If you are living in another county or in the remote rural areas in the west. Let’s take a closer look at the best way of buying gourds and supplies online from the Western United States.
Buy Gourds and Supplies online from My two Favorite Places
Welburn Gourd Farm in California and Wuertz Gourd Farm in Arizona are the two I have visited and ordered from, so I can recommend them to you. There are other smaller farms in this large area of the country, but I am not sure they ship out of the country. If you have one to recommend, please tell me in the Comment Form below.
Growing Gourds in California for Online Sale
Unlike other products, that have growing seasons that are short, the gourds you are buying are over a year old. Here is a short description of the process.
In California gourds get planted in early March. These seeds take 8 -10 days to germinate.
By April, the gourd plants begins to set fruit.
From May to November the plants take on growth. . The gourds that were the earliest to be pollinated will grow the largest in their respective size-class.
By August, many gourds are nearly mature. Gourds are pale green in color and very heavy like a pumpkin when they are growing.
In Mid -November, after the first frost in California which kills the vines, the gourds are fully mature and now begin to dry.
In late November, the gourds are cut from the vines. There is no mechanical harvesting method. Every gourd must be cut from the vine by hand! The long rows of drying gourds are called windrow.
From November to February, it takes approximately four months for the gourds to dry. To keep the gourds from cracking and to ensure even drying, every gourd is picked up and individually turned by hand 2-3 times during the drying season.
By late February, most of the gourds are dry and ready to be harvested.
The gourds are brought in from the fields and piled in the gourd racks for customers to purchase.
Growing Gourds in Arizona
In Arizona the gourds remain in the field through the summer because of the lack of rain. Waylon does not put his gourds on racks, rather, he put them in bins by variety in the sun so many of them begin to peel their skins.
You can hear him talk about his process and watch the video about the farm here.
Tips on buying gourds and supplies Online from Welburn at the Farms
When you purchase a gourd at the farm, you will discover a fun way to determine the price. The gourd is set next to a hole in a board and the circle closest to gourd size determines the price. You can watch Waylon explain his board here. To see the prices for gourds at Welburn, click here.
Buying Gourds online for shipping From Welburn? Consider PreBoxed gourds
If you want the best prices available through mail-order, then Pre-Boxed gourds are the way to go. These gourds are boxed according to shape. You can also get gourds that are clean and cut Pre-Boxed.
A “Custom Order” must be placed any time you need gourds of a specific shape or size.
You can call and get just the gourds you are looking for. This includes the extra-large gourds and gourds that have specific requirements like “flat bottom” or “stems.” They also carry the Hawaiian Ipu and Ipu Heke Drum gourds.
High quality gourds in specific shapes and sizes are more abundant in March and April. To receive a notice when the new crop is in, join our mailing list!
What works best is a simple photo or drawing, either faxed or emailed, along with a description of what you are making. It especially helps if they know your intentions for the gourd.
They offer international shipping to countries where gourds are permitted into the country.
Welburn Farm, Fallbrook, California
Phoebe Welburn and her family and crew grow 325,000 gourds every year, Welburn has always been a source of products and tools. Their GourdMaster brand of dyes,inks,paint and cleaning tools are owned by every gourd artist in the west. These are available online for shipping.
They also give classes at the farm. Another service they have is their video collection and the free demos you can find on YouTube. You will find a few shared in my posts
Wuertz Farms, Casa Grande,Arizona
The Wuertz Family has been farming in the Coolidge/Casa Grande area since 1929. Waylon Wuertz enjoyed watching them grow as a child living on a farm. After attending the University of Arizona, he wanted to farm but didn’t know what would be profitable. After a hay customer asked if he sold any gourds, Waylon started thinking. He started small, growing a few rows his first year. Those few rows grew into a half-acre, then 3 acres and eventually grew into 35 acres which he planted this year.
Watch Waylon gives you the complete tour around the farm. He shows you the different types of gourds here.
Waylon “officially” started growing gourds as a business in 2002. He met his wife at gourd patch meeting. He married Leah in 2005, and were due to have their first baby during the 2011 Wuertz Farm Gourd Festival
Their farm is a fun place to visit. You can walk around and look at the animals and the many gourd cats. If you are lucky, you can find the peacock. They give you a little red wagon to hold your gourd treasures as you walk around the many bins of gourds.
Buying gourds and supplies online from Wuertz Farm
Online and phone order over $75 get free shipping.
All orders going to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico must be placed over the phone and NOT on our website. Actual shipping costs will be charged to all orders going to these destinations!!
He often runs special prices on his pre-boxed gourds. You can check out his inventory here.
The Arizona Gourd Festival is the largest in the U.S.
If you really want to see the best of the gourd world here in the United States, spend a week-end in February at the county fairgrounds and meet and talk to the masters and see their best work in person! The Wuertz Farm Gourd Festival is a family affair that many gourders refer to as a family reunion. There is music, food, gourd lovers and lots of gourd!
The festival is the site of the Arizona Gourd Society Competition.
This is one of most important competitions for local artists, but also master gourd artists from all over the country come to win ribbons!
The competition center is managed and sponsored by the Arizona Gourd Society. For the past 15 years I have been on various committees and have taught and sold my gourd art here. Over 1,200 people visit every year to be amazed at the gourd art and look for something special to take home!
Many gourd masters come to the Gourd Festival give classes.
Some are held inside, while the carving and wood burning classes are outside. Leah usually offers over 50 classes from all day to four hours. You register online in November.
About 200 gourd artists come for the week-end only to take classes from a master and buy gourd! So classess fill up in just a few hours after they are posted.
Gourd artists can be found buy up products and bags of gourd to chart home in cars or in their RVs parked at the festivals.
By Sunday night everyone is packing up bags of gourds and supplies and trying to find space in their cars or R.V. set up in the nearby park. With so many it is hard to find room for the people.
If you haven’t gone to a gourd festival yet, then you must find out when the next one is in your area. /And now you have an invitation to visit the Arizona Gourd Festival and come see me at my Booth on February 3,4,5, 2023 at the Pinal Fairgrounds ,Casa Grande, Arizona
Have you been to either of thee farms and have some tips on buying gourd online?
Do you know of other farms in the West that ship gourd?
Please, share your thoughts here in the comment box or share them with all the gourd artists on our Facebook Group Page.
Return to the Blog page for other articles.
By the way, Pinterest users can help me spread the word about my posts and jewelry by re-pinning your favorites from my Pinterest page.
