gourdgal virginia's List: Gourd Gracious

• • Check the habits of the bird you are considering. Generally, a hole in the high middle, or middle, of the gourd serves the purpose for a broad number of birds.
• mature,

  • Harvest after the first frost or when the plant has wilted and appears spent.
• Wash them in a warm vinegar water, rinse well and dry thoroughly in a warm dark  place

  • Washing can be done with plain water. Some people put a splash of bleach into the water, but just water is fine. The surface debris is scrubbed with a pot scrubbie.
• one should remember the habits of the birds that you hope to attract

•  

                                           

  TYPE OF  BIRD	SIZE  GOURD	SIZE  HOLE
  House or Bewick'  Wren	6"	1"
  Carolina  Wren	6"	1  1/2"
  Chickadee	8"	1  1/8"
  Tufted  Titmouse	8"	1  14"
  Downy  Woodpecker	8"	1  1/4"
  White Breasted  Nuthatch	8"	1  1/4"
  Small Owl	10"	2  1/4"
  Bluebird	8"	1  1/2"
  Hairy  Woodpecker	12"	1  5/8"
  Crested  Flycatcher	8"	2"
  Purple Martin	10"	2  1/2"
  Flicker	16"	2  1/2"

  
  

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• it is reasonable to look for evidence of its initial  domestication in Asia perhaps as much as 2,000–3,000 years earlier.
• buoyant fruits of domesticated plants have been shown to yield
• In the Americas, however, understanding the initial domestication of New World  species has long been complicated by the early presence of  an African enigma, the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria).
• world
• World   species has long been complicated by the early presence of   an  African enigma, the bottle gourd
• • yet, a 7,200 (carbon dated) bottle gourd has been found in Florida
• the consistent occurrence of the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria),  an Old World plant, in close association with the earliest indigenous New World  domesticates.
• The bottle gourd has been grown worldwide for thousands of years, usually not as  a food source, but for the value of its strong, hard-shelled,  and buoyant fruits, which have long been prized as containers, musical  instruments, and fishing floats
• the bottle gourd has long been recognized as being indigenous to Africa
• The modes of diffusion of the bottle gourd out of Africa remain unknown, but the  buoyant fruits of domesticated plants have been shown to yield  still-viable seeds after floating in sea water for more than 7 months (11),
• Bottle gourd rind fragments and seeds are rarely recovered from pre-4,000 B.P.
• bottle gourd rind fragments were similarly recovered in close archaeological and  temporal association with the earliest occurrence of a local  domesticate
• In eastern North America
• occurrence of a local
• When compared with the modern wild L. siceraria gourds recently  documented in Zimbabwe, all of the archaeological specimens included in the  present study exhibit a distinctive morphological  difference, a substantial increase in fruit rind thickness and associated fruit  durability
• Such a marked increase in rind thickness reflects a loss of natural seed  dispersal mechanisms, which is one of the most important  adaptive responses by target populations of seed plants to a new human-created  environment and is also one of the markers of domestication  most likely to be visible in the archaeological record
• strongest single criterion for recognizing domestication in seed plants, because  it reflects an inability on the part of the domesticated  plant to successfully reproduce without the active and sustained intervention   of humans in the planting of stored seed stock.

• A 1,000-year-old bottle gourd seed from Cold  Oak Rock Shelter in Kentucky
• In addition, the early arrival of L. siceraria in the New World also  provides strong evidence for it being one of the first species brought under  domestication worldwide.

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• calabash or gourd (as it's commonly known in the United States) is a functional  creation of nature
• "Shekere" is a general name to describe the beaded gourd rattle
• beaded calabash is called an "agbe",
• a personal instrument and never loaned of shared, even with family members.
• How
• When African slaves were taken to the "New World," they carried with them many  of these rich musical traditions,
• Making the Sheke
•  Making the Sheke re
• Tapping with the heel of your hand on the bottom, listen to its tone. How
• most common technique used in the United States has origins in Nigeria and Ghana

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• • This is solid, basic knowledge all gourd crafters need to know when running the show circuit. Customers to these events always ask basic questions about gourds.
• herbaceous or semi-woody, climbing or trailing plants.
• tendrils develop in the area between the leaf and the stem
• grow in a spiral and help to anchor  the stem
• containing either male stamens or female pistils, but not both
• flowers of gourds are radially symmetric,
• • Having a jar of seeds available at a show is helpful when explaining gourd bilogy.
• seeds of plants in the Cucurbitaceae are usually rather large and flattened,  and they commonly have a large concentration of oils.

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• • Inedible gourds are the part of the squash family we deal with. Knowing the difference is vital when talking with the public.
• . To expose the stiff, fibrous interior of the pepos of this plant, the ripe  fruits are immersed in water for  5-10 days after which the skin and pulp are easily washed away.
• luffa, vegetable sponge, or dish-rag gourd (Luffa cylindrica) have many  uses
• a mildly abrasive material
• white-flowered gourd or bottle-gourd
• this plant are used as jugs, pots, baskets, and utensils, especially as dipping  spoons. In addition, varieties with long necks have been used as floats for  fishing nets. Rattles are also made of these dried squashes.

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