When and How To Harvest Your Luffa Gourds

Here is a Luffa cylindra 'sponge' AKA Loofa that I harvested and peeled recently. The first time I grew luffa many years ago I was told I should wait until the outside of the Luffa turned dark brown before harvested them. That worked for me the first time I grew them, but not with last years crop. Some of the Luffa gourds from last year that I was waiting on to turn brown actually kind of disintegrated inside from the excessive Florida summer humidity. This year I have been harvesting the gourds just when they turn this beautiful ripened yellow color. The peel comes off easily by hand at this stage. The 'sponge' is kind of soft coming out of the peel. If you let it dry out and harden for a couple of days, then you can get the seeds out by hitting it on a hard surface and shaking the seeds out. Some people suggest to wash out the gourds right after harvest, but they are very clean coming right out of the peel. I haven't cleaned them out that way, because I wanted the seeds to dry in good condition for seed saving.

These are the really big long gourds that I have been waiting on for making soap with. I'm very excited to collect them. It think they will be ready to pick today or Saturday at Fair Share.

Would you like some seeds for yourself? I have Luffa seed free with purchase in my etsy shop.

Herbal Book Recommendation on World AIDS day

A few years ago I received a copy of the book Natural Medicine in the Tropics: IV AIDS and Natural Medicine by Hans-Martin Hirt quite by accident from Echo Books. It is not a book I would have typically ordered, but I was very impressed with it and have referred to various recipes frequently. The book includes recipes that are recommended based on modern medicine, clinical studies, and feedback from caregivers in the Tropics who have tried the recipes. The book includes many simple recipes which have herbal ingredients which are relatively easy to find, especially if you are living in tropical areas. Some of these herbs include Garlic, Lemon grass, Aloe vera, Ginger, and Neem. In addition to general immune stimulating recipes, specific recipes are also provided for AIDS related diseases. For example, there are sections for nausea and vomiting, bed sores, bronchitis, coughs and colds, Kaposi's Sarcoma, etc.

Here are a few of the many recipes included in the book:

For Fever drink 3 liters of lemon grass tea each day.

For ear ache put a few drops of neem oil into the ear.

For herpes make a garlic oil by putting squeezed garlic cloves in good vegetable oil for a few days. Put this on the sores two or three times a day.

This book is available from Echo Bookstore online.