Local artists unveil new fence for Farmer McGregor’s Garden in Georgetown

Master Gardeners and Milton artists Eddie Filemyr and Valerie Hammer recently designed, painted and unveiled a three-panel replacement fence for Farmer McGregor's Garden at the University of Delaware's Carvel Research and Education Center on Route 9 in Georgetown. Bursting with color, the whimsical, impressionistic design features typical Sussex County corn, soybean and wheat fields; a farmhouse, barn, chicken house, silo; and Peter Rabbit peering from behind a garden fence. 

The garden fence is the centerpiece for the educational puppet show, "Peter Rabbit's Misadventures in Farmer McGregor's Vegetable Garden," which was first presented in 2010 at the Sussex County Master Gardeners annual Day in the Garden open house. Although Inspired by the Beatrix Potter version familiar to many children, the puppet show, appropriate for children up to second-grade level, also appeals to and educates adults. 

Since 2010, the puppet show has reached more than 10,000 children and more than 3,000 adults. In 2015, the puppet show was awarded first place in the International Master Gardener Conference's Search for Excellence for a Youth Project and in 2011, the show received the Delaware Cooperative Extension's Positively Outrageous Service Award.

The puppet show, conceived by two master gardeners, and presented by a cast of master gardeners for six years, however, is quite different from Potter's legendary story. A Farmer McGregor look-alike master gardener explains and asks questions about how vegetables are grown and the parts people eat. Peter engages the children in describing the vegetables they like and how they are prepared or cooked. Other puppeteers portray a beautiful butterfly and a busy bee who visit the garden to explain pollinators and pollination. The beneficial “good bugs”, a lady bug beetle and a praying mantis, explain about predator bugs and “bad bugs,” such as Japanese Beetles, explain how they can decimate a garden. There is a surprise ending where Peter is nearly caught by Farmer McGregor in his garden. 

Filemyr has a master’s degree in fine arts from Antioch University in Ohio, formerly lived with her husband Frank in an Idaho log cabin, and worked and sold her art work from her attached studio. She also spent her time gardening. Since moving to Delaware, she has received a Best in Show and first- and second-place awards in local art shows. She has taught acrylic art classes at Delaware Technical and Community College in Georgetown and at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Lewes. She describes her work as two- and three-dimensional mixed media.

Hammer, originally from Fairfax County, Va., taught art classes in middle and high schools for 27 years. She teaches children's art classes at the Rehoboth Art League. For most of her life, she has painted custom furniture for others. She describes her work as ranging from third-dimensional to second-dimensional abstract realism.

Education and outreach is at the heart of all Sussex County Master Gardener activities. For more information, go to www.udel.edu and search Sussex County Master Gardeners or call 302-856-7303.