Love A Luffa at the Westmont Garden Club

Luffa quilt

The Travelling Toe attended the August monthly meeting of the Westmont Garden Club. The program, “Luv A Luffa” was presented by Deb Terrell.

           

Deb Terrell

Deb began the program by telling a bit about herself.  She is originally from the garden state, which is New Jersey and said she was heavily influenced by the “Little House on the Prairie” book series.  Moving to Texas, she and her husband purchased land in the Aurora area , where it was reported in April ,1897 that outer space aliens had landed – just a fun factoid. 

When she began growing luffas for the “fruit”, she found that bees loved the beautiful yellow flowers.

luffa flower

Luffa is an easy plant to grow either in the ground or in a pot.  It likes the sun so it is a good plant for the Texas climate.  It can grow up to 40 feet so it does need a trellis to help support it.  Normally, Deb plants luffas in April when the soil begins to warm up as it does not like the cold.   The plant has to be kept moist.  It takes 100-120 days to go from seed to plant.  The last time to plant would be around July 4^th.  One plant produces 2 – 5 luffas.  The luffa fruit does not really compost unless it is really immature.  It can be cut up in small "rocks" and placed in the bottom of a planter for water drainage.

luffa plant

The luffa plant is a member of the cucumber family.  When the fruit turns green it is ready to be picked. The fruit can be eaten, supposedly tastes like a zucchini.  It can be chopped up and put in a smoothie – like kale.   The luffa juice is very healthful and is even made into nasal sprays.  The oil made from the luffa seeds is used in cosmetics and diesel fuel.  And one other creative use for the luffa was that they were used to line helmets during WWII.

Deb’s farm is now certified bee friendly and is a way station for the Monarch butterfly migration through Texas.  

Deb sells her luffas at the Crestline Neighborhood Market on the 3rd Saturday of the month.

At the Crestline Market, Deb met some ladies who sold soap made from goat's milk. So Deb now has dairy goats on her property for the "soap ladies".  This is a little hat Deb made for her goats and the little blue items around at the brim are luffas she cut up and painted blue.

goat hat

RJ the Cat, loves his luffa!

A tee shirt that Deb had on display and was awarded to one of the members as a door prize.  

Deb's table display.  She uses luffas as an art medium, cutting and painting them and adding little do-dads to the items.  She said that they make excellent cat toys!

Loretta Luffa