This Sponge is Not from the Sea

After removing the peel and seeds, the ripe dried loofah is used in the bath as a scrubbing sponge.

Loofah grows much like a cucumber.  Once it reaches maturity, dry the plant and the outer skin peels away.

Recently, I mentioned the loofah sponge to two people.  Both insisted the loofah sponge was from the sea.  Not so.

This sponge is actually a gourd you grow in the garden. Once matured, the fruit can be dried and everything (skin/seeds) removed but the xylem tissues.  The sponge makes an excellent natural scrubber for the bath or kitchen.

Buffalo on Catalina!

Trip over to Catalina Island this weekend.  We were so lucky to have a very special tour and spotted these wonderful buffalo.  The buffalo were brought to Catalina in the 1920s during the filming of a movie and left behind after the shoot was finished.  The buffalo have thrived and reproduced in the subsequent years.

Basil for the Birds

My basil plants flowered and then went to seed. I left them because I noticed the bees were crazy the basil flowers. This evening, I discovered another garden friend enjoying the basil. This tiny bird was so small at first I thought it was a hummingbird. Using my camera's digital zoom, I was able to see it was not a hummingbird.