Have you visited our Meadowbrooke Gourd Pumpkin Patch yet this fall? If not, we invite you to come on out to our farm during regular store hours to pick-your-own pumpkins and ornamental gourds.

Once you have your freshly picked pumpkins, it’s time to try something crafty! We loved the idea of a chevron pumpkin and wanted to share this easy, DIY project with you on our blog.

What you will need:
A Pumpkin or Gourd
Masking Tape
White Spray Paint

Step 1: Start with a clean, dry pumpkin. You could also use this technique on one of our raw, cleaned, dried gourds.

Step 2: Start adding approx 2 inch strips of masking tape to the pumpkin in a diagonal fashion in order to create the chevron pattern

Don’t worry about making it perfect, the subtle differences will give your pumpkin character!

Step 3: Continue adding the masking tape strips around the pumpkin until you are satisfied with the amount of stripes you will be left with once it is painted.

Step 4: Hand paint or spray paint your pumpkin with a white paint. (We used spray paint.)

Step 5: Once the paint is completely dry, pull off the tape to reveal your chevron patterned pumpkin.

(Optional) Use an acrylic sealer to preserve the paint.

Happy fall decorating!

It’s that time of year in our zone for gourd planting! Growing gourds can be a very exciting and interesting adventure.  Meadowbrooke Gourds is located in Central Pennsylvania, which is in Zone 6 of the United States frost zone.  The instructions that we are going to share are based upon our zone and will vary if you live in different parts of the United States.  It is best to know what zone you are in when planning to grow gourds.

We begin our gourds inside by planting up to but no more than 2 seeds in a 3″ container or pot.  When you are finished potting your seeds-THOROUGHLY soak with water until it flows out the bottom of the pot.  After the initial watering, water like you would a normal house plant.  Soil for gourd seedlings can be on the dry side but do not let it dry out completely.  Keep seedlings in sun.  The more sun they receive, the stronger the plant you will have.  If they receive less light, you may have thin, less hearty plants.  You do not need to fertilize seedlings while they are still inside.

Around June 1st or AFTER THE THREAT OF FROST (this is very important, frost will kill your plants), plant outside in full sun leaving an 8′ area around each plant.  Each plant should have 64 square feet to grow in.  Gourd vines will take over fences, trelises, and other plants if left alone.  An option is to cut or trim ends back to keep them confined to an area.

When watering your plants, avoid getting water on the leaves to avoid the spread of diseases.  We suggest you use soaker hoses or drip irrigation.  Gourd plants actually like to be a little dry and be watered thoroughly when you start to see the leaves wilting.  Overwatering causes disease, large, thin shelled, low quality gourds with lots of vines.  Not enough water produces thick shelled, small, high quality gourds.  Just enough water produces thick shelled, properly sized, high quality gourds.

Check on gourds like you would any other plant that is in your garden.  You can fertilize your gourds like you would any other vine crop (cucumber, watermelon, pumpkins, etc.).  The optimal choice would be to have a soil test conducted and fertilize accordingly.

Happy Growing! Don’t forget, we offer gourd seed packets for sale on our website.

These Crafter’s Corner Gourds have been handcrafted by master gourd craftsman, Todd Heller. They will make a perfect addition to your decor during the warm weather months!

1. Signature Series Bumble Bee (Pumpkin Spice Color): http://tinyurl.com/cwokjz9

2. Signature Series Bumble Bee (Black): http://tinyurl.com/cs7hdvq

3. Signature Series Flower: http://tinyurl.com/79pv2yr

4. Lady Bug Lit: http://tinyurl.com/7k7z8dt

Introducing our very first Uncle Sam gourd and our April Product of the Month.

He is all decked out in red, white and blue colors with a top hat and bow. He comes with an electric light so the cut out stars on his belly will glow. He is approximately 4″-5″ wide and approximately 15″-16″ tall. Welcome Uncle Sam into your home to show your patriotism this year.

You don’t have to be a professional artist for gourd crafting to be fun! There are numerous projects using raw gourds that can be simple and easy. We are excited to share a series of quick how-to’s for those that want to get their hands into gourd crafting, but may not know where to begin! We hope you enjoy these project sheets and use them as inspiration for your own projects. Please feel free to share them and share your gourd crafting photos with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Our first project is a beautiful, rustic centerpiece made with cleaned, raw egg gourds. This piece can be used for Easter as well as the entire Spring season!

Download the sheet here.

What you will need:
Cardboard box
Gourd Eggs (about one dozen) available at mbgourds.com
Glass containers at varying heights and sizes
Acrylic paint (Robin’s Egg Blue, Off White, and Brown)
Paintbrush
Toothbrush
Green Reindeer Moss

Step 1: Cut holes in a cardboard box for your gourd eggs to sit in without falling through.

Step 2: Decide how many blue, brown, and white eggs you would like to have and paint each accordingly. For the brown eggs: just leave the gourd as its natural color. For blue and white eggs: First, paint the top portion of the egg, let dry. Then flip it over in the cardboard hole to paint the bottom half. These eggs took two coats of acrylic paint to cover completely.

Step 3: Once the eggs are dry, dip a toothbrush in brown acrylic paint mixed with water. The more water the more transparent your “specks” will be. Flick the toothbrush to speckle the eggs to your desired effect and let dry.

