Gourd - Next Step

Instructions from gourd master artist:

1- use a saw to cut the top off the gourd 

2- watch out because the gourd will vomit all over your shoes

Yikes! Just what I'm looking forward to......stinky, slimy, rotted gourd vomit all over me. Yes, this particular gourd is undergoing internal putrefication so it's full of really stinky liquid. 

So the first thing I needed to do was get ready. Hacksaw on hand, I first dug a hole to catch all the gourd vomit...

Next I pencilled a line to follow......

Then per instructions from the gourd geru, I made a shallow cut all along the pencil line.....

Then I cast my trepidation aside and began sawing. Instantly gooy jelly oozed out.....(yup, I missed my line, but what the heck)

Pointing the top of the gourd toward the hole I had dug, I sawed the entire top off the gourd. Indeed, the Master was right. Gourd vomit gushed out! This was just the start. When the gourd was tipped up, it seemed like a mountain of jelly infused liquid poured out, filling my hole. Stinky! Thankfully I don't have much of a sense of smell. 

Looking down inside the gourd I saw that there was still a lot of jelly adhering to the sides and bottom. With the gourd's hole too small for my hand, and the gourd too long for a long handled spoon, I opted for a long stick to scrape the jelly out. Once I loosened a chunk, I'd flush it out using a hose.....

I scraped and flushed until I didn't seem to be getting anymore out. But visual inspection showed that the gourd wasn't whistle clean yet. The next set of instructions from the Master said to put numerous small, rough, roundish rocks inside then swish, rotate, jiggle, and dance the rumba (no, she didn't really say to dance though she did suggest playing music to shake by). I was instructed to do that until the rinse water ran clear and the inside of the gourd smelled nicely of wet swede leather. Good gosh, with little sense of smell, that was going to be a challenge. But after much shaking, I think I got it. 

Final step......put gourd in a warm airy spot in the sun to dry. Easier said than done. My house doesn't host a spot meeting those criteria. Things don't dry out well where I am. So I'll be taking the gourd to the seed farm to sit for a spell.