The world’s largest garden gnome
The world’s largest garden gnome is literally a transplanted New Yorker. His name is Chomsky and he stands some 13 feet, 6 inches tall in front of a 10-hole edible miniature golf course at Kelder’s Farm, overlooking Route 209 in Kerkonkson, upstate New York. Maria Reidelbach, a part-time Kerhonkson resident, made the proto-Chomsky of chicken wire and wood and kept him outfitted in flowers. He came north with his creator when she got a hankering to live in the country. Chomsky was already, by Reidelbach's measure, the world's tallest garden gnome. But when she decided to go for the Guinness World Records book, she found Chomsky would have to be retrofitted with material that was the same as his ancestors — cement — and so began the concretizing of the grinning roadside colossus, which took over a year.
Kelder's Farm is a family operation that specializes in what's called agro-ed — turning farm acreage into an educational experience for the vast majority of young people who think fruits and vegetables are something produced in a factory. Now Chomsky presides over what Reidelbach believes is the world's only edible mini-golf course. Each hole in the 10-hole course — they'll be adding eight more soon — is festooned with berries and vegetables, and an occasional chicken has been known to wander by for a snack.
Bring back David
And while we’re on the subject, what about gnome gnostalgia? There is a petition running to bring back David the Gnome. This animated series, based on the world famous children's books The Gnomes and The Secret of the Gnomes by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen, was part of Channel Four’s children’s programming in the early 1990’s. It was narrated by Christopher Plummer and featured the voice of Tom Bosley (Mr Cunningham in ‘Happy Days’) as the voice of David, who was a wise woodland doctor who lived with his wife Lisa, in a tree and protected all the inhabitants of the woods from the evil ogres and trolls.
Weird ornaments photograph by Tall Fool, used under a creative commons attribution licence
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