As far as we can tell, gourds have been around at least as long as we have. They’ve served as everything from plates, bowls, and cooking pots and utensils to musical instruments to medicine to a replacement for part of the skull in Neolithic brain surgery (Can you believe it! They did brain surgery back then! And evidence suggest that a good many of the patients survived it).

Gourds first appeared somewhere in Asia, but they long ago spread to every corner of the globe.  In fact, they’re one of the only – possibly the only – plant to have done so.  Gourds are in the pumpkin family. Fun Fact: The pumpkin is the largest fruit in the world.  Yep, it’s a fruit, the seeds are inside the flesh of the plant. They are not used for food much anymore in Western civilization, but we have fallen back in love with them, mostly as a decoration or art form.  They come in about a zillion shapes, sizes, and colors.  They can be carved and crafted like wood, but lighter and without a grain to worry about.  They can be quite decorative all on their own.

At Meadowbrooke Gourds, we grow, dry, clean, cut, and decorate all our own gourds, and we’re happy to show you every step of the process, and even give you a hand if you’d like to try it yourself. We’ll sometimes have posts dedicated to it, and you can always find some helpful information on our web site. You may even find fun activities for the kids so you can make it a family affair. We’re very big on family here, since our whole Meadowbrooke team sort of operates like one. Sometimes we’ll have Fun Facts and interesting historical tidbits on this blog and a lot of other things, too, maybe even recipes.  Just stay tuned.  You can tell us what you want to see here!  We will do what we can to accommodate your requests.  So, we’ll be talking to you soon.