In most gardens green is good.  Brown, not so much. That old saw gets turned on its ear, however when you’re drying birdhouse gourds.

I planted these gourds from seed for the first time last summer. Adorable green mini-gourds came and went, but in the end only two grew to full size. Then the cold weather set in and that was that.

The Birdhouse Gourds Twins

I brought ‘the gourd twins’ inside thinking the forced-air heating would speed up the drying process. You can’t rush nature so I did the next best thing: I dressed them up in scarves, moved them around as household decor, and eventually set them on top of a cabinet to dry undisturbed.

Cozy gourds settling in for the winter

A few weeks ago, my son came to me and said “Mom, I don’t think you’re going to like this.”  He assumed they had gone bad.  In this case, brown is good.  It means the gourds are finally dry and ready for crafting.

Of course, now I’m afraid to make my move.  I want to use one of the twins for its intended purpose: a birdhouse.  To do that, I need to drill a hole.

What if it cracks?

What if it snaps?

What if “I” make the hole too big?

Truth be told, my husband is the power tool guy around here, so he’ll be doing the drilling with me hovering nearby like the nervous new mom that I am.  Let’s face it: I’ve waited nine months for these twins.  I don’t want to mess this up.

The second gourd, if all goes well, will be welcoming garden fairies.  I don’t really have an heir and a spare. I’ll be pressing both gourds into service.  That’s a lot of pressure resting on their sloping shoulders.  Let’s hope we are all up to the task.