Country Living 2019-11-01

FIELD GUIDE

HUNT

COUNTRYLIVING.COM / NOVEMBER 2019 Ɓž

The Collecting Life

Talking Tu rkey

Contributor Mary Randolph Carter shares her love for her favorite

“leftover”—a folk art piece that feathers her Thanksgiving feast.

sons are now grown!—Tom Turkey

remains ever watchful over celebrations

that have expanded beyond the realm

B of that one long plank of a table.

ack in the 1970s, shortly

after I married Howard and

well before we had our

sons, Carter and Sam, we

began hosting Thanksgiving for a

smattering of family and friends in our

tiny New York City apartment. While I

took on the mother of all meals, our

nearest and dearest gathered around

our dinner table, made from a single

12-foot wood plank, under the gaze of

our “watchbird,” a wooden folk turkey

whittled by legendary folk artist Miles

Carpenter. Known for his life-size

figures of both people and animals,

Miles hand-carved many pieces from

tree roots with a mix of tools ranging

from pocket knives and chisels to

hatchets and saws back in the 1960s

and ’70s. Today, his pieces can be found

at museums like the Smithsonian, but

I plucked mine from a folk art museum

in Richmond, Virginia. While much has

changed in the last 40-plus years—our

“Carter” is the author of
multiple books about
collecting, including her
PH latest, The Joy of Junk.

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