The listing, Egg Gourds ~ very unique and fun has ended.
These are real guards that grow on a vine! They are shaped like a chicken egg. In fact we use them in the hen house for nest eggs and I keep a basket full on my coffee table for decoration and a conversation piece.
The one on the right is a fresh one that has not been dried yet. They come off the vine looking like this. Then you place them in a basket or lay them out in a DRY sunny spot and they dry to look like the one on the left. Kind of brown/tan and speckled.
Once they dry, you can shake them and hear the seeds rattle around inside. You can crack them open and plant the seeds to grow more.
These make an excellent project for kids because the harvest is double the fun and who wouldn't want to grow their own egg?
They can be painted or left unpainted. I prefer the natural dried state myself.
Winner gets two egg gourds. One to keep for the novelty of it, and one to use for seeds ;-)