Yellowstone National Park when they reintroduced wolves to the park:

Anyway, Wolf Hollow was cool. It was remarkable to see how similar wolf behavior is to dog behavior. The kids had learned about wolves in school so they were interested in seeing the wolves up close.

Secondo and Terzo look at the wolves.

One of the wolves.

This wolf came right up near us.

Secondo uses her binoculars to look for wolves.

I try on a skull in the education center.

From Wolf Hollow, it was a quick three minute drive to Russell Orchards. The first trees were planted there in 1920 by the original owner, Dr. Joseph Goodale. In the 1950s it was sold to the farm manager Kenneth Macleod. When he was ready to retire he felt pressured to sell to developers. A group of neighbors joined forces to purchase the land instead. They then asked the Essex County Greenbelt Association to write an agricultural preservation restriction, which they did. This restriction legally prevents the land from ever being turned into a development. With those restrictions in place, they sold the farm to the Russell Family who still owns it to this day. I like this back story since it's a great example of how neighbors can band together to preserve local farms. The farm itself is great. It pick your own fruits, hay rides, farm animals you can pet, a winery, a bakery, and a farm store with homemade ice cream and fresh apple cider doughnuts. They have an apples and wine festival next weekend and I'm strongly considering going back to check it out. The festival is supposed to have folk music, hands-on cider pressing, make your own apple pies, and apple and wine samples to taste.

Karma, Primo, Secondo, and Terzo at the farm.

Secondo and Primo in the pumpkin patch.

Terzo and Karma on a hay ride.

Me and Secondo on the hay ride. 

Terzo and Primo play on some tires.

Terzo "drives" an old tractor.

Secondo and Terzo on an old tractor.

Secondo and a huge turkey.

Sheep.

Pig.

Primo petting a donkey.

Karma and Primo look at the animals.

Primo and Terzo watch our apple cider doughnuts being made.

Halloween Party!

Today was the day of our Halloween Party! Yay! The house was decorated with themed rooms.

Fortune Teller Foyer. Joy and I made the sideboard into a seance area with black lace, tea lights, and a large mirror. We stuck a giant spider web and some fake spiders in the window looking into the foyer. We hung a flying bat with light up eyes from the ceiling. Then we set up the mini table with a tablecloth, fake fortune ball (an old light fixture on top of a coaster), Joy's fairy wand from fairy day, and a creepy cup filled with fake bugs:

Windows with spider webs.

Lace, candles, and mirrors.

The bat with its eyes not lit up.

Fortune teller table.

Spider Dance Party Playroom. This room was all about spiderwebs. I added them everywhere and then made a gigantic fake spider egg sac hanging from the ceiling fan light. They Joy brought in her dance party equipment, we handed out glowsticks, and everyone went to town dancing. I didn't get pictures of the dancing because I was dancing:

Some of our spider webs.

Spider egg sac.

Secondo (aka The Flash) dancing with glowsticks. 

Creepy Carnival Living Room. I taped a skull and wings above the door and festooned the doorway with orange streamers to get into the carnival room. The pumpkins we carved (and Snowball the hamster) were all by the window and we tried to make the drapes look like a funky circus tent. We kept the mantle as is with decorations we'd already put up. Then we added a creepy clown poster over the couch:

Doorway into the living room.

Window with pumpkins and Snowball the hamster.

Creepy clown poster.

Mantle with skeleton figurines and a flower with an eyeball glued on it.

Witch's Kitchen. This was basically just witchy potions and other creepy things plus all of our food for the party:

Kitchen window with lantern and spiderwebs.

Food! Plus a skull, a bloody fake hand, a jar with a fake dead bird, etc.

Candy with skeleton hand serving utensils.

And last but not least, Murder Bathroom. I made a fake body from old bottles in black trash bags with duct tape - all shaped into a vaguely human form. Then I dumped it in the shower so it would look like I hastily stashed the body in the shower. I liberally splattered washable red paint everywhere so it looked like there were blood splatters. Then I wrote "YOU'RE NEXT" on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick:

Bloody sink.

Kids discovering the murder.

Bloody dead body in a bag.

And now for the big costume reveal! I managed to talk my housemates into a group costume - the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus!

Sarah, Winifred, and Mary.

Me, Belle, and Joy as the Sanderson Sisters.

We actually managed to pick our sisters according to age. I was Winifred, the older sister. She's somewhat overdramatic, she wears ridiculous lipstick, she carries around a spellbook, she hates being called ugly, and she shoots electric sparks from her incredibly long fingernails. Sounds about right. I borrowed a wig, necklace, and bracelet from Joy. You might recognize the wig from the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I bought the dress and cloak clasp from the thrift store. I found the fake buckteeth online. Then I made the cloak with sleeves from an old curtain. I'll try to get more full-costume pictures of my costume on actual Halloween, but I think this should suffice for now.

Winifred Sanderson.

Me as Winifred Sanderson.

Me with my familiar, Snowball the hamster.

Joy was Mary, the middle sister. She's the funny one who loves eating but hates candy, has a weird horn-shaped hairdo, rides on a vacuum cleaner in one memorable scene, and can smell kids from miles away. Joy is probably the biggest goofball of the three of us so this character totally fit her best. She got the dress and cloak from the thrift store. Her hair was actually two wigs and she doctored up the second one so it would stick up like the weird hair of Mary Sanderson.

Mary Sanderson.

Joy as Mary Sanderson.

Belle was Sarah, the youngest sister. She's the ditzy blonde pretty sister who loves playing with people and seducing men, and she can hypnotize people with her voice. Belle isn't ditzy but this character is perfect for Belle because she's got an amazing voice. Belle found her cloak and dress at the thrift store and borrowed her wig from me.

Sarah Sanderson.

Belle as Sarah Sanderson with her familiar Sebastian.

Last but not least, we even managed to get Karma in on the act as Billy Butcherson, Winifred's ex-boyfriend who had an affair with Sarah. Winifred found out, poisoned him, and then sewed his mouth shut. She resurrected him to try and make him help her but he helped the protagonists instead. Karma found all the clothes in their closet and borrowed the wig from me. I used an eyeliner pencil to give them fake stitches.

Billy Butcherson.

Karma as Billy Butcherson.

I feel like I've already overwhelmed you with photos so I'll just add a few party photos and call it a day:

Me and Bruno who was a pumpkin.

Group shot! Behind me is Pregnant Raggedy Ann, a Communist,
and a teenager too cool for dressing up in costume.

Kids: clown, princess, policeman, zombie Michael Jackson.

Cupcake is a Dancing Tardis.

Friend and former housemate eating candy.

Kids eating candy.

Joy and her vampire boyfriend.

Not pictured: another too cool for a costume teenager, various other adults including Aquafabulous who brought us a bunch of amazing vegan cupcakes. While I'm mentioning the cupcakes, I should also mention that my friend Cupcake provided us with vegan pizza from my favorite pizza place and Joy's vampire boyfriend came with beer. Yay! Anyway, I'll leave you with a picture of me teaching my young witch friend Mini T and our familiar Snowball:

Mini T, Snowball, and me.