Waterloo man grows gobs of gourds
Jon Eller just can’t hide his long-standing affection for growing gourds, as evidenced by the 30 or so seen hanging from a wooden fence outside his home on South Library Street in Waterloo.
“He has been doing this for fun since his teacher in the sixth grade gave him a gourd to take home,” said Shirley Eller, wife of the local gourd master. “Ever since then, he has grown gourds wherever we’ve lived.”
Gourds have been used as both decorations and utensils across the world for centuries.
The Ellers moved from town to town all over the country during Jon’s 21 years in the Air Force. They settled in Pike County, where Jon’s parents were from. After his folks passed away, Jon and Shirley moved to Waterloo a couple of years ago to be closer to their grandchildren.
Jon Eller displays one of the many gourds growing on the vine outside his Waterloo home. (Corey Saathoff photo)“I used to have a huge collection of craft stuff I’ve made over the years out of gourds because I’ve been growing them since I was a little kid,” Jon said. “But when we moved here to Waterloo, we really had to downsize, so I took my whole collection to the auction and sold it.”
It is about a full-year process for gourds — planting begins in late May with harvesting in September or October. Then the gourds have to hang out and dry for another three months before they can be used properly for craft-making.
Gourds take about 180 days total from planting until they produce ripe fruit as a result of their extra long germination process. The curing time varies from gourd to gourd depending on its size.
“They get really nasty looking,” Jon explained. “But the outer epidermis layer comes off once they’re dry and you just basically scrape that layer off. Underneath, they look like wood, like mottled oak wood. And they’re carvable.”
Shirley has made various crafts and decorative items out of Jon’s gourds over the years, including snowmen, birdhouses and even hanging lights.
“She’s made all kinds of cool craft stuff out of them,” Jon said.
Following a lifetime of gourd-growing, Jon took a break from the process last year, only to start back up again for the first time outside his Waterloo home. He said some sort of plant fungus attacked the vines this year, so they recently went in and picked what they could.
“You know, you just gotta grow gourds,” a chuckling Jon said of his gourd-growing addiction.
“It’s just what he’s always done,” Shirley added with a grin.
