How to Make a Scarecrow that Moves and Chimes

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Mrs. WaterBuck

Several years ago when crows kept stealing the vegetable seedlings from our gardens before they even had a chance to grow, I asked my husband for a simple, no-kill solution. His remedy was centuries old, but just as effective as ever – a scarecrow.

When I heard the racket coming from his shop, however, I knew this bird-scarer would not be a couple of 2x4s hammered together. In no time, he came out smiling with a man-sized, lifelike mannequin that would frighten the daylights out of any critter contemplating sprouts for dinner. Now, that is how to make a scarecrow.

Clothed and with his pantyhose head in place, our scarecrow took on a personality, which of course, warranted a name. We called him “Woody.” For years he kept the squirrels, rabbits, deer and crows at bay. If you have never built one, you will be surprised at the fun of making a scarecrow and how effective they are at keeping aboveground pests from pilfering your produce.

My inventive husband, always looking for ways to improve perfection, decided to remake Woody recently, adding more motion and sound. We now have “Woody the Action Scarecrow,” who swivels like a weather vane and swings wind chimes to startle the stealthiest crop robbers.

A scarecrow that moves and makes noise

Not only does Woody stand guard day and night looking ominous, he turns in the wind with a warning sign as a sail. Since we do actually adore and appreciate the furry and feathered creatures that surround us, the sign instructs them to simply stay outside of our garden area. For the critters that cannot read, owl eyes on the sign backside illustrate the message clearly. Dangling from Woody’s other hand, chimes made of electrical conduit ring like old school bells in the slightest breeze.

My husband used scrap PVC pipe and fittings, woven wire, plywood and metal pipe to fashion this new action scarecrow. Meanwhile, I assembled Woody’s head of pantyhose, pillow innards, buttons and three-tone yarn. Of course, a scarecrow can be made of any materials on hand, even something as simple as a plastic bag tied to a stick will work – for a while. My husband’s version, though, has proven to last and be effective for years. It is also lightweight and easy to move around the garden to keep animals on alert. Plus it’s an awfully cute addition to the backyard.

How to make a scarecrow body

Roll a piece of 2” x 4” x 3’ woven wire around a 3” piece of PVC pipe to form a leg. Mark and cut the woven wire long enough to leave wire tabs to tie the leg seam. Also cut the leg bottom wire strand off to create tabs. These tabs will be used later for binding the legs and torso together. Tie the edges together with the tabs and wire ties. Slide out the PVC pipe. Make the second leg the same way.

Cut one piece of woven wire to roll for the body. Ours has a 36” waist so the wire was cut about 38”. Tie the edge together in back. Compress the middle to form a body shape.

Set the torso bottom on a piece of 1/2” plywood and trace around it. Cut it out. This forms the bum bottom. Drill four holes in the bum near the edge to later tie the torso to the bum with wire.

Set one leg on the underside of the bum to mark where to drill holes for all the wire tabs Action scarecrow legs except two. These two tabs will be bent over the edge of the torso later. Do the same for the other leg. Do not attach yet.

On both sides of the torso top, cut the top strand so the shoulders can be rolled over. Bind with wire ties.

Cut one piece of 2” schedule 80 PVC pipe 17” for the shoulder pipe. Drill a 1” hole into the center (not through both sides) of the shoulder pipe. Place the shoulder pipe through the torso, evenly spaced on both ends and with the drilled hole pointing down.

Measure the distance from drilled hole to the back of the torso. Drill a 2” hole in the bum the same distance as the shoulder pipe hole and evenly spaced from each hip.

Push the plywood bum into the torso bottom and bend over the tabs. Thread tie wire through the four drilled holes to secure it. Turn the torso upside down and insert the leg tabs into the drilled holes in the bum. Bend over the tabs in the drilled holes. Bend over the two remaining tabs on the outside edges by hooking them around the torso wire.

Cut two 20” pieces of 2” PVC pipe for the arms. Attach to the shoulder pipe with 2” (22-degree) PVC elbows. Cut two 6” stubs of 1 1/2” PVC to form wrists to slide into the arms. Drill a hole through the arm bottom and wrist to insert a screw. Slide a 1 1 Action Scarecrow Shoulders /2” (22-degree) elbow onto each wrist to form hands (later hidden by gloves). To attach a sign, cut another short piece of 1 1/2” PVC pipe to slide into the hand joint so the sign can be removed in high wind.

