Most folks think of me as just a little "left of center."  I take delight in the oddest things and get excited over what most would consider trivial.  Take this gourd thing, for instance.  I'm fascinated that I can start with a seed and end with art.  I love all the steps.  I've learned that  "instant gratification" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Every single part of the process has it's own element of gratification....and wonder.  Check out these pics of my grandson, Liam, and you might see what I mean:

 

And let's not forget the wonder of gourd SEX.  Yes, you heard me!  The girl flower MUST be pollinated by the boy flower in order to create the baby gourd!  How does that happen?  By bugs.  At night (privacy, you know!).  OR - if I'm so inclined, and I often am - I can help them along by picking a boy flower and shaking his pollen onto the girl flower or touching them together.  How do you tell the difference between a boy and girl flower you ask?  See below:

 

Can you guess which is which?  :-)

 Part of what I love about this gourd adventure is the journey!  Some years you plant seeds and end up with hundreds of gourds to play with and share.  Some years nothing seems to germinate, and then there's a huge hailstorm, and then a drought, and you wonder "what the heck was I thinking?!"  All the weeding, all the water, all the heartache.  It all goes away when your efforts pay off!  When the gourds start growing and flowering, and you spend every morning "matching up"  boy flowers and  girl flowers (we'll talk about that at another time!), and gazing in amazement at vines that seem to have grown feet rather than inches since the morning before!  It's satisfying to the heart and soul!  It builds character.  It teaches patience.  All those good things we all need to be good people can be found in a garden!

So here is just a brief visit to this years "lower" gourd patch:

This is the way I've decided to grow dipper gourds this year!  I want them to grow with a straight "neck" rather than a curved one, so they need to hang.  It's way-cool.  Hubby even got out the ladder to help pound in the tall t-posts and get the fence panel up there.  So every morning I go out and "train" the young vines to grow up the bridge, and they have learned well!  The first gourds are appearing!!!!

 

Look how straight it's neck is!  It's just a baby right now, but well on it's way to being the perfect dipper!

 

 

One of the other things that is so amazing is the difference in the varieties and how their leaves look:

 

This is a dipper leaf.............

This is a luffa leaf.......did you know that a luffa sponge is actually not a sponge, but a gourd?!  It's my first year growing these, so we'll see how they do...I'll keep you posted.  It's a good sign that we have leaves, but no flowers yet! 

 

Stay tuned!  Cannonballs, bushels, bananas, and apples are growing, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 May 22, 2010.  Prospect Street Fair.  Great venue.  Great weather (?!).  Great organizers.  Great vendors.  Great food. 

Mid-morning a rogue gust of wind came along and literally TOOK OUT most all the tents at the South end of the fair. Everyone scrambled to save their product, their displays, the tents, and stay safe at the same time.  It kept up for maybe 15 minutes and when it was done, the street looked like a tornado had gone through.  Broken glass, broken tents, broken art and antiques.  A mess.

This -

 used to look like THIS:

And there were a few others.  Heartbreaking.  But truth be told, I fared better than some.  Most of us packed up and went home.  A shame, as the folks at The Nest put an awful lot of work into this event, as did all of us vendors.  This is part of the problem with outdoor markets and street fairs.  You always run the risk of the weather ruining the day and costing vendors and organizers lots of money. 

So....what to do now?  What about future street fairs?  Is it worth it?  All of us have to decide that for ourselves, but for me, I think not.  I'll finish up the ones I'm signed up for this summer, which are few - but I'm looking for a new plan, a new idea, a new venue.  This whole event took the wind out of my sails.

My "day job" became too busy/exhausting - and keeping up at the farm became near impossible during the week, so took up all of my time on the weekends.  There has been NO time, since that day in May, for me to even work in the gourd studio and create new inventory.  My blog has suffered as well.  I'm "out of the loop!"  I lost momentum!

I just took a week off for my stepson's wedding.  A lovely event and a week full of entertaining out-of-town relatives and guests.  The week also included "farm tours" to see the llamas, and the gourds, and everything else that goes on here.  It re-kindled my excitement and creativity to see the enjoyment everyone got out of visiting the very quiet little gourd studio.  I spent a few hours today back in there, creating again!  I'm ready to get back out there.  If anyone has any ideas to share - any thoughts or suggestions - as to where I can display my work going forward, I would appreciate your input! 

