One of the great things about Framingham is that you can get to lots of fun places on less than a tank of gas.

This weekend we headed up to Greenfield New Hampshire to see pumpkins thrown by a trebuchet (a super-sized catapolt.)  A farmer, inspired by a program on PBS about these medieval war weapons, built a trebuchet and has been demonstrating it on weekends by launching pumpkins over 1000 feet.

Inspired by the Medieval war machine, he also built a mock castle, a huge spiked mace, and created a moat like pond across the street from his farm stand.  A snack stand is housed in a turret like hut.

It’s charming and awesome, and free to wander and watch the demonstrations.  While there is a donation bowl, there is no charge.

The farm stand is modest and fairly priced and we bought some of the best and largest apples that we have enjoyed in a long time.   It was a fun day away for very little and a different kind of destination for a family adventure.

The trebuchet is named “The Yankee Siege” and the owners have entered in in “pumpkin chuckin” contests and have vanquished all comers.

There’s one more weekend to enjoy the demonstrations.  The farm stand and fantasy castle land are located on Route 31 in Greenfield, NH.  To learn more, visit www.yankeesiege.com.

Among the booths at Pies on the Common on Saturday was the booth of Framingham High Band members selling scarfs for $ 20 as a fundraiser.  Some of the band members were playing snippets of tunes to entertain passersby.

The scarfs are blue and white and say “Framingham Flyers” on them.  A good item to sell on what was a clear, but unusually cold October day.