Growing in faith: Mission with Gourds founder aims for spiritual harvest

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GREENFIELD — Jim Ballard had learned to grow a gourd with a long corkscrew neck. He had made friends and won ribbons at gourd shows. But he reached a point when he wondered what it all meant.

Ballard, of Greenfield, has been growing gourds for more than 20 years. About halfway through that time, though, he did some soul-searching.

“I just kept asking God, ‘What is the point of all this?’”

When an answer came, Mission with Gourds was born.

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The Story within the story was the late Jim Story of Pendleton. Ballard met Story soon after he was drawn to a Muncie gourd show by a notice his wife spotted in a Hancock Rural Electric newsletter.

Ballard remembered the gourds his grandmother grew, bought some seeds and entered a show. He walked away with only a participation ribbon.

Enter Story, who told Ballard his gourd was a good one but entered in the wrong category. Ballard later asked Story to take one of his gourds to an Ohio show and enter it for him on Friday, with Ballard planning to come Saturday.

Ballard said when he arrived, Story was almost running to him “and about jumped in my arms.” Ballard’s gourd had won first place. A friendship was born.

Story was well-known among gourd growers. The Indiana Gourd Society has named some of its award categories after him. Donn Kelver, in his book “Gourds: From Vine to Design,” calls Story “Mr. Gourd” for the knowledge he shared with others and the welcome he and wife Jane extended to others at their garden in Pendleton. Gourd growers use ropes and/or pantyhose to train a gourd to grow with a certain shape, such as a spiral. Story was an innovator in hand-training gourds, Ballard said, and he shared what he knew.

Story shaped, and was shaped by, the gourd-growing community in other ways, too. Ballard said Story was part of starting a Sunday service at a gourd show. When Story wanted to be baptized, Ballard asked the associate pastor of his church, who agreed to do it.

When Story died, Ballard was devastated and wondered what to make of his gourd-growing pastime. Another friend pointed out that gourds are mentioned in the Bible. That’s particularly evident if one is reading the King James Version; in the story of Jonah, the plant that shades the prophet is a “vine” in some more modern translations but is translated as “gourd” in the KJV.

“From that point forward, I just felt the connection,” Ballard said, and the connection pointed him toward a new gourd project — a 3-foot Jonah figure made of gourds. Jonah’s head is a basketball gourd, and his arms are long, skinny snake gourds.

“Jim’s portrayal of Jonah demonstrates not only his creativity but also the many ways that gourds of various shapes and sizes may be used,” Karen Niemeyer, president of the Indiana Gourd Society, wrote in an email to the Daily Reporter. “The Indiana Gourd Society very much appreciates his passion for gourds and his dedication to telling a gourd story to others.”

Ballard tells that story at churches, sometimes handing out tiny gourd necklaces to children. He tells it online at missionwithgourds.com. And of course, he tells it at gourd shows.

“It’s a serious thing to me,” he said, “but also so much enjoyment … to know that the Lord got you involved.”

Ballard said the Jonah made of gourds catches the attention of those milling past at gourd shows. He keeps a King James Bible handy with the gourd verse highlighted. He hands out copies of the Bible story with some background information.

He has found gourd showgoers generally receptive and curious. And as he shares a spiritual message, his approach is one you might expect to hear from a gardener:

“I plant the seed. God takes care of the rest.”

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Jim Ballard of Greenfield is one of the organizers of Linda’s Gourd Patch, named for late Fortville resident Linda (Kingen) Harlow. The group gathers monthly at Faith Lutheran Church in Greenfield to work on a gourd project.

The Indiana Gourd Society’s state show took place in Greenfield in 2011 and 2012.

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