The season of street fairs, farmer’s markets, and outdoor art exhibits is almost upon us! You can find Gourds Gone Wild at the following locations in May:

May 8 & 9 Join the fun at the Mother’s Day Event at the Ute Trail Greenhouses: http://www.utetrail.com/images/myweb6/default.htm

May 22 If you haven’t been to Prospect yet, now is your big chance to experience what a wonderful place it is! From 7am – 3pm is the annual street fair, hosted by The Nest, a wonderful store full of antiques, garden items, and home decor.
http://www.nestprospect.com

May 29 Headed for Estes Park for the long weekend? Looking for something fun to do on the way up or just a quick getaway to Lyons in the morning? Stop by the Lyons Outdoor Market, which runs every Saturday through September.
http://www.lyonsoutdoormarket.com/

Hope to see you all! I’ll post more dates/events as they get closer!

One of the things I enjoy most about creating is the opportunity that frequently presents itself to “give something back.” Like many people in today’s economy, it is often not possible to make monetary donations to worthy organizations, much as we would all like to. I have the benefit of being able to make donations of my artwork instead, and all it “costs” me is time but provides a way for that organization to make a bit of the money they need to continue to do their good work. One such local organization is http://www.zontafoothills.org/ They recently hosted an “Author’s luncheon” and had a silent auction to go along with the event. I promised to create an item for them and thought I would share it here, since it will not appear on my sale or gallery page. It was particularly fun to create, as it just sort of evolved, and when I was done, my husband said “it looks like some sort of board game.” Hence the name!

One of the things I love about gourd art is that you just never run out of new techniques to try! The possiblities are endless! The above picture is my finished product using “Inlace,” a resin-based epoxy product that looks like inlaid stone when finished. Inlace may be ordered from Turtlefeathers.net, a gourd supply online store, and comes with a full set of instructions. The basics of the procedure are as follows:
1. Clean and fully prepare your gourd for decoration. Draw on the design, and wood burn it if you like.
2. Carve out the area you want fo fill with Inlace. No need to go real deep, but make sure the edges are “clean.”
3. Mix the Inlace (with a hardener, which comes in the kit). After mixing, you have about 15 minutes to work with it before it starts to harden. There are also stone chips, glitter, mica dust, etc. available that can be added to it, and it comes in a myriad of colors.
4. Fill the area you have carved out – OVER fill it by a bit, and make sure there are no air pockets.
5. Let it dry 24 hours.
6. Sand the Inlace down, using a small rotary sander, so that it is level with the surface of the gourd. Make sure not to gouge your gourd. You may want to sand the last parts and edges by hand. I used a 40 grit, which was very aggressive. I would suggest maybe an 80 grit instead.
7. Buff the Inlace with the buffing compound. (this comes in the kit)
8. Polish the Inlace with the polishing compound.(this comes in the kit)

Items # 7 & 8 were done with a dremel tool with a soft buffing pad attachment.

9. Complete the rest of the design on your gourd!

Last Saturday, a group of families converged on the Carbon Valley Regional Library to create gourd birdhouses to hang in the trees around the facility. I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate as an instructor. I’m not so sure they needed much guidance, as the creative and enthusiastic librarian that came up with this idea seemed to do just fine on her own with organizing, gathering supplies, and generating excitement! I spent an hour or so talking about the history of gourds, different types of gourds, how to grow gourds, and what to do with gourds. Then came the fun part! The gourds were pre-cleaned, with holes already cut, and designs burned onto them. All that was left was the painting and it took just about 2 hours to get 8 wonderful homes created for the birds! Look for them all hanging in the trees come spring – it will be a festive and welcoming sight! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the process and the products!

