Adventure: Gourd Festival

I know what you're thinking. "Who even goes to a 'Gourd Festival' and how is it possibly an adventure?' Is that what you were thinking. I knew it. I'm a little psychic. So let me explain.

I'm not sure if this happens in other places, but in California's San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas, we like to have festivals. These generally revolve around a fruit or vegetable or something for which the area is well known. My hometown of Stockton has the Asparagus Festival. Sometimes these festivals are money traps disguised as celebrations of a particular food. I was greatly disappointed when I went to the chocolate festival (in a town that will remain nameless) and did not find the streets paved in chocolatey goodness. No. In fact, chocolate was hardly anywhere to be found, and the free samples were even more scarce. (We all know that every good festival should have free samples.) There were about a dozen or so tables selling chocolate, and the rest was carnival rides, car shows, concerts, and food stands (none of which sold chocolate). And everything was over priced. But I digress...

Davis Ranch is a farm just east of Sacramento, between my house and my grandparents' house. And apparently (among the other delightful produce that they sell) they are known for gourds, because that is the festival that they hold. My Aunt Lynda and Uncle Mike were in town from San Diego, so my mom, grandma, Lynda, and I spent a lovely Saturday morning with the gourds.

And I have to say - it was a wonderful festival. Free parking and admission put me in a good mood right away. The set-up was clean and well thought out. AND apparently I've been missing out on gourd art for the past 32 years! Some of it was weird and I'd never buy it. But some of it was fabulous! The artists were very friendly and shared techniques and ideas with us.

So...We bought a big bag of raw pick-your-own gourds, and then we cleaned them and painted them. And they came out beautifully! It was really fun. You'll have to stop by and see my gourds sometime. :) And, I think I'll go back next year. Here are a few pictures that I took.

I know these aren't gourds, but they had the most wonderful pick-your-own strawberry patch. They use a hydroponic growing system so they have a ton of berries - and you don't even have to bend down to get them. Genius! And the smell was divine. Here's Lynda, Grandma, and Mom picking berries.

Aren't these gourd-geous? Hahahahaha! I love gourd humor!

So maybe I didn't take any specific pictures of the gourds, but in this picture of a strawberry you can see a big crate of the unfinished ones in the background. See it? Really - there were mountains of gourds.

Oh - and this was my favorite sign found near the goats. "Important safety tip. Thanks Egon."