Grow your Own Bath Sponge

Here's a fun idea for kids of all ages.

Grow a loofah vine. They love a long summer. 

If, like us, frosts arrive before your gorgeous fat loofah fruit dry on the vine, pick them after the first  light frost and dry them under shelter.

When they are completely dry peel off the brittle outer skin. Shake out the seeds. While you are at it, let your quizzy dog have a good sniff at this weird vegetable thing.

Give your beautiful loofahs a good wash.

And there you have it, natural washing sponges for your family. BEAUTY ON A BUDGET at its best.

Now comes the fun part:

You can use them as is, 

or cut them up and attach them to wooden handles to make back scrubbers,

or put pieces of loofah into your home made soap to increase the scrub factor,

or cut them and use them for scrubbing dirty dishes

I think I will try all these ideas. 

These three loofahs gave us plenty of seeds for sharing. Anyone in South Africa want to swap some seeds?

I would welcome good butternut, celeriac, florence fennel, swede or other interesting seeds.