FOOTHILL GOURDERS

The El Dorado Foothill Gourders meet at the Placerville Senior Center on Spring Street in Placerville, CA.

We meet on the second Monday of each month at 10 a.m. We have workshops, classes, field trips and are beginning a mentoring program to share our “tricks of the trade.”

Our January meeting will be all about tools and how to use them.

In February we will have a Valentine Gourd Challenge.

In March we will have a Frog and Jeweled Leaves Class taught by Lisa Gatz.

Our members come from Placerville and communities nearby as well as from Sacramento, Amador, Calaveras, and San Joaquin Counties.

At this time we have approximately 40 members. Our patch provides gourd growing/harvesting and art/craft information through meetings, demonstrations, event participation, training sessions and workshops, field trips, and library displays.

A ‘Foothill Gourders’ newsletter is published and mailed to members bi-monthly. In between printed newsletters, ‘The Gourd Vine’ is e-mailed to update members on events and information.

At our meetings, we discuss business issues, have a demonstration or presentation, and share our work during "Gallery Time" (our show & tell). We also schedule field trips to studios, gourd farms and other places of interest to our members. We usually participate in one or two public fairs and festivals during the year, such as the El Dorado County Harvest Fair held at our fairgrounds in September, and Leiser Farms Gourd Art Festival and Sale held in Knights Landing in May. At these events, Foothill Gourders has gourd art on exhibit and for sale, and we also raise funds through opportunity baskets and drawings. These are a great opportunities for us to educate the public about gourds and gourd art. We use this time to encourage others to try gourd crafting and to let them know that the best way to learn gourding and to meet great people is to join the Foothill Gourders!