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Missing the Little Things
Last weekend while I was attending the Snowflake Fair in Mindemoya I happened to have a table right beside the fine folks from the Manitoulin Soap Factory. So, as happens at these sorts of things, I was able to overhear some of conversations that the Soap Factory folks were having with customers.
Talk of luffa sponges embedded with soap caught my attention, so during "vendor wander hour" (the last hour or aso of the market, when things are super quiet and vendors tend to wander around and talk to other vendors) I snuck over to check out the luffas and ended up having the most interesting conversation.
Now, normally in life I'm more curious about this sort of thing, but never before had I thought to question the origin of luffa sponges. However, when I was told that the Soap Factory folks had been thinking "growing their own", I was a bit taken back. I mean, where would they manage to put a large saltwater sea on their small chunk of Manitoulin? And how would they keep the sponges from freezing solid during winter?
Of course I was completely misguided by the term "luffa sponge", which I had related to natural ocean sponges, when, in fact, luffa sponges are the cleaned and dried vascular component (xylem) of at least 2 species of fruit-bearing tropical vine!
Well colour me green and call me string bean! Luffa's aren't animal at all, they're 100% vegetable! And all these years I had felt so guilty about luffa scrubs in the shower and had always taken special care not to wear out my luffas too fast, lest the oceanic supply become too scare! (Of course, we'll have to keep this a secret from Audrey, I don't know if she would approve of me scrubbing with the leftover bits of a deceased cousin!)
The thing that actually bugs me is that when I looked closely at the cross sections of soap embedded luffas on their table I realized that that I had seen that structure before growing on the island, albeit in a much smaller form; our own native wild cumbers!
And, just to double confirm, here are luffas and here are wild cucumbers, please note that they are from the exact same plant family!
I should have figured out the relation years and years ago! Shame on me, time to go back to my botany lessons!
Posted by Dylon on December 8, 2006 2:40 AM |
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Hey! I'm a huge fan of the luffa scrubs from the Soap Factory. I bought a few of the peppermint ones. They're really good for rough spots like feet! LOL!
Donna and Sue (from the Soap Factory) did the soaps for our wedding favors. I'm a loyal customer and as cheesy as it sounds, I don't use any other soap other than their oatmeal-milk-honey soap. Smells divine and makes your skin oh-so-soft! LOL! Do I sound like a Soap Factory commercial?
April 2008