A Trip to the Gourd Farm brings Creative Inspiration on a Winter Day

I am more than ready for this long dismal winter to be over. This one has been a particularly difficult one on my psyche, challenging me daily to be vibrant amidst a landscape that is like a blanket of brown and grey bleakness. Spring is around the corner and every once in a while Mother Nature will tease us with her sunny warmth. I'm anticipating the new season more than ever, and  looking forward to blossoming life and the dance of colors. A trip to the Gourd Farm yesterday was a definite must, bringing us one step closer to Spring and getting ready for some art shows.

Why make the trip?

I always opt to physically go to the farm to get my gourds instead of ordering them online. Keeping that human connection with the grower and being able to see the process of how the gourds get  from the garden to your studio makes your creation even more meaningful. By supporting local, I can see how the money stays within and supports that family and our community.

When we arrive, we are always first greeted by the guardians of the farm, the dogs. All of them are friendly, and of course if you pet them they are then your constant companions while you are choosing your gourds.

Cleaning of the Gourds
While I have made many trips to the farm, this time I was able to see a part of the production process that I haven't been able to witness before. The farm offers gourds that are cleaned and ready for you, and they do a pretty good job considering the amount of gourds they are working with. Very rarely I will have to do some cleaning, but most times the gourds are ready to work with. This is one of the things that I am most appreciative of with this grower, because cleaning gourds can be the most labor intensive part of doing gourd art.

As I started walking to the pole barn, there were a bunch of gourds in the metal tub getting a bath. I would love to have this set up for gourd cleaning, so effective and time saving.

Choosing of the Gourds

We gather many different types of gourds because we have an array of different artwork that we create with them. We choose large African Bushel, Bushel Basket, and Kettle Gourds for creating our Gourd Art Bowls. In crafting our Ceremonial Rattles we use Apache Dippers, Long and Short Handle Dippers, Goose Neck and Water Jugs. My Folk Art Gourd Dolls are crafted with all sorts of gourds, but I mostly use Chinese Bottle Gourds, Banana Gourds, and Goose Neck Gourds. African Bushel Gourds of a large size are used for our frame drums. Then of course we create pendants and jewelry from the gourds. We use the scraps from all types in doing so, but will also choose some nice Zucca Gourds and Cannon Ball Gourds.
The farm separates their gourds by type making it easy for them and visitors to find what they are looking for.

Walking through the barn looking at all the gourds could be compared to walking through an art supply store and looking at canvas. As you pick them up and check them for thickness and integrity, you begin thinking about what that "specific" gourd could become and all of its possibilities. Whenever I may be feeling a creative block, a walk through the gourd farm can pull me out of it before I leave. By the time we are back in the car for the drive home, I have a  list of themes and ideas for our gourd gathering in the back seat.
Once home I am ready to begin working with them. We grab pencils and start marking what each of them will be so that the cutting, grinding, shaping, and inside cleaning is more efficient. Over the next several weeks it looks as if we have a gourd factory, with various works stations set up to handle their processes.
Now, these two really spoke to me at the farm, although I am not entirely sure what they will become. They are wild cards...and the magic will be revealed later.

An Artists Day Off with Horse Totem Wisdom and a Gourd Farm

Sometimes you just need a day off, a chance to get away from the grind...the appointments...and let your mind relax in a different space. This is especially important for an artist. Those outdoor excursions are often just what is needed for a breath of fresh air and inspiration.

A trip to Ghost Creek Gourd Farm

This morning as the coffee was brewing and the dog was impatiently pacing, waiting for a bit of something different, we decided to take a trip to the gourd farm. We were already in need of some new gourd stock for our art. We always prefer picking our own gourds at the farm rather than ordering them. This gives us a chance to envision a piece of art in its raw state before we even get it home. 

Packing our coffee and tea cups, the dog, dog treats, bottles of water, bins for the gourds, and don't forget the boots since it's been raining at the farm...we started out. 

