down to earth

This is from the Angelica Organic Farm site "The bright white flawless looking Chinese garlic is bleached with chlorine. Most concerning is that Chinese garlic is still being grown using chemicals banned in Australia long ago and it is reported that raw human sewage has be used as fertiliser. To be able to allow it into our country, the quarantine department, AQIS, fumigates every single bulb with methyl bromide, one of the world's most dangerous chemicals for human and environmental health. It is kept in cold storage and is often too old by the time it reaches our shelves, which is why it’s sprouting or spongy when you get it."

I have been worried about the Chinese garlic sold in Australia for a few years now. The garlic we see on sale is pure white and very unnatural looking. I'm not sure how Chinese garlic is grown, processed and fumigated, but one look tells me I don't want to eat it. And yet Australian garlic is so expensive now. In my local IGA this week, Chinese garlic was $10 a kilo, Australian garlic was $49.95 a kilo. Who can afford to buy it at that price! Garlic in the USA is between $12 and $13 a pound, that's about half the price of our locally grown garlic. Mind you, most of us usually buy it in small amounts so generally, we don't realise how expensive it is because we only buy one or two.

Just out of the ground, our garlic sat drying out for a few days (above), then I cleaned them up a bit, (below).

And below is my rather miserable attempt at a garlic braid. I think I'll undo it today and try again.

Garlic is slow growing but if you grow it in the backyard, in the soil or a container, it's quite an easy crop. We buy organic garlic cloves early in the year and put them in the fruit drawer of the fridge to fool it into thinking it's winter. After about four weeks, we plant it out. This is one of those once-a-year crops, if you get it right, and store it well, you'll have enough for the whole year. I'm not buying garlic again - Australian garlic is too expensive and Chinese garlic is too scary.

We harvested our garlic last week when the tops started going brown but still had some green in them. The bulbs were big, there were plenty of cloves on each of them and they had a lovely purple papery skin. We had one fresh straight away that night, roasted in the oven with some lamb. Delicious! The rest of them are now hanging outside on the back verandah drying out. I tried to braid them and while it looked good and tight when it was laying flat on the table, now that it's been hanging for a week, it's loosening and looking a bit untidy. Still, the main point is that we have good garlic, grown in our backyard - thrifty and local.

As you as concerned about garlic as I am? Where do you get yours from? Of course it's not earth shattering, we don't have to have garlic, but it is good for our health and good garlic tastes divine and makes other food really shine. I'd like to see all of us growing our own so I've searched for the information below to help us all do that. I wonder if you will.

Chinese garlic in USA

How to grow garlic in Australia

How to grow garlic in pots - USA

Garlic in pots - UK VIDEO

Growing garlic in pots - UK

Garlic and Apples from China in USA

Last week I was interviewed by the lovely Georgia at ABC Capricornia radio station; that interview was played on air on Monday. I've agreed to do a radio spot with them, once a month, from next Monday. I'll be on at 3.30pm. It goes state-wide in Queensland, but not the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane or the Gold Coast. I'm not sure if there are podcasts. It should be fun, I'm looking forward to it because as well as talking to Georgia on air, I'll be answering listeners questions if they call in. More people are interested in how you and I live now and I am really pleased I can help them with their own changes.

Earlier this week some readers asked for the recipe for peach whey cake. I generally make my recipes up as I go - this one is just a plain butter cake mixed with whatever fruit you have on hand. I say fruit but it could just as easily be nuts, cocoa, coconut, dates, sultanas or raisins.

PEACH WHEY CAKE

Grease and line a cake tin - I used a round one about 7.5cm or 3 inches deep.

Ingredients

3½ cups self raising flour

¾ cup sugar

250 grams/½ pound butter at room temperature

Approx. 1 cup of whey - or milk if you have none

3 eggs

a splash of vanilla

peach jam

peaches - either fresh, from a tin or your home preserves. If the peaches are fresh, slice very thinly.

Method

Turn the oven on to 180C.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric beater till combined. Then turn up the beater and beat for about two minutes until the batter is thick and creamy. If you need more liquid, add more whey or milk as needed.

