Succulent Gourds
I know it is kinda deep, but have you ever asked yourself where a new idea comes from? Something you have never thought before and you can’t explain why it suddenly popped into your brain. Maybe you thought it before and dismissed it as unworkable. For whatever reason, you find yourself suddenly excited by the possibilities you couldn’t see even a day ago.
That is me, probably a gourd farmer in need of some serious therapy. For years and years, my creative mind has wanted to find a way to seal gourds in order to marry the organic shape of a gourd with live plants or fresh flowers. No matter what I tried, the moisture needed to keep a flower fresh or a plant alive caused gourds to mold. Some tests looked great for a week or two, some even for almost a month. But sooner or later I noticed a problem. maybe the gourd started to mold, maybe the gourd didn’t mold but mold started between the gourd and the surface it was sitting on. I think I have been working on this off and on for more than twenty years.
I had almost given up on the idea, then I went to Atlanta this year. I met a pretty young girl and her father selling non-organic succulents. After spending quite a bit of time with them, most of it spent explaining why succulents and gourds wouldn’t work. I left their booth thinking I was wasting my time. I left Atlanta with absolutely no intention of putting succulents in gourds. After coming home for several weeks at our farm I agreed to take time out of my schedule to meet with a lady who wanted to put some kind of plants into gourds. I didn’t know then what she saw and I still don’t. But I cut the gourds for her for free as she instructed, still just doing and not seeing. She seemed happy enough and I was happy because I expected it to be much more difficult and take up way more of my precious time. The thought never came into my mind that the answer I have been looking for twenty years was nearby.
Next, I traveled from our country home in Pennsylvania to the absolutely un-country city of Las Vegas to see if we wanted to participate in one of their wholesale home decor shows. While there it occurred to me that there wasn’t anything even close to our hand made gourds anywhere to be found. While not sure if what we crafted would fit in with a west coast look, I had this strange thought to make gourds with succulent highlights. For whatever reason, I saw a possibility that I argued against just a month before in Atlanta. Where did this thought come from? Why could I not see it one month before and now it seems so different? It seemed stupid, not stupid just unworkable then. And now it seems the best idea I have had in years? Really?
After coming home from Las Vegas I promptly made twenty gourds with succulents in them. Just like I imagined. Throughout this blog, we have had pictures of our succulent gourds. If you love them or hate them or just don’t get them to let me know. I won’t be offended if you don’t see what I saw. If you like them, maybe you can help explain how all this makes sense.