This year, I purchased several neat pumpkins from Lori - a dealer friend at Brother's Antiques Mall, in Medina, Ohio at the annual Flea Market in September (don't miss it this year!). She had a bunch of neat gourds that her daughter grew that I have never seen before! And this beauty, that I will call - a Warty Pumpkin /Gourd! It's pretty big and beautifully colored with a nice thick stem. But the most interesting part about this sweet little pumpkin is the fact that its skin is thin and dried hard all by itself just sitting outside!!! As you can see I just turned it over and started cracking off these wonderful pieces I gathered & put in a baggy. I did lay them out on pieces of cardboard right under a ceiling register for a day. And they dried crisp and ready to string! And look at all those warts! Perfect for stringing a garland to enjoy inside all year!
Here is one of several pumpkins I have setting out on a railroad tie for the deer, they make a little hole in the side and finish up all the seeds.
Here is an up close and personal look at this wonderful already dried out pumpkin. And it looks just like the day I bought it home. Just love it! This resembles in its appearance, the peanut pumpkin, but the peanut pumpkin is all mushy and didn't turn out like this one!
Here's what the peanut pumpkin looks like! Mush! Stem is missing - already gathered that! It was dried and ready for harvest. Birds love to dig in for seeds too :-)
Make sure you save the pumpkin stems of all your pumpkins after the Fall Season - they look so primitive on handmade pumpkins just glued right on! And they dry up so nice!
Here is Rusty following me all around the yard and is watching me gathering the warty pumpkin :)
Here is what this beautiful pumpkin gourd looks like up close. This is January and I purchased last September - it has dried and the outside has become hard and crusty. You can just break off all the neat outside layer in small pieces! It's fun to scout out the back yard, we live in a hollow with a grove of shaggy bark hickory trees and pines which makes lots of dried stuff to gathers after the snow has melted.
Punch a little hole in all what you will need of the pieces and pick out the most interesting after they have dried a little. This is the best material for garland that I have ever found!
If you have ever made a sweet potato garland - this will be much easier to poke a hole through. Little effort to prepare the punch! No more of those! Easier on the fingers, too!
Lima bean pods, can be very gently punched for a nice little hole to string on the raffia that I used for this one.
Here are my beautiful chunky little lima beans all dried and ready for punching. To dry lima pods with the beans still in them is very easy. I lay them out on cardboard with no ends touching and they look fantastic in a week or so. Usually you have to go to a farmer's market to get these.
Look at all these beautiful and crusty pieces that are already punched for stringing, it's most easiest to punch through the warty bumps!
Add all the neat pieces you have broken and punched a hole in and tie off each end for hanging......in this garland I have used raffia, usually I use rusty wire - it lasts forever. But a nice piece of the raffia is a bit more flexible. You'll have to use a nice sturdy piece that the end won't fray. And don't forget to make a loop on each side for hanging.
And here is the finished product! It fits across a cupboard very nicely or across a small window. You can add whatever dried stuff you have on hand. Black walnuts that the squirrels have chewed out both sides are also a favorite! There you have it, enjoy! Thanks for stopping by, let me know if you have any questions © ~KATHIE