Cut a 40” piece of 12-gauge wire to form the neck and attach it to the back of the torso with tie wire. Attach the head to the neck by tying the pantyhose ends (explained below) to the inverted U-shaped wire. Secure with additional wire ties. Bend over the bottom of the neck wire to attach to the torso.

Cut a 4’ piece of 1/2” rigid pipe for the center rod (backbone). Insert a plug of dowel rod into the top of this rod to allow the torso to spin freely. Cut a 4’ piece of 1” rigid pipe to create a telescoping rod. This pipe is pounded into the soil 2’. Attach a U-bolt to adjust the height. Set the body on the rod.

How to make a scarecrow head

Cut off three pantyhose legs. Insert the second and third legs into the first to form a triple thickness. Tie a knot at least 6” from the toe end. Do not cut off the tail. Stuff with polyester or cotton filler material. I used stuffing from an old pillow. Make the head larger and about 6” longer than an actual head. The face will compress when eyes are added and the high forehead holds a hat in place. After filling, tie off the bottom of the head, leaving the long tail for tying onto the body.

With permanent marker or paint, draw a nose, remembering to keep a high forehead. Attach two 1” shiny buttons for the eyes by sewing all the way through the head with upholstery thread or fishing line and a long needle, pulling tight. At the back of the head, tie off the thread to a large washer or curtain ring. Draw or stitch a mouth. To stitch, pull the thread tightly through the head. Draw on ears. To make 3D ears or a nose, cut out 3” circles of pantyhose. Hand baste around the edge of the circles to form a drawstring. Stuff lightly and pull the thread tight, forming a pouch. Glue or stitch to the head.

Cut yarn hair and attach to the top of the head by using the top pantyhose tail to tie around the bundle of yarn strands. Attach the head to the body as explained above.

Install your scarecrow

Insert the center pipe into the larger pipe driven into the soil. Be sure to allow enough space for your scarecrow to spin without hitting any plants or other obstacles. Dress your scarecrow as desired. To put on a shirt, temporarily remove one arm. A belt or suspenders may be necessary to keep pants up, especially in rain.

Finally, stand back and admire your new friend. Be prepared to laugh yourself silly as you welcome your action scarecrow to the family and occasionally startle yourself in the garden.

Check back soon (after the first breezy day here) for a video of Woody the Action Scarecrow turning in the wind and rattling his musical chimes!

For more fun scarecrow ideas, check out this Mother Earth News scarecrow contest slideshow from 1989 or this spinning scarecrow from 1980.

If you’d like to learn how to get water from your drilled well without electricity, please see this blog.

Leave Those Catalpa Worms in the Trees

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Mrs. WaterBuck

More than once in my life, I’ve thoughtlessly interfered with a plant, critter or bug I was unfamiliar with instead of first learning about them.

Many years ago, after growing up in Wisconsin, I was unacquainted with a twisty sort of tree flourishing beneath the power pole at my new home in Virginia. The house had been vacant for some years before I arrived, so I reasoned the untamed vegetation spread on its own.

A full 8 months pregnant, I marched right out there with my pruning saw, hacking each 15-foot tree off at ground level. I figured it was better to sacrifice the young trees before they grew into the electric wires and before I fell in love with them.

Pleased with my day-long effort to cut, drag and stack the brush, I was atop the huge pile, stomping it into a manageable mass to burn, when a neighbor – a fourth-generation Virginia tobacco farmer – happened to stop in. I assumed his perplexed look centered on my precarious position and safety.

Oh, it’s OK, I said. My doctor says me and the baby are perfectly healthy. This is not stressful, I added, hoping he would not consider me frail or reckless.

“No, I was wondering,” he asked, “How come you cut down all your dogwood trees?”

So, the flowering trees, growing to no more than 20 feet or so, were intentionally planted there, bursting with white blossoms in springtime and bright red berries all winter. And I murdered them.

In the eight years I lived there, I kept hoping a few would sprout back, but they never did. Although I felt awful for a long time, I had yet to learn a lesson.

Most recently, when moving to the Ozarks, I was pleased to meet the lovely catalpa tree. This beauty grows to about 90 feet with heart-shaped leaves as big as a pie pan. To top it off, the tree showers us with sweet-smelling flowers in late May.

Whoever first thought of scattering flowers on the lawn for June weddings surely had a catalpa tree in the yard. The display and aroma go on for weeks.

