Gone Gardenin’ — Oh my gourd, it’s time for Thanksgiving baskets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/09/2018 (2566 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I was recently up to my armpits in gourds! Every year our Heritage Village Museum holds a “flea market” (where did that term come from as there is not a flea in sight?) and for the last few years I have manned a table at which I sell, among other things, Thanksgiving baskets of ornamental gourds and mini-pumpkins. All of the money I collect goes to the museum.

Such events are a real social occasion — I get to visit with the vendors who appear year after year and the whole thing has a great vibe to it. Over the years I have built up a solid customer base for my Thanksgiving Baskets — I always sell as many as I take.

Decorative gourds are absolutely fascinating; they come in so many shapes and forms and vary in colour from dark green to cream, white, yellow, gold, orange and red. Their surfaces can be smooth or very heavily textured.

The names of decorative gourds are almost as interesting as their appearance. Yugoslavian Fingers are cream coloured and composed of a slightly oval egg shape that has eight to 10 fingers protruding from the egg (the central part of a gourd is commonly referred to as the egg.) Crown of Thorns is another variety that has protrusions in this case upright spikes emerging from the egg. It can be cream, yellow or green and sometimes has a distinct striped appearance.

There are plain, smooth egg-shaped gourds Goblin Eggs is one variety. They are small gourds and usually just one colour — all green or all cream. Another smooth skinned gourd is the pear gourd. It is pear-shaped, often striped, and most commonly has a green bottom and a golden top.

Spoon gourds are shaped so that if the egg part is hollowed out it would make a good spoon. The narrow curved handle often has a wide band of yellow. Sometimes the base of the big egg part is yellow as well while the rest of the gourd is dark green.

Various Turk’s Turban gourds have the tell-tale bumpy bottom and the Turk’s cap on top. It is almost as if two different gourds were cut in half crossways and a half of each was fastened together; there is a definite seam around the middle of the gourd.

Of course no discussion of decorative gourds would be complete without mention of mini-pumpkins. My two favourites are a small orange ribbed one called Jack Be Little and its white counterpart, Baby Boo.

I used to grow these plants when we had our farm garden but alas, they require far more space than I can offer them in my small town garden. Luckily, I have a couple of friends who live on acreages/farms who grow some for me and decorative gourds and mini-pumpkins are also available at some garden centres in the fall. I have even seen them offered for sale in October at some big box stores.

Miniature gourds are great for making what I call my Thanksgiving baskets. All year I wander through thrift stores collecting suitable baskets, fabric, fall-themed ribbon, and suitable accessories.

By this time of year I usually have boxes of “stuff” on hand and I haul everything including the gourds and mini-pumpkins into the sunroom and have a two day marathon of creating three dozen or so Thanksgiving Baskets. I enjoy the challenger of making every basket unique by using different combinations of gourds, fabric, ribbon and accessories.

Creating a basket is quite easy. I stuff a bit of crumpled up newspaper into the bottom of the basket (in which to nestle the gourds) and cover it with a piece of suitably coloured fabric. Then I arrange the gourds/mini-pumpkins on top of the fabric and press them down so that they are nestled into the newspaper and fabric and will stay in place.

I like to tuck a little pot-pourri or shredded paper or other filler in between some of the gourds. I also might add a few accessories; these might be artificial fruits, berries, leaves or some dried seed heads.

To finish the basket off I might add a figure such as a small scarecrow to sit atop the arrangement; finally I finish the whole arrangement off with a lovely bow in autumn colours. I usually use handled baskets so the bow is attached to the handle to create a sort of focal point for the arrangement.

This year the Flea Market is at the Ukrainian Hall on Fifth St. NW in Minnedosa from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you are in the neighbourhood, come have a look at my Thanksgiving baskets. Maybe they will inspire you to make one or two Thanksgiving Baskets for your home decor for the autumn season.

Albert Parsons lives, writes, and gardens in Minnedosa.

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