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Every year, the Upton family of Slindon, West Sussex, England displays their crop of gourds by arranging them to make an artwork. It’s a tradition that started by accident in the late 1960s. This picture is from 2009. You can see this year’s creation and images from other seasons at Kuriositas. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Badly Drawn Dad)
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Seven farms across the country are sporting NASA-themed corn mazes this year, as part of NASA’s Space Farm 7 project. It’s an educational project, as these farms host fall festivals open to the public, and a celebration of NASA’s achievements over the past 50 years. You can even vote on your favorite maze, and be entered to win lunch with an astronaut. The maze shown is at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, Texas. See them all at Universe Today. Link -via Metafilter
(Image credit: The MAIZE Inc.)
How much do you know about barbed wire? The very idea of barbed wire fences has a fascinating history. Railroads and farmers put up fences, and ranchers, who were used to open spaces to drive their cattle, tore them down. Manufacturers were making lots of money selling barbed wire, and each had a different barb design.
While cattle ranchers sparred with farmers, the legal system was tangled by lawsuits over barbed-wire patents. Almost from the moment Jacob Haish and Joseph Glidden filed their first patents for barbed wire in 1874, the two men were squaring off in court. That same year, a hardware-store owner named Isaac Ellwood bought a 50-percent share in Glidden’s patent for $265. By the time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Glidden’s favor in 1892 (his “Winner” design is used on most fences today), hundreds of patents for as many designs of barbed wire had been filed, and many more unpatented variations were on the market.
Now those rare early designs are highly sought by collectors. Yes, there are barbed wire collectors, as well as barbed wire clubs, museums, and conventions, as you’ll see in this article at Collectors Weekly. Link -Thanks, Lisa and Ben!
(Image credit: railman)
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Ever had a fantasy to be like Godzilla? Now you can play them out in an unusual installation by German street artist EVOL. This installation is a small city constructed at the average person’s height for an experience of seeming large. It took EVOL and his team eight days to excavate and install the city block. Check out the other photographs at Colossal, a great website for art and design.
Photographer Rob MacInnis takes portraits of barnyard animals. He takes easily as much care with livestock photographs as a fashion photographer would with his subjects. The group portraits will especially bring a smile to your face. Link to portraits. Link to group panoramas. -via Metafilter
This Twaggie, illustrating a Tweet from Seth MacFarlane, tells the truth about farm life and the way it appears to non-farmers. Link
You would never think of making a deer into a working beast of burden, but semi-domesticated reindeer in Russia and Northern Europe have been used to pull sleighs for a long time (Santa Claus notwithstanding). Could you get a moose, the largest deer species, to work for you? Minnesotastan found a picture of a moose working as a beast of burden, and found it was a Photoshop job. But in researching one photo, he found quite a few other pictures of moose being used to pull wagons. See them at TYWKIWDBI. Link
“Designed for the Hudson Yard area of Manhattan, Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm aims to provide New York with a sustainable food source while creating a dynamic social space that integrates producers with consumers. Based upon the ‘material logic of plant mechanics’, the biomorphic skyscraper is modeled after the plant cells of ferns and provides space for farms, residential areas, and markets. These organic structures will harness systems such as airoponic watering, nutrient technology and controlled lighting and CO2 levels to meet the food demands of future populations.”
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by whitespace.
