ecile Garrison actually grows the gourds that carvers use. They grow on big vines and are bright green. You can see her gourd garden on her web site with the catchy name of Gourds and Roses. Cecile picked up an Orbital Holding System at a gourd show in July at Moses Lake, Wa.
She and her husband Ernie have a twenty acre farm three miles north of Visalia, California in the central San Joaquin Valley. Three acres are devoted to a variety of flower and theme gardens and Cecile’s favorite, “the gourd patches!”
Cecile has a workshop where she turns her home grown gourds into art and a showroom with her finished pieces on display and for sale. She recently had her first showing as an artist at the Jon Ginsburg Gallery in Visalia. Her work is also on display and for sale at Arts Visalia and Pacific Treasures on Main Street.
She often speaks to garden clubs, community organizations and at public events on a wide range of gardening topics but her favorite is “Growing Lagenaria Gourds and turning them into ART!”
Cecile has written several Master Gardener articles for the Visalia Times Delta, the Tulare Advance Register and many other publications. She is currently writing a book From Seeds To Gourds To Art.She also conducts free gardening/gourd growing classes the first Saturday of every month at 10:00am on the farm. After the garden class she and other gourd artists give demonstrations on tools, dyes, and embellishments used to turn a gourd into a piece of art. The free classes run from April through November and take the students from seeds to gourds to art in one season.
We sort of figure that days are 31 hours long in California so Cecile can find time to do the stuff she does. Did we mention that she is a master gardener with the University of California? She is.
Evidently Cecile, when she is excited or enthusiastic about something, is not one to keep things to herself. She started telling fellow "gourders" about her new way to hold gourds. We are getting calls from all over. Thanks, Cecile. I hope she isn't offended if we publish the email here but it's a pretty good one.
I posted a picture [of] it singing the praises of the new vise I bought from RPMeyers at the Moses Lake, Wa Festival for $165.00. It is worth every penny! It holds from a 3" egg to the 43" around gourd securely enough to sand, drill, saw, etc. It rotates in all directions. It comes as you see it except you provide the clamps to attach it to any work surface. RP Meyers phone number is 360-708-4677 and I'm sure it's ringing off the hook! It was so neat meeting the inventor of this great device.
Man, that's a big gourd!