I have some gourds.. please e-mail as I have a different request to make than what you offered.

For some reason I could not access your trade list. My internet is probably to blame. Here is a list of seeds I have to trade Red zinnias Striped zinnias (colors vary) Hollyhock Snapdragon Green apple Red apple Green pear Blackberry Iceberg lettuce Parsley

Yes! They did dry! I even left them outside under the snow and they still dried fine. The grandkids and I picked them this spring, washed, painted and glued them into fun bugs. They were great for them because they sat flat. Some were thin but then I might have tossed them anyway. No big deal. Sometimes it pays to be lazy! lol Oh I'm such a hoarder that I don't toss any gourds unless and until they collapse. Good luck, Sue in MN

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!