While the batter is still in the bowl, fold two tablespoons of jam through it. It doesn't have to be fully incorporated, just streaks of jam through the batter.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and cover the top with the peaches (or whatever fruit you're using). If you're using apples, you could use strawberry or raspberry jam in the mix. Customise the recipe according to what you have on hand. If you have no jam, no problem, just leave it out.

Bake in the oven for about 35 - 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. When it's cooked, you'll be able to smell it and it will be golden brown on the top. Turn it out onto a rack to cool.

~~*~~

I'm doing another workshop today at the Neighbourhood Centre. This time it's fermenting. We'll be making yoghurt, vinegar, ginger beer and sourdough starters. It looks like being a good day. I hope you enjoy yours too, whatever you're doing. I'll see you again tomorrow.

I'm preaching to the converted here when it comes to homemaking and the importance it holds in our lives. There are so many homemakers here, from the traditional to the not-so traditional. Some of us are stay at home mums with children to raise, some work in corporate, retail, health or education sectors but still very much retain the homemaker's focus and find that the time spent at home well and truly prepares us for the work we do to earn a living. We have female and male, single and married homemakers, we have gay and lesbian homemakers, we have feminist and traditional homemakers, we have homemakers with many children and some with none. Some live alone, some are part of large families. Some homemakers combine volunteering with their home duties, some are forced to stay at home due to illness or disability but take pride in being a homemaker, doing as much as they can for themselves. Along with all the ways we differ, come all sorts of variations on how we work, income levels that effect what we do and how much we do for ourselves, and personal circumstances that dictate where we live and how we work.

We come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one-size-fits-all. There is no one right way to do this.

One of the things that unites us though is the common feeling that generally we're undervalued as homemakers. We know the work we do at home is vital for ourselves and our families but it's also part of what builds good citizens and strong countries. Usually, if someone doesn't understand or disapproves of what I do, I shrug my shoulders. I really don't care. Not everyone can like me or what I do, I'm realistic, I respect their right to have their own opinion. However, this is different, this is a commonly held view that is just wrong on so many levels. I love what freefalling said in her comment on the last homemaking post: "I kinda feel like I have a wonderful secret that only the enlightened are able to share." I think that is spot on. But then Cityhippyfarmgirl writes: "This is a subject that is close to my heart as I've been a stay at home mum since I had my eldest. I know our choices are right for us, I know I save us a bucket load of money for everything I make from scratch, and source from different places. I know my kids are getting the best start in life that I can give them, and yet still those occasional outdated comments that will come from someone completely irrelevant (bank teller, person on the street etc) cut to the bone." When I read that, I feel it too.

Personally, I love it when I read of a homemaker who works in ways familiar to me. I like reading about people who have made a success out of working from home or working in a tough environment. But I also love to read that Richard has just bought the CWA cook book and he has cut back his outside working hours; that Liz wrote: "I was amused this week when my female housemate, my teenage daughter and me were out fencing the paddock for our new house cow, while my husband was inside cleaning and looking after the children."; and that Shannon and Mel are moving towards a formal commitment with their girlfriends. We are all different. Even those who appear to be very similar to us are different in many ways. Some of us work in our homes, some of us work outside them and some combine the two. And that is fine. How boring it would be if we were all dressed in grey, with blonde hair and freckles. It would be equally boring if we were all brown-eyed red heads, or all dark skinned, or all fair. Diversity is what makes the entire natural world so interesting and wonderful. I would love us to all be proud of whoever and whatever we are and to celebrate that diversity, not be threatened by it.

When I first started blogging about my version of a simple life most of the bloggers on this topic were writing about the politics of climate change, peak oil and group action. Very few wrote about home, family, house work or personal change; I think they were seen as mundane topics and too ordinary to be of any consequence. Well, I thrive on the mundane and ordinary, I dived in! I believed then and still do now, that any permanent change will only come when enough of us change ourselves first, then start working outwards. My change started when I returned to my home and started taking it seriously. When I realised that I could make myself happy by working at home, making this place as comfortable as possible for myself, my family and visitors, that was when I knew how profound and significant our homes could be. When I recognised that the work we do in our homes can enrich and empower, as well as being creative and satisfying, I knew that I had stumbled onto the mother lode. Our homes are our starting points - no matter what we do, home is where we start from and where we return to. Home is that important and it is the work done there that transforms the shell of four walls into a home that nurtures and protects.

