Page 86 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2017

These are
not your
Mama’s Gourds
STORY BY SUSAN RUDDIMAN PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE AND MICHELLE THOMPSON
Mike and Michelle Thompson with Thompson Farms Gourds know their way around a gourd. Mike was familiar with planting vegetables on their acreage in Raleigh, Miss., a few years ago when he decided to add gourds to the mix. These hard-rinded fruits are popular for decorating after they are dried out.
BOOTH #671
“We had to figure out what to do with these things. We were in over our heads. So I checked out books from the library and was amazed with what people did with gourds,” Michelle said. “There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then.”
The gourds are harvested after the first frost when the vines die back. They have to dry for several months, and then need to be cleaned, scrubbed and dried again. The insides of each gourd has to be removed, which is a tough chore, but Michelle found a special tool just for that job. “I attended a class at the Alabama Gourd Show in Cullman, and learned about a tiny jigsaw. That tool works wonders,” she said.
After all that prep work, the gourd is ready to be decorated. That’s when the Thompsons’ talents and experience shine.
The types of the hardshell gourds they use come with catchy names of bottle, tobacco box, kettle and martin. They are cut into shapes, colored with alcohol inks or leather dyes, and decorated by wood burning, and then some are even illuminated. One of their most popular style gourds replicates the sound of thunder.
Mike and Michelle Thompson are both retired — he as a diversified technology teacher and she as a church secretary/treasurer. They have been fellow members of the Mississippi Craftsman’s Guild since 2005, and have been part of the Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival for the past 12 years. Their booth is on Government Street near Russell Avenue.
“We meet so many nice people, and they come from so many places,” Michelle said.
86 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2017
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