Well, you can imagine my alarm when black-and-yellow striped caterpillars showed up by the thousands overnight chewing voraciously on three front-yard catalpa trees. Their munching and accompanying droppings could be heard 30 feet away on calm evenings. I’ve seen many wonders in my life, but never anything such as that.

I did what I thought any all-natural, organic gardener would do. I mixed up a batch of cayenne pepper, onion and crushed garlic for the garden-hose sprayer.

Once again, I plunged ahead, shooting that hot stuff straight up into the trees, splattering the fiery red water everywhere, even soaking the soil beneath the fully grown trees. The caterpillars rained down. I stepped on them and sprayed them some more, until there was not a live caterpillar anywhere.

That was two years ago. Last year, no worms returned, and still none this year.

Earlier this month, however, a smaller tree that was not among the group in the front yard bloomed for the first time. A week later, the 20-foot tree was plastered with caterpillars. But, instead of brewing up some pepper spray, I Googled the situation and discovered – to my horror – the catalpa sphinx (worm) and tree have coexisted for thousands of years.

Like many things in nature, the tree and worm depend on each other. The host catalpa tree is the only plant the worm eats, which it can devour to naked branches without harming the tree. According to Stephen L. Peele, curator of the Florida Mycology Research Center, catalpa trees are sometimes completely defoliated three or four times during a single summer, yet survive. No other tree could withstand this.

“They always come back. They always look healthy,” says Peele. “I have tried to understand the possible symbiotic relationship between the worm and the tree. There surely must be one.”

I eagerly contacted Peele, who has researched the worm for years, wrote a book about them and even started a newsletter (The Catalpa Farmer) about them. He said he has tried to force the worms to eat other species of tree leaves or other food. The little buggers turned up their shiny black noses and declined.

“I always thought it was important to find something else to raise the worms on, so that people who didn’t have catalpa trees could still raise the worms and have them for fishing,” Peele said. “I never was able to solve this problem.”

Many fishing enthusiasts actually propagate catalpa trees just to harvest the worms, which quickly reach 3 or 4 inches and are considered the best natural catfish bait. The worms can be frozen for months to use for fishing. They are easily harvested by shaking them from the tree onto a tarp, much easier than locating nightcrawlers with a flashlight.

“One catalpa worm could be cut into 3 to 4 sections to make as many pieces of bait,” Peele wrote in an article about the trees’ and worms’ decline in America. “The worm’s skin is pretty tough, so it is not easy for the fish to just ‘peck’ it off the hook, like they can a cricket. Fact is, you catch several fish on the same piece of worm bait.”

Another benefit: The worm dung fertilizes the tree – and everything else under its canopy. One of my tomato plants within worm-dropping distance is now a foot taller than its brothers.

Only two weeks after emerging, our worms retreated underground to pupate as only about 1/4 of the tree leaves remained. Without my meddling, the catalpa tree will return to its full vigor and another generation of worms will be born.

Another amazing thing about catalpa trees is that cuttings that are 3 to 4 feet long, or longer, have an incredible 80-percent survival rate when planted a good foot or more into the ground. Strip off all the leaves and water daily until new leaves have a good start. Plant in full sun in an area that has good drainage.

“Sometimes a few look like they have taken,” Peele said, “but don’t come back the following year. That’s the test. When you see the cutting come back to life the following year, you know you have a new healthy tree.”

Peele is gathering information on the status of catalpa trees and worms in America. He said the worms and trees may be disappearing unnoticed and approaching “endangered” due to deforestation and intentional or careless spraying of herbicides and insecticides. I feel somewhat responsible.

The Transcontinental Railroad had a hand in eliminating trees, however, as much of the track across this country was made of catalpa wood, prized for its ability to last for long periods. Trees also are harvested (and stolen) for their wood for furniture making.

If you have knowledge concerning the status of catalpa trees and worms in your area, Peele wants to hear from you. Have trees been cut in your area? Did there used to be trees? Did there used to be worms? Please send whatever information to: peele@frontier.com, floridamycology@cs.com or, FMRC, PO Box 18105, Pensacola, FL 32523.

Also, if you send the Florida Mycology Research Center a donation (any amount) to support this work, they will send you five catalpa tree seeds. In 10 years, you should have your own mystifying mob of catalpa worms.

Photos by Linda Holliday of catalpa blossoms, young worms and worms one week later.

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How to Make a Scarecrow that Moves and Chimes

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Leave Those Catalpa Worms in the Trees