I would like us all to form a united approach on this. If people don't understand us, don't know what we're doing, or wondering if we're sitting around all day watching TV, let's tell them. When someone asks you what you do, tell them: "I'm a homemaker. I'm looking after my babies/elderly father/volunteering/working part-time" or whatever it is you're doing, and "I'm learning to knit, cooking from scratch, growing organic food in the backyard, I'm working on cleaning the house without harsh chemicals. I make soap. I'm saving money at home so we can pay off our mortgage faster." or whatever your version of the way we live is. Tell them your "wonderful secret". If you just baked the best bread you've ever made, tell your friends and everyone else who will listen. If we have to listen to all the babble about "bling", smart phones, "I can't boil an egg", Jimmy Choo shoes and how they can't get by without their extra shot vanilla latte, then they can listen to us talk about how we finding meaning and satisfaction at home. Now that's fair trade! Let's tell everyone who will listen how we spend our time and do it with pride and a smile.

Let's be our own advertisement.

We had a quiet weekend after a busy week. Last Friday I went back on the committee of the Neighbourhood Centre as secretary so I spent a part of the weekend quietly organising myself to include that in my work schedule. Things have been busy since the Women's Weekly article was published and I spent some time doing and talking about radio interviews last week. Now I'm trying to decide if I'll do a monthly phone-in as part of a program on Queensland regional ABC radio. There seems to be a real need at the moment for information about how to move from spending and a reliance on convenience to a simpler way. Radio is a good way of reaching people so I might just do it.

Our vegetable garden, above and below, in the late afternoon sun.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Over the weekend, the usual chores were done - bread baked, the floors cleaned, washing, cooking and mending all done, but I also had time for a little bit of sewing and knitting which always relaxes me and clears my mind. I love working slowly when I have plenty of time to get things done. I don't rush anymore. I want time to wander and poke around while I work. Hanno worked in the garden, both front and back, so the hard work will be all finished before the hot weather starts. He went to the market on Sunday morning and although I wanted him to bring home a couple of new chooks, he said they were too expensive and came home with gerberas and seedlings instead. The vegetable garden is looking absolutely wonderful at the moment. We have so much fresh food there, it's a real credit to him.

This week is Anti-Poverty Week. I'll be giving a talk today at our local Anti-Poverty Week function which will also feature speakers from Centrelink and Lifeline. I prefer to approach the problem from a different viewpoint and hope to encourage people to be proactive and to change the way they shop for food and to make a few things for themselves at home, so they don't get to the point of needing help from those agencies. I have print outs for laundry liquid and a few other things so I hope it helps some families. Later in the week, at the Neighbourhood Centre, we're having a Humble Jumble - which will be a swap event. I'm taking up some fresh vegetables that I'll pick just before I go to work, so I hope someone will enjoy eating fresh organic vegetables that evening. Is anyone else doing anything for this cause?

Alexander's cardigan, made with the softest of organic cottons.

Closer to home my knitting is still bubbling along nicely. I'm totally in love with the organic, plant dyed cotton from Eco Yarns. I'm now knitting a banded cardigan for Alexander. It's a lovely earthy red colour with natural contrast on the bands. It will fit a six - nine month old, so it should suit him for a while. After that, I'll be doing a cotton singlet or two and some summer shorts for Jamie. I love being a grandma. It makes me feel like I'm doing my part in caring for them if I help provide for them.

We've enjoyed some delicious food over the past few days. Sunday was a lamb roast with vegetables and homemade mint sauce, and the peach whey cake above for snacks and dessert. A couple of nights ago I picked a fresh cabbage from the garden and made cabbage rolls stuffed with pork belly, vegetables and quinoa; Saturday we had egg noodles and vegetable stir fry. Yesterday we had some good mixed grain and rye bread. Knowing how to cook well pays off in so many wonderful ways.

Finally, I was going to tell you about our garlic and loofa harvest but that will have to wait for another day because it's getting late and I have a few things to do before this weeks starts to unfold. I hope you have a happy and interesting week and have the time to relax and enjoy it as it goes along.

