Gorgeous gourds
Growing and decorating gourds is a family affair

BY LAURA C. MARTIN

Gourding is a family hobby for Kathy, Bob and Cameron James, who travel to gourd shows throughout the year. While Kathy and Cameron teach, Bob tends the booth. He also has an Internet gourd supply business, www.PrimitiveOriginals.com.

It was three years ago that Kathy James and Karen Kirkland first saw a beautifully decorated gourd at a crafts show. "We could do this!" Karen said, and that was the beginning. Ever since, these sisters from Albany have become wildly enthusiastic about (if not downright obsessed with) gourds.

Both women have a background in art, and both have taught and shown their works at many arts and crafts shows. But when they stumbled on gourds as a medium, something clicked for both of them.

"Karen’s specialty is weaving rims [around the gourd tops] of natural fibers, and mine is wood-burning fine lines, such as feathers, on gourds," Kathy says.

Kathy’s exquisite work transforms a common gourd into a piece of art. Here, woven pine straw and rooster feathers are used to enhance the natural beauty of the gourd.

Gourd enthusiasm must be contagious, for now the bug has spread to Karen’s husband, Ben, who is a well-respected primitive-skills expert specializing in reproducing primitive vessels and rattles with gourds, and to Cameron, Kathy’s son, 15, who is a prize-winning gourd artist himself.

Kathy and Karen grew up in a family that gardened, and both were involved in arts and crafts, so the idea of growing their own craft supplies was very appealing. Today their families not only decorate gourds, but grow them as well. Karen grows many different kinds and Kathy, whose space is more limited, grows miniatures on an arbor.

Ben Kirkland (top) is primarily interested in using gourds to reproduce primitive vessels and rattles, while wife Karen (middle row, right), uses natural fibers to weave elaborate rims around gourds. The kids–Kristina (next to Karen), Kayla (bottom right) and family friend, Daniel, all get involved when show time rolls around.

One of the most commonly grown gourds is Cucurbita pepo ovifera, which produces a variety of interestingly shaped fruits that are round, bottle-shaped, striped or warty. This has a yellow or orange flower and produces fruit that is often used in fall arrangements. It is Lagenaria siceraria, though–the white-flowered gourd—that produces the hard-shelled gourds beloved by artists. These gourds range in size from 3 inches to 3 feet and are popularly called birdhouse, dipper or bottle gourds, indicating only a few of their many uses.

There are a number of different gourds to grow, but for each, full sun is a necessity. Gourds also need well-drained soil. Before planting the seeds, after the soil has warmed in spring, work the soil by digging deeply and adding lots of organic matter. The soil should be at a pH of around 6.5 to 6.8. If you don’t know the nutrient and relative acidity of your soil, a soil test is recommended.

Another requirement for growing gourds is space, since they can grow 10 to 15 feet in a season. Plant them 2 feet apart in a row, with the rows approximately 5 feet apart. They love to grow or climb, though, and will happily grow over a fence or trellis. For best growth, apply a side dressing of fertilizer or additional organic matter when the vines begin to "run."

If you see a lot of blooms but no fruit starting, be patient. Gourds produce separate male and female flowers (on the same vine) and they need to be on the vine at the same time for fertilization to occur.

The gourds are ready for harvest when the stems dry and turn brown. Ideally, this happens before the first frost. A heavy frost can discolor the gourds, so harvest should be com-pleted before winter sets in. Cut the gourds with a few inches of stem still attached and be careful not to bruise the fruit during harvest. Any gourds that look rotten or bruised should be discarded.

Clean the gourds with soap and water, and dry thoroughly. When first harvested, the gourds are heavy with water and must be allowed to dry out–a process that can take from one to several months, depending on the size of the gourd and the humidity of the weather. When dry, the gourds will be light and the seeds will rattle inside. It is at this point that they are ready for the artist’s hands. "We think of them as a golden canvas," Kathy says.

Karen used common pine needles and wove them into a beautiful design to rim this gourd.This piece has won her several blue ribbons at state gourd competitions.

The canvas presented by these homegrown beauties inspires crafters and artists all over the world. Gourds are used for an astonishing number of arts and crafts, from painting and woodburning to beading and dyeing. Scraps and miniatures are even used to make gourd jewelry, and are sometimes covered with gold leaf for this purpose.

Karen and Kathy are not alone in their love and appreciation of gourds. Hardshelled gourds have been cultivated for thousands of years and have been used for a wide variety of utilitarian purposes. According to Kathy and Karen, who have co-authored 13 booklets on using and decorating gourds, these fruits were used in the Southeast as water jugs, arrow sheaths, dippers, buckets, flotation devices, floats for fishing nets, birdhouses and ceremonial rattles.

"Gourds were used extensively in the Southeast until the invention of clay pottery," Kathy says.

Although today plastic has all but replaced the more utilitarian uses of these hollowed-out shells, the popularity of gourds remains steadfast.

"We’ve seen the public’s interest in gourds grow appreciably in the last couple of years," Kathy says. "We notice more and more visitors coming to our shows each year. I think, in part, it represents an interest in returning to our roots."

Whatever the reason, the enthusiasm of "gourdheads" (read: self-proclaimed name of one who loves gourds) is as grand as the vigorous vines on which they grow. Whether you are fascinated by their strange shapes, interested in their long and varied history, or consider them, as this Albany family does, a "thing of smooth, golden, natural beauty," it’s hard to ignore a gourd.