THE "PEPPER FAMILY HOMESTEAD" SHOP FEATURED ITEM - BIRDHOUSE GOURD SEEDS
These are one of our favorites!
First of all a big shout out to @sagescrub and @homesteaderscoop for this amazing opportunity. The Homesteaders Co-op is excellent way for members of the steemit community to interact in positive, beneficial exchanges and also possibly draw in more active users to the platform. Since the Homesteaders Co-op is already up and running, we are preparing to open up shop in just days!
I will be featuring a number of the items that we plan on offering in some upcoming posts to raise awareness and get our other steemit gardeners and homesteaders excited! Today, I'll feature the Birdhouse Gourds.
BIRDHOUSE GOURD SEEDS
These have been so much fun, and we are so glad that we started growing them in 2017. It's one of those fun craft projects that the whole family can enjoy growing, harvesting, and then getting creative with.
We grew our first harvest in 2017, and then planted the seeds from those to produce the ones we grew this year. The seeds that we tested in our first germination test finished at 80%. We can't wait to grow our own once again in the spring.
While I have heard rumors of people eating these when they are still small, we treat them as an ornamental and we are offering these seeds as the same. The vines are incredible growers and can produce an impressive amount of gourds. Since we grow them solely for crafts, we allow the gourds to fully mature on the vine and only remove them after the stem has turned brown.
For growing, we highly recommend a fence-line or trellis. Our 2017 Birdhouse gourds were grown on a cattle panel fencing and our 2018 crop was grown on our gourd tunnel featured in the photo above. The vines are tough enough to support the weight of the green gourds, and we have only had one fall off before maturity, possibly due to strong winds.
So far we have only enjoyed making "rustic birdhouses" by keeping them natural, but these can be wood-burned or painted as well. The decorating that an artist can do to these birdhouse gourds is limited only by the imagination. We've only put up a few so far, and all of them during this year, so we have yet to get our first visitors. In the spring we hope to see a nice family of birds move into one of them!
An impressive number of seeds must be removed prior to making birdhouses anyway, so you should be able to have a supply of Birdhouse Gourd seeds for yourself, family, and friends once your first crop comes in. Also, many people enjoy selling the gourds at farmer's markets, craft fairs, or online.
Feel free to stop by Homesteaders Co-op website and check out some of the other wonderful steemian homesteaders offering up some incredible items. An amazing variety of steemians already set up shop, including @sagescrub, @flemingfarm, @walkerland, @makinstuff, @mountainjewel and @professorbromide. From seeds and shirts to tinctures and honey, there is a lot available to pick up for some STEEM or SBD.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-birdhouse-gourd
Until next time…
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Sweeeeeeeeeeet!
I had seen the gourds before....but never the seeds. Those are some unique looking gourd seeds! Our ornamental gourd seeds had always just looked like pumpkin seeds...more or less.
Good stuff!! I should list some packs of Permaculture playing cards up on the COOP board if...non-homemade items are allowed.
Peace
Cool! Glad that you like seeing these. Those cards are great too!
Very cool @papa-pepper! I am so excited to see your upcoming store :) Wow the birdhouse gourds look so fun! Thanks for sharing your experience and your seeds :)
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Great one there @papa-pepper!, I really love your pepper image. The life is very hot this year...but with the intervention of God, it will become cool. Thanks for this lovely post worth sharing, greetings to all the family and your funs!
These are wonderful gourds . I am sure you will sell many of your quality organic seeds. I wish your shop a lot of luck but with products this good it needs no luck, these products sell themselves they are so desirable. ❤️🌈🦋🍀🌴
Thank you so much for that!
Well done team, the Pepper market commences, may it turn into a good money spinner (earner) for you