I'd like to clarify some things after reading a couple of yesterday's comments. I am sure my long term readers already know this and I feel it so deeply I don't spell it out in every post like this. I'm accepting of all types of relationships. In fact I wrote about this last week here. I don't expect to see only husbands and wives, or men working with women at home. I don't think every couple should have children. I think people should live to their own values (not mine) and do what makes them happy. I believe that is why I get so many emails about the stages of life - I don't judge and I don't expect anyone to live as I do. To me, a partnership is formed when two people commit to each other - those two people could be a man and a women, or the same sex, and they can be married or not. I have gay friends my age I have know most of my life, and they're all in relationships. I wrote yesterday's post directed at the woman who emailed me. It was her experience and mine I was referring to, it didn't reflect any specific view on what makes a family.

One of the reasons I write about homemakers so much - both men and women, is that many of them suffer because of the stereotypes applied to them, just as I suffer from the stereotypes applied to me - of what a women in her mid-60s believes. It is not acceptable to discriminate against others, but it seems to be still okay for many people to look down on homemakers, and for them to be very vocal about it. We need to change that.

~*~*~

One important part of being a homemaker is looking after the family finances. When there is someone out earning money, it is the person who stays at home who is responsible for stretching those dollars as much as possible. A saved dollar is more than an earned dollar - your saved dollar is tax-free. So one of the ways in which homemakers can feel very much a part of the financial viability of the family is to shop for grocery bargains, cook from scratch, and work on conserving electricity, gas, fuel and water. If you use all the ways in which you can save money by making what you need at home, you will cut your old supermarket bill to the bone and be on your way to "earning" money at home.

The stay at home person can draw up a budget and have a plan to pay off debt. Once a year they can go through all their regular bills to see if they can be lowered. We review out bills every year, ring up the opposition, ask what their deal is for the same thing we're paying their competitor for. If it's lower than we're paying, or if we would get more for our dollars, we ring our supplier and tell them and ask them to match it. Usually they do. We check statements when they come in, we've found mistakes in the past. We try not to withdraw money from ATMs, we get cash out at the supermarket instead. I have to confess, Hanno is much better than I am at that. He hasn't used an ATM for two years and, of course, we've saved paying bank fees because of that.

The homemaker is also responsible for looking after the family's assets - by carefully laundering and mending clothes and household linens, by keeping appliances clean and working according to their specifications. Everything that can be kept going - every towel and sheet you keep using before you turn it over to the rag bag, will save you money. Many of the things you do to save money in the home will be environmentally sound too.

There is a common understanding now that a couple should work to make the most of their earning capacity. It's fine if that is what your priority is, or if your circumstances compel both of you to focus on earning money to set yourself up and pay off debt. However, some people value staying at home, being a homemaker, raising children, looking after parents in their old age or volunteering, and for them, that is more important than earning as much money as possible. There are many who have disabilities and who can't work for a living but who save money at home and get by on a pension. It is possible to live well both ways - either by earning as much as you can, or by saving as much as you can. I gave up my career a few years ago, so you all know what camp I'm in. We know that if we cut back on our wants and buy only what we need, we don't need as much money as we used to earn. I spend my time now working from home as a writer, working in my community and working at home. I know many homemakers who have set up a small business that they run successfully from home.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Homemaking can be a dynamic career choice. Whether you use your time at home to learn as much as you can so you home produce and cook from scratch, or you're busy in the child raising years, or if you combine both, you can be rewarded for your efforts. There are many small ways to save money at home, they all take time and consistency but all those small ways add up. If you use the time you spend in your home not only for cooking, cleaning, raising children, mending, recycling etc., but also actively engaged in saving money, you will help provide for the family and pay off debt just as much as the partner who works outside the home.

Be warned, I will be writing about homemaking again next week. It will be a post about what we can all do to help change the outdated common view of homemaking.

I received an email from a young married woman in her late 20s the other day. She is trying to decide whether to give up a career in teaching to have children and be a stay at home wife. She said her main problem is that she has doubts about being at home, thinks she'll become bored and she won't be as fulfilled as she is now. I told her to stay in her job until she's sure she wants to have children; being a stay-at-home mum is sometimes a difficult and challenging job but if approached with the right mindset, can be enriching and would probably change her in many significant ways. I also told her to read today's post.

