For over twenty years, Ben Bear and his company, Meadowbrooke Gourds, has been creating beautiful pieces of art from the gourds grown on his 200 acre farm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It all started when he took seeds from two gourds he bought in New England and planted them, looking to sell gourds for the fall season. But after several other area farmers decided to join the market, he and other farmers ended up with an overabundance of gourds not being harvested and then rotting in the winter. But much to Ben’s surprise, the gourds on his farm did not rot. Instead, he ended up with beautiful wood-like dried out shells that were perfect shapes for someone creative. And from that moment, he became what some say is a tinkerpreneur, a little bit tinkerer and a little bit entrepreneur. Today, he and is wife Denise, and their three children, Nathan, Brandon and Ashley continue to innovate with new products, wonderfully hand-crafted and painted decorative gourds. Each piece unique, interpreting the silhouette that nature provides.

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