Gourd decision

Here's where I am to date:

Books of Days is a periodic accounting of actions or knowledge.

Teaching a research class involves multiple lessons of strategies (in this case 8 packets of lessons).

Of the interesting ways to make a book, an primitive product like a gourd is in contrast to up-to-date research.

Lessons can be folded into the gourd as a concealed book adding to the mystery that from a primitive beginning, research can bloom.

...What kind of gourd?  An apple gourd of course!  As stated in the Smithsonian article Why Students Give Teachers Apples and More From the Fruit's Juicy Past, "Held up as the paragon of moral fastidiousness, teachers, particularly on the frontier, frequently received sustenance from their pupils." 

Apples were the sustenance! Even after agricultural ways had been left behind by most families, apples remained as the gift and, thereafter, a symbol of getting into the teacher's good graces. This information makes the choice of an apple gourd for the research book of days a good choice.

The apple gourd below has no stem. I want to find an R to use as a stem/handle.

The gourd interior is rough with bits of dehydrated pith and debris still clinging to the sides. 











After a rough gutting with a grapefruit spoon and sanding sponge, it is ready for the decoupage treatment using references from encyclopedia books, in APA format of course!