Julia Donagrandi-Myers has always loved gardening. About seven years ago she and her husband purchased eight acres of land in Cleveland and started tending the grounds. A friend offered her some loofah seeds and Julia soon found herself researching everything she could about the plant. Loofah is a genus of tropical and subtropical vines in the gourd family, like cucumber and squash. She said most people associate loofah with the scrubs they use for bathing and exfoliating their skin.
But she was thrilled to learn the plant can be used in a variety of ways β and it is also edible. In , we really expanded. So, now on average, we have between and vines, and all of that has just come from what we've learned. All the different things we can utilize from this plant in various ways, whether it's for skin care or your hair care, or your dietary needs.
Julia said she wanted to expand the local agritourism. First, so people can see how the plant is grown and harvested for food. Secondly, she wanted to educate the public in the many ways the whole plant could be used. Visitors will be greeted by Julia at the loofah rows with her stations ready to peel loofah. She also sets out all the various products derived from the plant. Visitors get a chance to harvest and peel their own scrubs.
I will talk about what it takes to grow these plants, everything that we get from them, and then folks can come up and sample all the things that we have. At that point, they have an idea of what to look for when they go into the vines. They're more than welcome to pick one that they plan to peel and purchase or pick one to peel just to have fun. There's no obligation. Julia said they grow several different varieties of seeds in her garden.
Some make body scrubs; others produce scrubs that can be used for general house cleaning and clean cast iron skillets. When you cook it, it cooks down like zucchini. There are a lot of different things that you can do with it. She said the plant is loaded with antioxidant properties. Julia said she also learned loofah is used in many cultures as a skin topical and for overall health. So, we have a cold press machine. It's just a piston that pushes the seeds through and presses the oil out.
