Consider the luffa next. It’s a squash of sorts that grows on a vine. The inner matrix of the large zucchini looking fruits is the luffa sponge. Zone 10.
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
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I just found my solution to bringing water to a concert without using a shitty plastic bottle.
more durable and lighter than pottery.
gourd does the job better.
also carries water much better than a basket
There could be some sense figuring first out water containers. Old saying is that human survives few minutes without oxygen, few days without water and few weeks without food. Water > Food
Also as a hunter gatherer, food is around you (berries, roots, game) and you can carry them with you. Drinking water is more scarce and keeping it with you when you move around needs some container.
My mom used to do arts and crafts things with gourds. When she passed there were easily over a dozen laying around the house plus a giant one she had started prepping, but never finished.
She was cremated, and the plans were to bury her in the plot she already had next to my dad. State or county requirements, however, that works, allowed us to be the ones to dig the hole to actually place her urn in the ground. When the time came, her five children, their spouses and many grandchildren gathered to dig a great big hole in the ground. We ended up taking the big gourd that she had been working on and placed it in the ground, then as we filled that with dirt we placed her urn inside the gourd. In the end everyone took shovelfuls and handfuls of earth and covered her up.
I can never look at a gourd without thinking of my mom.
Someday in the distant future, there is going to be a very confused archeologist.
Lol when it was discussed with the funeral home folks (who gave us the shovel to dig with - left it leaning against the back door of the funeral home the morning of) they just said to let them know when we were done so they could document what was left there for the records.
Yes. This happened in a very, very rural area lol.
Depending on how far along the prep work on the gourd was, it may have decomposed.
Thats really sweet, thanks for sharing
My dad grew gourdes. One of the happiest pictures I have of him late in life is him standing on the porch, surrounded by gourdes hanging to dry. I have three of his goudes. I also have one of his loufas.
holy shit is that why a common word for reusable water bottles in french is gourde??? whoa
You have an accent aggue on your name, so I'm inclined to believe you, but so do I. I I don't know how much authority it really imbues. Can you be trusted?
i am to be trusted, in my opinion (which you can trust because i am to be trusted) ☺️
/j
On the subject of the name, you available to come check out a large cauldron?
Bottle gourds are still eaten pretty regularly in India, and I suspect, other parts of the world too.
Yep, I just checked Wikipedia, and yes, tons of purple around the world still eat it.
I was surprised to see them called inedible. The young gourds are tender and taste like squash.
tons of purple around the world still eat it.
I wonder what the other colors eat.
The blues eat away at my life.
Emotional support water bottles are human nature confirmed
It probably has to do with weight. Pottery is pretty heavy and I assume this gourd, when hollowed out, isn't
And resistance. Pottery tends to break easily, organic material is more resistant to most types of mechanical stress.
They are edible tho
Among other things.
The gourd is used traditionally to administer enemas. Along the upper Congo River an enema apparatus is made by making a hole in one end of the gourd for filling it, and using a resin to attach a hollow cane to the gourd's neck.[52]
which sounds... splintery...
Ok now you got my attention
There's also a 13th century persian poem called The Importance of Gourd Crafting that offers other rather intimate uses for the produce.
If only we had told this to Aleksey Tartarov sooner.
They probably just made really good bongs
Why do you think we say "stoned off his gourd"?
Just going to sit here and stare at this comment for a while.
That's what I do when I am.
And in a pinch, dongs.
Checks out
They were also used as personal flotation devices and floats for fishing nets.
At the art fair by my house is a lady who makes gourd earrings, birdhouses and instruments. She even wears a gourd hat. She grows them all herself. I tried to grow a luffa this year inspired by her. It failed because they are hard to germinate. Next year I'm doing a bottle gourd
Never wear a hat you haven't grown yourself.
"As you can see, this hat is felted from my own body hair, and the decorative bits? My toenails."
Real baller move. Time to get some sheep so I can make my own wool hats I guess. The gourd hat is more decorative than functional in the winter
I'm growing bird houses and luffa! Get another pack of luffa seeds. Mine are 2 or 3 years old and almost every one has sprouted. This year I just stuck 'em in the ground.
Be aware! Once they get rolling they can grow nearly 1' a day!