Step 4: Fill various glass containers will green reindeer moss found in the floral section of most craft stores. Arrange the eggs in the containers. Enjoy your beautiful Spring display!

Happy Friday, everyone! We’re especially in the spring spirit today because it’s the first day of our Spring Open House events for 2012, which includes paint-your-own Easter eggs, baskets and birdhouses!

Last week we posted some ideas for crafting and painting gourd Easter eggs. Now that you have your eggs, today’s post is all about creative Easter baskets. Don’t forget: we have raw gourd eggs available for sale online or stop by our Retail Store today or tomorrow (3/16 and 3/17) to paint your own. We provide all the necessary supplies.

Blooming Easter Basket:

 

This beautiful basket is so cheerful and easy to make. Simply hot glue faux forsythia flowers to a plastic or metal bowl. Cover a wire hanger with ribbon, shape the wire using a coffee can, and hot glue to create the handle.

Papier-Mâché Basket:

 

This Easter Basket project is a great one to do with the kids. These “bird’s nest” baskets are made with shredded pieces of brown paper lunch bags and dictionary pages. Visit countryliving.com for the full instructions on how to create your own.

Rose Basket:

 

This beautiful rose basket is made from crepe paper. The bucket underneath is a simple plastic bucket made for mixing paint.

Abby Candy Dish Basket:

Our Abby Gourd Bunny is originally meant for a candy dish, however this unique gourd can be filled with any Easter treat or decoration. Just fill with Easter grass and your painted eggs for a lovely display or give as a gift!

We’d love to see your creative Easter baskets! Please share them on our Facebook page or Twitter page.

 

This Easter decorate your home with eggs! They are simple, beautiful, and nothing says springtime quite like them. There are a lot of projects that use real eggs for centerpieces and decor. When you use GOURD eggs, however, you have a special piece that can last from spring to spring. Here are just a few projects to try using gourd eggs. We found all of these projects on Pinterest!

First, purchase your raw gourd eggs here. You can paint and decorate them however you like! The inspiration is endless.

Create an egg and moss wreath:

 

This is so simple and beautiful. Glue Spanish Moss to a grapevine wreath. Paint your gourd eggs with beige craft paint and speckle with brown craft paint mixed with water-based faux glaze (1:2 paint/glaze ratio). Use a toothbrush to get this spatter effect.

Easter egg place setting:

 

Use a gourd egg to mark seats in a place seating! Your guests can take home their personalized egg as a favor.

Decoupage your gourd eggs:

 

Source: marthastewart.com via i dream of chairs on Pinterest

 

Use Mod Podge to decoupage beautiful papers or pages from a book to your gourd Easter Eggs for a beautiful display.

More Gourd Easter Egg inspiration coming soon!

It’s time for the February Product of the Month! Or, in this case, a whole family of MacBunnies.

This warm and sunny weather has us dreaming about the arrival of spring. And what better way to prepare for spring breezes and the Easter season than with this adorable family of gourd bunnies!

The MacBunnies are available in two sizes – the small (right) is approximately 2″ in diameter and the medium version is approximately 5″ in diameter (left). The medium MacBunnies also have an electric light installed with a kite cut-out in the belly and a bow tied around their necks.

And the colors! Our medium MacBunnies are available in pink, blue and yellow and our small MacBunnies are available in pink (complete with pearls) and blue (buttons down the front of his vest, too). The small sized MacBunnies also feature a puff of cotton for a tail.

Welcome the MacBunnies into your home this Spring.

With the final days of January just ahead, we’re soon thinking about Valentine’s Day here at Meadowbrooke Gourds. Our January Product of the Month is both charming and whimsical, a gift for Mom from her wee ones.

New for 2012, this piece of gourd art is approximately 12″ tall and comes installed with an electric light.  We think you’ll enjoy it as much as we do!

Of course, it’s not the only Valentine-themed gourd art that we have available in our online shop.

The Valerie Valentine Angels are available in two sizes.

The small version (shown above) measures approximate 3 1/2 inches in diameter. The medium comes with an electric light that shines through the heart vine cut-out design. Approximately 5″ in diameter.

 

 

Purple martins nest almost exclusively in man-made structures like a birdhouse constructed from one of our raw, cleaned gourds. If you’re eager to attract this large swallow species to your backyard, a dried and cleaned gourd can easily be constructed into a birdhouse.

 

 Procedure:

• Select a well-dried and aesthetically pleasing gourd. Remember, thick walls will ensure that the gourd birdhouse will weather the elements well.  Varieties with broad bottoms like Martin and Bottle make good choices here.
• Using a 2″ circle saw, drill a hole roughly 3 inches above the base of the gourd.  Work slowly to avoid splintering the gourd.  The circle saw bit will leave a clean-edged hole.
• The gourd will still be full of seeds and some internal membranes, so you can empty those out through the hole you just cut. Don’t throw away the seeds! They can be planted to produce your own gourds during the next growing season.
• Drill three small holes in the bottom of the gourd for drainage. 1/8″ will do nicely here.
• Drill two holes at the top of the gourd and thread either sisal twine or thin wire through to hang the birdhouse.
• You are now free to paint, stain or seal your gourd birdhouse in any way you’d like. Bright solid colors work well.

If you need some creative inspiration, here’s a selection of gourd birdhouses available at our online store.