GOURDS GALORE

I read in the newspapers about a Villager in China by the name of Liu Xianzhen who grows lots of gourds.  His gourds not only come in the usual shape but some have been crafted into other shapes.  In the above picture, you can see Liu holding a large gourd that he had planted.

 Liu is holding a gourd craft-based product grown by himself in Jiujianfang Village of Langfang City, north China's Hebei Province.  His gourd crafted products attract a lot of collectors from Beijing and other big cities in recent years. 

Liu uses a plastic rope to tie up a growing gourd in his garden.

Farmer Liu grows gourds that he painstakingly shapes to look like other plants, such as pumpkins, and animals, such as swans.  According to Liu, "The secret is to shape the gourds when they are growing," says Liu, who uses his hands andplastic rope to tie up the small fruits on trellises in his 0.8-hectare gourd garden.  The demand for his unusual gourds exceeds the supply. Liu doesn't know how many gourds he has sold, but he earns more than 100,000 yuan ($16,020) a year.

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