Some luffa pics -

Sheets drying

Four gourds

Luffa growing on the fence - I had to add some extra support here, the weight of the gourds was pulling the fence down!

_aesthetic

I recently harvested and processed my luffa! Four good gourds, plus a few smaller ones that’ll just be compost. All but one were very green still, so I roasted them in the oven at 250F for an hour to make the skins workable, squeezed out the pulp and seeds, cut them into a flat sheet, and then soaked in a bleach solution overnight to kill any mold/bacteria before leaving them to dry. I’m excited to make some sponges!

I’ll be definitely be planting more next year, the super long vines are very fun, especially the one that grew along the top of my garden fence this year.

• Clickspring - gently narrated master craftsmanship, in this case watchmaking. His Antikythera Mechanism series is particularly awesome
• Adventurous Way - previously RVing content, now building a house in Vermont

Harvested my sunflower heads this week! I probably waited a bit too long since they had worms and a bit of mold, but lesson learned for next time. I took all the seeds out, sorted out the bad ones, and I’m going to let them dry for a while longer in mesh bags before roasting and shelling or whatever.

Any advice on processing sunflowers?

My experimental Loofa plants are starting to produce! They were strange - sent out female flowers way early in the season, then a run of only males, and now finally I’m getting a mix.

I’d like to try making some biodegradable sponges out of them.

Thinking about propagating some wild black raspberry I have in my yard - when would you recommend cutting canes, and should I root them before planting out? I’ve seen people store dormant canes over winter and plant out in the spring, what are the advantages/disadvantages there?