Love Bugs Have Invaded Meadowbrooke
This year we introduced the new Love Bug gourd for Valentine’s Day. What you may not know is that there are many "Love Bugs" working together here at Meadowbrooke Gourds.
Dori and Todd
The Love Bug was designed by our first pair, Todd, and Dori (me). I was one of the founding members of Meadowbrooke Gourds starting in 1995 and Todd followed in 2000 and is now a master crafter, making all those beautiful intricate cuts in our gourds. I spend my time in the gift shop on the farm, helping with marketing and organizing events. We met in 11th grade and the rest is history. We have been married for almost 33 years, have two children, Zack and Lauren, and a daughter-in-law, Erin.
Ben and Denise
The next pair of Love Bugs are particularly important because without them, there would be no Meadowbrooke Gourds, nor would there be three of the sets of Love Bugs. They are the founding couple of the gourd business, Ben, and Denise Bear. Ben began crafting gourds in 1993 in their house garage with lots of input from Denise to help make the first gourds available for sale. They have been married for forty wonderful years, have three children, Brandon, Nathan, Ashley and five grandchildren which they watch through the week, which keeps their life very busy!
Emily & Brandon
Brandon is the oldest son of Ben and Denise and is now the president of Meadowbrooke Gourds. You can find Brandon in our finishing room dyeing all our beautiful gourds and leading management meetings. He also married his high school sweetheart, Emily who just happens to be our wholesale manager selling Meadowbrooke Gourds to other gift shops around the world and being our marketing guru and computer nerd (this is said in the most loving way). They have been married for 20 years and have one very spunky daughter, and a cat named Binx.
Nathan and Kara
Nathan is the middle child of the Bear family. He married Kara almost two years ago and they have two children. One very blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter and son. Nathan is part of our production team and does all the purchasing for Meadowbrooke, from toilet paper to parts we put on our gourds. He also makes sure that our farm looks as lovely as it can be! Kara joined our crafting team in 2022 after being in the medical field for many years and helps at our Create Your Owns and events.
Ashley and Phil
The youngest child of Ben and Denise is Ashley. She married Phil in 2016 after meeting in high school and they have one very entertaining son and an energetic daughter. Ashley is our quality control person in production, helps in marketing and is our farmer with help from her dad. Phil has his own business, but we also keep him terribly busy maintaining our buildings, production equipment and anything else that can go wrong on a 200-acre farm.
Ken and Connie
Ken and Connie are the last pair of Love Bugs at Meadowbrooke. They met through Joe, one of our crafters and his wife, Sandy (who happens to be Connie’s niece) in 2010 and ended up getting married in 2012. They have lots of fur babies which consist of four dogs and two cats. Some of you that come to our events and Create Your Owns know Kenny as a teacher and organizer, but he is also our Production Manager making sure that all our gourds get crafted on time. Connie has been at Meadowbrooke since 2016 and helps in the gift shop at the farm. You may have also talked to her on the phone as she helps Emily in the office with customer service and she helps do Zoom classes throughout the year.
Most of our couples had met before they started at Meadowbrooke Gourds, but it is funny how so many of the spouses have come on board after getting married. We are very thankful that they did.
We hope that although you may not work here, you can find one or two of our great Valentine’s Day gourds to give to your Love Bug for the upcoming holiday. Remember you have less than a month to pick something out. If you are stuck, let us know, we would love to help you find the perfect gourd. Valentine Gourds – Meadowbrooke Gourds