Salute to autumn
By Dee Dellenbach

Favorite place In back of her "gourd shed," there's a shady spot tucked away beneath the wisteria where Marilyn Nacke cleans the gourds before decorating them. Comet photo

Tucked away in her cozy "gourd shed" with baskets hanging from the rafters, Marilyn Nacke surveys the birdhouses and jack-o'-lanterns that have been left behind. She's taken most of them to Battle Ground for a fall festival, but there are still enough left to give a visitor a hint of what goes on here.

Most years, Marilyn grows her own gourds, but this year the weather was so wet, she harvested only about 100. She gets the rest from Brown's Country Store and Candles in Attica. This year they gave her about 200. She keeps them in a boat-sized net in back of her shed, where they dry out and cure.

On any day from August through October, Marilyn can be found there - under the wisteria - cleaning the dried gourds.

Inside the shed, she cuts the top off of one gourd, just like you would cut the top off of a jack-o'-lantern, only she uses a miniature reciprocating saw. She scrapes the insides of the paperdry gourd and decides this one will be a birdhouse - it's shaped just right.

Painting a patch of pumpkins Marilyn Nacke spends most autumn days in her "gourd shed," where she carves and decorates gourds to make birdhouses and jack-o'-lanterns. She takes them to bazaars and fall festivals where their charming fall colors are very popular. Comet photo

Marilyn explains that big bushel basket gourds make good jack-o'-lanterns and the small ornamentals are good for basket arrangements.

"Lots of people grow them; you see these a lot at road-side stands," she said.

Next she paints on a dye, reddish brown for the jack-o'- lanterns and various colors for the ornamentals, which gives them a natural autumn look.

She uses the tiny saw to cut out the face of the jack-o'- lantern, and finishes it with ribbons and a sprig of berries.

Now that looks like autumn!