Off-Grid Eclectic: Classic Halloween

Author: Fern al'Thorn, October 2017

BOO!

Gather ‘round the fire and we will hear the tales of Halloween’s gone bye in this “Classic Edition” of the Tar Valon Times!

We are going to talk about classic decor! Rustic styling of an era gone by, another age one might say, but I ramble.

The first BIG classic thing to come to mind is of course Jack O’Lanterns! Who doesn't love to carve pumpkins and make them glow at night?

One of the best ways to help preserve it according to Food-Hacks is bleach.

That’s right folks bleach, the instructions are pretty simple, and are as follows:

After your pumpkin has been carved, rinse it out with water to get rid of excess strings and gunk.

1. Take a large bucket or tub and fill it with three gallons of water.
2. Stir three teaspoons of bleach into the water.
3. Dunk in the pumpkin. Be sure to hold it down as it will try to float. The entire pumpkin should sit in the solution for two minutes. You might want to wear gloves, too.
4. Remove from the solution and let the pumpkin air dry.

The list also includes things like WD40, Vaseline, and other interesting things that I never thought of, but when you are living as much off-grid as you can you look for things that you can afford and that are as sustainable as possible.

There is also the classic Scarecrow!

This is one of those real easy DIY’s for the whole family.

There are lots of ways you can do this and if you don’t want to stick it in the ground, no problem! You can make them so they sit in chairs. All the things you need, you can probably find around your house.

1. An old long sleeved shirt (buttons or not is your choice) this you will stuff with grass or straw or even newspaper.
2. An old pair of pants, jeans,overalls. These you will also stuff.
3. An old pillow case for the head. Make sure you stuff it well! mutters something about wool heads
4. A hat, to protect that head!
5. Safety pins to pin the shirt to the pants.
6. Rope or belt and other accessories, bandanna, sunglasses, ect.
7. Stakes or wood for a frame if you chose to make it stand up.

Here is a link that can give you details about measurements and give you more ideas!

And last but not least, Ghosts!!

If you want to see some really amazing ideas go to Pinterest. Here is a link to some of the best ones and they are so easy to do: Halloween Fun

To make some easy hanging ghosts all you need is:

1. something to make a ball for the head, you can use a Styrofoam ball, old plastic shopping bags made into a ball.
2. Cheese cloth or old white material like pillow cases or sheets.
3. Black paint or permanent marker for the eyes and maybe mouths if your ghosts like to scream.
4. String or fishing line to hang it up with.

You will need to figure out how you want to hang it, if you are using a Styrofoam ball you can attach the string to the ball, so that the body hangs free.

Or you can hang it by the neck if you want to as well.

After that you will want to cover your head, figure out where the eyes and such go, and boom!

Hang it up, stand and it up, carve it up, and have some fun scaring some kids!!