Tour of Meadowbrooke Gourds production site

Those gourds used to decorate homes and centerpieces, associated especially with the fall? They're not just harvested and shipped directly to the stores to sell to you. Extensive processing and artistic work are involved ... crafting, carving, glueing, painting and packaging.

At least that's the way things work at Meadowbrooke Gourds in Carlisle, Pa., a place full d'esprit de gourd.

"The story of Meadowbrooke Gourds began in 1994. It was a rare combination of circumstances that involved one curious farmer, a few dried gourds and a whole lot of ingenuity. The in-between of then and now has been filled with Wows, Ya-Hoos, Round-n-Abouts, Giddyups, Oh Noooos, the frequent and delightful ooooos, aaaahhhss, tempered with the occasional screams of agony. These sentiments and exclamations are echoed among these twenty or so souls who now make up the family of Meadowbrooke. The initial moment of inspiration belonging to Ben Bear has now spread to those who work and play together as they hand craft each gourd we make and it is now ours alone."

In this video, sales manager Darren Hartstock gives a tour of the processing facilities - it's a full-scale manufacturing operations, albeit with a lot of personal touches.

To watch this week's Cool Stuff Being Made video, just click here.

The original video still comes from the good folks at Pennsylvania Cable Network.

To learn more about the National Association of Manufacturers, visit www.nam.org.