Halfway there we needed to stop at a little farm along the way to say good morning to the horses, who quickly come running to see you when they recognize an animal lovers heart. After  a quick conversation with them and a few dog kisses, we were back on the road to the multitude of gourds waiting for us.

Stopping to say hello to the horses

Horse Totem Reminder

The visit with the horses was timely Horse Totem wisdom for us, reminding us to explore our freedoms and expand our horizons while traveling on our journey.

I spent the rest of the drive sipping my tea and watching the tree silhouettes zipping by, thinking about....well, thinking about everything. Art, Life, Pain, Healing, Joy, and Directions. All these things filled my mind until after awhile, finally, all I thought of was "right now". Quietly my mind became passive and open, like a big huge field lying in front of the horse who is waiting for the signal to 

"Be Free". 

Soon I heard the gravel crunching under the tires as we slowly turned down the road to the farm. Off to the side you could see the fields filled with the year's promise of gourds that are just waiting to be transformed by loving hands.

Gourd Drying in the Field

Gourds waiting to be brought into the Pole Barns

Ghost Creek Gourd Farm

We made our way into the pole barns where Dickie and Linda have bins upon bins lined up and full of cleaned and dried gourds of every imaginable type. With our big reusable bags and empty bins we began choosing gourds for our art...precious supplies for making our frame drums, gourd rattles, bowls, vessels, jewelry, and figurative sculptures. We were assisted greatly by their dogs especially their beautiful male weimaraner who kisses and plays with you with each step you take. 

With bags and bins full, and inspirations brimming to a new level, we loaded back into the car for the trip home.

Gourd Shopping Done

What was my greatest gift of all from the trip?  

"Optimism"

Have a gorgeous day everyone ! And remember, sometimes you just need to take a day off to recharge your batteries :)

(If you are wanting to visit a Gourd Farm in the Southeast, our recommendation is Ghost Creek Gourd Farm.) You can visit their website here

http://www.ghostcreekgourds.com/

They also sell their gourds from their website.

And to see some of our own creations from Gourds you can visit our website at

http://www.consciousartstudios.com/

An Artist's Date ~ Gourd Pickin' in a Heatwave

Our dates tend to be a little different than most.

The romantic and sentimental things are done on a daily basis, you know... surprises with wild flowers, dinner and a movie, or making a cup of tea for your sweetheart.  And then when a celebrating day comes when those things would be expected, we do something .......completely different.

Now, I'm not saying the sweet things don't exist, just that I guess we drum to our own beat.

We have both been sick the past few days, sick in the middle of a heatwave with low grade fevers, sinus problems, nausea,  and just plain yuckiness. We had been needing to go to the gourd farm since we were completely out of gourds and we use them so often in our artwork. So, John picked this afternoon to make an appointment at the farm.

After a light lunch and a gift of earrings and a necklace that John had stashed away, we got ready to go. Today was relentlessly HOT, in the triple digits with a heat index that made if feel like 108 degrees. This made the trip a little oppressive, with a traveling time of three hours round trip, especially when we found that our air conditioning in the vehicle decided to stop working after the first 15 minutes. But we endured anyway, drinking lots of water and the occasional "Slushy" along the way.

Once we arrived, we were immediately greeted by this little guy, who so delicately perched himself on the side mirror to say hello.

Now the excitement could begin, picking through bins and barrels of wondrous gourds, each having their own potential to be a beautiful piece of Art. It didn't take long to gather many, thank goodness, because the heat was so bad the sweat was just pouring down our faces and mixing with gourd dust.

 

 

An hour later we had our stash...lots of gourds that would soon be Art Dolls, Drums, Bowls, Vases, Masks, and Jewelry. We carried our bounty to the side yard with the help of the farm's beautiful Weimeraner, who wanted to play the whole time...teasing and poking at you as you searched for your gourds.

Our picks

We got lots of gourds, plus a bag full of little bitty tiny ones about the size of my thumb.

Next time I will dress a little more appropriately, since my Maryjane shoes showed they're displeasure from the barn floor.

All is well. We had a good time together..a fun time...a productive time...a HOT time...and above all, time with each other and that's what counts.