Luffa Sponges... something new to me!

Last year (2014) my Garden Fairy and her family were still living with us.

That is her, helping to bring in the harvest.  We are just beginning to come out of winter, here, and this picture makes me smile "ear to ear."  If you look up there, in the upper right hand corner, you can just see part of a tower of Luffa gourds that she grew.  Earlier this winter, she came and took a number of them home, but there were quite a few of them left hanging there.  Here is what Luffa's look like when they are growing.  We were amazed at how prolific they were!  They seemed to threaten to take over the garden!

Yesterday the temperature actually got up to 60 F here and it was a beautiful sunny day, so I spent some time wandering around outside trying to see if I could find some dandelion greens.  Sadly, it seems to be too early for those, however, I did find a few oyster mushrooms!  I sauteed those in a little butter.  Oh, they were good!

I also noticed the poor looking Luffa gourds still hanging around looking forlorn, so I pulled some down and they were very easy to peel!  I then brought them in the house, cut them into lengths and removed the seeds.  After that, I carefully hand washed them in some warm soapy water and let them dry.  Voila!  Luffa Sponges!

You would think that at 66 years old, I would have had experience with them before.  I haven't.  I was aware of them, but had never had one or used one.  They are very nice.  When wet, they become soft, but still abrasive enough that they will make an excellent bath sponge.  

By the way, my Garden Fairy is due to have a baby boy in about 3 weeks.  :)