My Tiny Gourd Harvest

Last October while in the mountains we visited Barber Orchard for some apples and while there I noticed a huge bin full long neck and squat gourds.  Some were smooth and shiny, while others had warts all over them!  It was such fun going through the bin and choosing from all the uniquely beautiful gourds.

I kept the gourds for a long time, thinking I would let them dry out and continue using them for fall decor in the future.  But the colors weren't too pretty and honestly...I just didn't have the space for them, so I pitched them out in a flower bed in the very back of my yard.

This summer I began seeing a trail of green leaves with yellow flowers on long reaching branches growing across that flower bed and guess what ... I'm a by-mistake farmer and growing gourds!

I was so excited to see all those green leaves and yellow flowers, but then the dog-days-of-summer came with lots of sunshine, hot temperatures and absolutely no rain which caused many of my vines to wither and fade.  Since I've been in the mountains so much this summer for the reno project going on there, I've not been able to tend to my patch of gourds (bad farmer!) so very little of my patch is still growing and there are only a handful of flowers now.  I am now making it a point to water my little patch of gourds anytime I am back home!  (good farmer!)

These few were on the branches that withered away.  So, I scooped up my tiny gourd harvest, as any good farmer would, and brought them indoors. 

They are so tiny and cute, and I am especially fond of the yellow and green one.  I love these two colors together.

Of course, I needed to show off my harvest, so I placed them in a milk glass vase along with a bit of hydrangea in ironstone and a red velvet pumpkin.

I sure hope the rest of my gourd vines survive and produce more of the uniquely beautiful gourds...aren't they such fun!

Have you ever been a by-mistake farmer?

Happy Fall Y'all!