Artists craft oddities from gourds

Earl Fincher loved birds - so much so that he wanted to make birdhouses for his feathered friends. But back in the day, the young man couldn’t afford lumber, so he figured out a way to grow his own materials in a single season. Thus began his lifetime devotion to gourds.

Now these mysteriously shaped oddities of nature dangle down from trellises, over the chicken coops and along hog wire fences all over the 3½ -acre Healdsburg farm where he and his wife Myrna also grow vegetables for high-end restaurants like The Dry Creek Kitchen, Barndiva, Agave and Cafe Lucia.

Early Bird’s Place, set between Chalk Hill Road and Maacama Creek, is one of the area’s biggest producers of gourds, selling dried gourds from their farm, at the Healdsburg Farmers Market and The Caning Shop in Berkeley, the Bay Area’s leading supplier of materials for gourd artists and crafters.

Members of the Cucurbitaceae family, hardshell gourds aren’t edible. But they have proven to be incredibly useful by native peoples all over the world. Archaeologists have found everything from a gourd butter container in Mali to a milk jug in Kenya. Ancient peoples in Argentina and Chile drank their mate tea traditionally only through gourd cups. Gourds have been made into musical instruments, turned into canteens by California settlers and tiny homes for good-luck crickets in China.

Now, they seem to inspire endless ideas for artist and crafters, who can’t resist their multitude of forms. There are dipper gourds and bottle gourds and bananas gourds, gourds shaped like clubs and gourds that look strikingly like swans.

Fincher started many years ago with what are commonly called birdhouse gourds, which he fashions into bird houses. But the couple also grow kettle gourds, apple gourds, the formidable 20-pound ipu gourds and more. Myrna also makes crafts from her dried gourds, cutting openings out of the fronts of more rounded gourds and creating scenes inside.

“Good grief, I can’t believe what people come up with,” said Elissa Baker of the non-profit Food for Thought, which is throwing its annual Calabash Celebration of Gourds Art and the Garden on Sunday, Oct. 5.

Over the 14 years that the Forestville food bank has been holding the harvest event, organizers have seen a dizzying array of re-interpretations from the artists who contribute pieces for sale. Some are strictly artistic pieces or decorative, others fanciful and still more are also useful. They include lamps, salt and pepper shakers, clocks, drums, rattles, Christmas items and, this year, even a kaleidoscope. Each year, more than 100 skilled artists transform these odd denizens of the fall harvest, often mottled with mold, into objects of striking beauty.

Among them is Trish Power. A retired nurse practitioner, this Sebastopol artist has been working with gourds for years, making vessels, primitive figures and masks from gourds she has grown in her own garden. A onetime teacher of gourd art, she is a longtime contributor to Calabash. Her fanciful figures and leather-dyed vessels are evocative of indigenous art from an unnamed place. Perhaps Africa, South America or the American southwest.

They’re not hard to grow. The Finchers start theirs from seed in a greenhouse in early February, using cherry tomato baskets, putting two seeds in each basket. After the first frost, usually for them in early May, they plant them, baskets and all, directly into the ground. The roots will go through the mesh.

You will get better shapes, they say, if you provide some sturdy trellis on which to attach. They don’t need much training and produce soft, velvety leaves like lamb’s ears.

“They have tendrils,” said Earl, “and have no hesitation about latching on. I’ve got some growing up my apple tree.”

He has found that the more fertilizer you give them, the better they will grow. The drying process begins in early November, with the first frost. That’s when they are ready to harvest.

Dry them in a dark, dry place like a barn, shed or garage. Mold will form but don’t be put off. You can clean this off later, leaving a beautiful mottled effect. The Finchers hang theirs up from the rafters, wrapping the stem around a paper clip and then stringing them along wire. They will eventually decompose inside, a process that can take up to nine months. When they are completely cured, you will hear the seeds ratting around inside.

Sandy Metzger, Sonoma County Master Gardener, recommends then taking a saw -- it could be a circular, compound miter, scrolling or bobby saw -- to cut through the now woody gourds. Clean them out inside with a long-handled spoon and clean the interior with baking soda or a baking soda and water paste, leaving that on for several days to reduce possible smells.

Before drilling or cutting or decorating, clean the gourd with a mild chlorine-water solutions and rub or scrape off the mold, she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.