So last year, I decided a “new” tradition should be started, much like one my mother started for us kids many years ago. She used to park us at the kitchen table, occasionally with friends, and help us make ornaments for the tree. Generally out of “kits” that had little pieces of felt, pompoms, beads. Pretty safe. Not too messy. Great memories. I still have some of the ornaments I made, which means they are … ahem….OLD. Anyhow….I’m apparently not as smart as Mom – OR I just really have NO CLUE when it comes to children. I do know they like to have fun, and that letting them just GO NUTS and explore their creativity is much more successful and entertaining than trying to keep the activities controlled and organized. Those of you that know me, know this is a BIGGIE for me! HA!
So – alot of paint and glitter and gumdrops and glue later….and let’s not forget chicken nuggets and icecream……here are the pics from our Christmas Craft Day! May I mention, the glitter will be around for a very long time…..

Tera and her gourd snowman! Great Job!

SUPERVISORY CREW

Makenzie focuses on being adorable.

Liam was a bit outnumbered with all his girl cousins, but he held his own!

Emily & Abigail & grandma (did I say that out loud?!)

Angie is a natural!

Abigail is a little young for all of this, but she supervised for a bit.

Getting ready for two shows/sales. Friday, Dec. 4, look for me at “First Night Niwot” from 5-8pm, across from Trepedda’s restaurant in downtown Niwot. Should be a fun, festive, evening! Saturday, Dec. 5th, come visit and shop at the indoor Longmont Farmer’s Market at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in the exhibit hall. Last year’s event was packed and so successful that we are now going to be in the larger building. Many vendors with great food and handmade items. Perfect for gift giving!
That said – here are a few pics of my WRECK OF A SHOP! Working away like an elf of Santa’s trying to get ready! Total chaos. Quite the mess. But lots of progress and creativity coming out of the melee! And my best little buddy Brownie, right at my side the entire time, cheering me on. Well…sleeping mostly, but he’s cheering me on in spirit!
Hope to see you all next weekend!

What’s your favorite? Sunrises or sunsets?
I’m going with sunrises. Hands down. No question that I’m a “morning person.” I’m up before the sun to feed the 45 llamas that always seem to be starving and waiting for me to start their day. My little mini aussie, Brownie, wouldn’t miss this daily adventure for the world, and joyfully joins me while all the others are still sleeping.
The two of us also have the added bonus of seeing the most specatacular sunrises anywhere. Fall and winter in Colorado guarantees a blazing glory of color most every day. It is inspiring and breathtaking and a wonderful way to start the day. Enjoy the pics below!

This picture is of Long’s Peak and Mt. Meeker, the mountain range that we see every day out our front door to the west. It takes on a lovely pink/peach/acqua glow.

Last weekend, I spent an hour or so picking (and tossing in the dumpster!) about 3 dozen gourds that didn’t make it to maturity and turned squishy after the first frost and snow. I guess 3 dozen out of 300 isn’t too bad!
Thanks to my dear frinds Jill and Sonja for helping me pick and haul the rest of the gourds yesterday! Thanks also to my husband who helped put the final batch in my truck as dark approached, along with alot of wind!
They are all neatly placed on pallets on the south side of our garage, and now it is a waiting game to see which of them make it all the way through the drying stage without collapsing or shriveling up!

Also exciting is an email I got from some friends that harvested their first batch! I gave them a little seedling back in the spring, which they planted and then watched it take over their backyard! Here is the picture of their first harvest, also picked yesterday! Congratulations Cathy & Heidi! Thanks for sharing your picture!

Welcome! The very unscientific count is in from the gourd patches! 266 bottle/birdhouse gourds in the patch behind the barn, and 25 apple gourds down the road out front, and 50 kettle/canteen gourds down the road as well! A great crop! They are still on the vine, as we usually don’t pick them until the stems turn brown and dry – genrally in late October, early November.
The BAD NEWS is that Friday night, we got 4" of snow! And VERY cold. This morning, 10/11, it is 25 degrees with freezing drizzle. I’m a bit worried that the gourds did not have any time to harden off and will turn to mush when they defrost. Only time will tell. I’ll keep everyone posted!

Welcome to Gourds Gone Wild — and to my first blog post! Blogging is a new experience for me, but one I’m excited about. In future posts, I’ll be sharing information on upcoming arts and crafts events, I’ll offer a few how-tos, and I’ll serve as a connection to the places and people that you can learn more from.

So check back soon for my next blog entry!

Carolann