From prehistoric times to today, gourds still remain popular
By CHARLOTTE HILLIARD

Newsboy photo/Sharon Kerr AN INDIAN MOTIF carved gourd by artist Faye Dupre has a pine needle rim, feathers and beads. Beside it is Tommy Humphrey's framed cougar cub.The Art League gift shop will have its grand opening during the Fall Fest membership drive.

One thing you find at Fall Fest and farmers' markets this time of year is gourds. Local writer and farmer Charlotte Hilliard is a member of the Sabine Neches Writers Guild, www.snwg.org.

My husband James and I have been planting and growing gourds for four years. Everywhere the gourd vine touches the ground it grows roots which enables it to keep going farther and farther and making more gourds.

According to 'The Complete Book of Gourd Craft' the gourd is a member of one of the largest botanical families in the world, the Cucurbitaceae family, which also contains all melons and squash. Occasionally, melons and/or squash are called gourds, but to be a true gourd the fruit must dry with a hard shell.

Experts believe gourds spanned the world back in prehistoric time, making it one of the oldest plants in the world.

Over eons, gourds have been used as containers, vessels, musical instruments, eating and cooking utensils, and for fermenting drinks, just to name a few.

We started growing gourds after attending the Folk Life Festival in Natchitoches, LA, and seeing the prices attached to bowls and containers that had designs burned (like wood burning) into them.

Gourds make wonderful canvasses. They take any kind of stain, paint, or polish, and can be cut into any design or not cut at all.

Children love to paint gourds, keeping busy for hours. I soon learned I was not artistic and would leave the artwork to others.

We grow the hardshell and ornamental. The ornamentals show up in grocery stores around Halloween with their beautiful green, yellow and orange colors. The gourds in the stores will not dry properly because they have been treated to keep them bright and pretty. This eliminates the chance for the water to escape, causing the gourds to eventually rot.

We leave the gourds in the field to cure. Some people harvest them when ninety percent of the water is gone, but we have never had good results doing this. They are very heavy when green, but when dry they weigh very little, and they have a natural outer skin and mold that dries tight to the gourd.

Before doing anything else to the gourd, clean this outer skin and mold off to see the pretty, interesting texture and patterns left on the gourd.

The best way to clean mold from the gourd is to place it in a sink, pan, or tub of water, or let it be rained on. This is after the gourd is completely dry and cured and pulled from the dead vine. The wetness makes it easier to scrub the mold off with a piece of steel wool. Even wet cleaning is not easy. Elbow grease is required.

When the gourd has completely dried after cleaning, it is ready to work with.

You can cut with a miniature Dremel saw or a knife. To clean the inside, use a sharp scraper, something similar to a grapefruit knife, anything with a rough edge.

Clean out all the seed and dried pulp. Use a mask and eye protection because too much of the gourd dust gives some people tremendous headaches, or makes them ill.

Fill the gourd with vinegar water, wash, rinse. Let the gourd dry again.

(Note: you don't have to cut or clean the inside unless your design requires it. The gourd can be decorated after cleaning only the outside.)

Your gourd is now ready to be painted or embellished any way you want. If you have a crafty mind and hand, try the gourd for your next canvas.