This weekend there was an estate sale of one of our more famous citizens, Leroy Schneck. Leroy owned and operated the local radio station for many years and always had an interesting story to tell.
As I expected the estate sale was amazing. In the back garage were many of the gourds that his wife had crafted with. These gourds had been turned into planters. There must have been over 2000 gourds at the sale. I filled my car with over 200 that will be used for bird feeders and planters. Most were already cut and had holes for the cord.
As a gourd lover the gourds fascinated me and for them to be cleaned and cut added to the creativity. For those of you who know your gourds there were bottle gourds, canteen gourds, a few dipper gourds and even a few maranka gourds.
Leroy’s wife, Rusty, decorated and used these gourds for years, over 30 actually. And the story on how they had so many was unique.
A semi full of gourds was involved in a wreck and the gourds were written off as a loss. The Schnecks heard about the gourds and made arrangement to get them. Well, a semi holds a lot of gourds and their garage and any other available space was filled with gourds of all sizes and shapes.
During the years these gourd were cut, sanded, painted and created into many art forms. And at the sale there were still many left.
I will be making bird feeders, hanging planters and a few gourd instruments out of the gourds. They will give me gourds to work with until my gourds from this year’s garden are harvested and cured.
I also picked up garden pots and a decorative moveable fence for $2.00. It was a great gardeners sale.
Tags: gourds, decorated gourds, a gourd story, frugal gardening, crafting woty gourds, garden art, garden crafting
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