Rhiannon Giddens

Well, you know, the original banjos were all handmade instruments. Gourd - it would be made with gourds and whatever, you know, materials would have been around. And, you know, first hundred years of its existence, the banjo's known as a plantation instrument, as a black instrument, you know?

American Musician

When I first heard the minstrel banjo - I played a gourd first - I almost lost my mind. I was like, Oh, my god. And then I went to Africa, to the Gambia, and studied the akonting, which is an ancestor of the banjo, and just that connection to me was just immense.

Sue Perkins

To those who say: 'Why pay for a gym when the outdoors is free?' I say this. In nature, there are no medicine balls. You can lie on an outsized gourd doing sit-ups, but in reality, outsized gourds are hard to come by unless you live in a farmers' market.

English Comedian

Desiderius Erasmus

I doubt if a single individual could be found from the whole of mankind free from some form of insanity. The only difference is one of degree. A man who sees a gourd and takes it for his wife is called insane because this happens to very few people.

Dutch Philosopher

Davy Crockett

The party in power, like Jonah's gourd, grew up quickly, and will quickly fall.

American Explorer

Gourds are often used for thematic autumn decorations due to their varied shapes and colors.

Fall Decorations

Not all gourds are edible; some are ornamental with bitter flesh not meant for consumption.

Not Always Edible

The term 'gourd' covers a wide range of plants including pumpkins, squashes, and melons.

Plant Variety

In many cultures, dried gourds are used as musical instruments, containers, or decorative objects.

Cultural Significance

Using gourds to create utensils is an eco-friendly choice, replacing single-use plastics.

Eco-Friendly

Gourds can be intricately carved, making them popular for artistic expression and craft.

Artistic Carving

Gourd vines can be trained to grow in certain directions, making them great for garden aesthetics.

Growth Habits

Gourds are generally planted after the last frost and require a warm growing season to thrive.

Seasonal Planting

Gourd plants produce distinctive flowers that are often yellow and can be quite large.

Flowering Patterns

 And my personal favorite, "Adorn your table with gourds." Those are not good suggestions. Instead, the most effective thing you can do to have more fun is to focus on its ingredients, by which I mean, do everything you can to fill your life with more moments of playfulness,

Why Having Fun Is the...

 getting in my stuff drives me crazy I really need a container that I can put the cattail fluff in that I use for my tinder bundles a friend of mine was trading a bunch of boards that she had grown and I was able to get a few from her gourds are basically like primitive

Turning Gourds Into...

 But as they tried to look inside the gourd, they dropped it. The gourd broke apart, releasing a deluge that swept the brothers away, separating them from the celestial lands forever. The waters from the gourd formed a new world.

The Taino myth of the...

 its delicate body made of wood and gourds creaks and warps at the slightest change of temperature and humidity its tuning pegs all 20 of them held in place with nothing more than friction in a