I think the traditional view of homemaking is that it is a fairly menial job, one that doesn't take much thought and comes with no power and few opportunities. From where I stand now, I think that view is rather dated, if it ever was true to begin with; from where I stand now, homemaking is a power career. As the homemaker, you are responsible for the health and well being of your family. It's the homemaker's job to look after the family assets, to set up a household budget and use the family income to pay for everything they need. If that is done well, the savings can be used for the betterment of the family - in paying off debt, or for education, travel or hobbies.

If I were coming to homemaking at this moment for the first time, I would see it as a great opportunity to create a decent, warm, comfortable home for myself and my family. I'd take advantage of every spare moment to skill myself in the areas in which I was lacking and I'd welcome the opportunity to organise my home in a way that would help me work and facilitate the home production of many of the products I used to buy.

If I were moving into a new home, I'd want a larder or pantry, a separate laundry room, a sewing and craft room that also held the ironing station as well as plenty of outdoor space for a vegetable garden, fruit orchard, chickens and maybe some bees. Mind you, I pretty much just described what I have here in my own home, so I'm on a pretty good thing and I'm happy to say I'm making the most of it. Men have their sheds where they store their tools, fix the lawn mower and the kids bikes; it's where they can work with their tools close by, have suitable work benches that help them carry out the jobs they tackle. Women's sheds are their homes - we have to see our homes as not only a place to relax and nurture our families, but also our work place, where we use the time we have to produce the needs of the family. I make bread, soap, laundry liquid, snacks like crackers, cakes and biscuits, wholesome food, jams and marmalades, I make cordial in summer from the fruits we grow in the backyard, I freeze and bottle excess vegetables and fruits. For all those tasks, I need various spaces that help me do my best work and where I can set up for some jobs that may take longer than a day. I sew, mend, knit and write and for those activities, I need a working space; a place where I can think, work creatively and where I can piece together bits of fabric that become larger and useful items, or words and phrases that become blog posts, articles and books. My workspace is in one of the old bedrooms. Our house was not set up like this when we moved in, we changed it to suit how we live and work. And it's changed more than once, it changes to suit our interests and the work being done.

One of the first important tasks for any new homemaker is to organise their working space. Take control of your home and your time, don't be afraid to change things that don't suit the way you work or the type of work you do. If you're living in a newly built home, you might find their won't be enough storage space, so you might need to find some old cupboards for your stockpile and your cleaning ingredients. If you're living in an older home, you may need to open up spaces and let in more light. If there is nothing stopping you modifying your home to better suit your family and your work, get to it, make the spaces inside your home the places where you work to your potential.

Most of us do a large portion of our work in the kitchen - so organising that space to best suit the type of cooking we do will make working in the kitchen easier. We also do laundry, so clear the decks and organise the laundry with your homemade laundry liquids and the ingredients for making it, your soaps and ingredients, a rag bag to hold your recycled cleaning rags as well as an area where you can soak stained clothing and store the ironing board.

Many of the older readers here would know that I don't consider craft to be a hobby. For me it's part of my housework. I sew, mend and knit so we have good quality and long wearing scarves, cardigans, jumpers, hats, dishcloths, tablecloths and napkins. I see that as part of my homemaker's work, not a hobby. Back in my great grandmothers' day, making clothing and woollens for the family was part of almost every women's home tasks. Somehow those tasks where either moved to become separate hobbies or were not done at all. They still hold an important place here, I still do all of them, still enjoy them, and they're a part of my work.

I see homemaking as a dynamic, vital, engaging, interesting, powerful and creative career. It's a career that offers you the freedom to organise your own hours and do your tasks at your own rate. Of course there is no pay, but if you do it well, you'll be paid back in satisfaction and the knowledge that your family thrives because of the work and effort you put into them and home. Never be afraid of work. Yes, it's wonderful to be able to take time out to sit and relax, but rest is appreciated so much more when it's balanced by tasks completed. Sitting around all day is overrated. Work is where we find ourselves and the reward for that hard work is a strong character, a wonderful family and a comfortable home.

If you're a full-time homemaker by choice or circumstance, never let anyone tell you that working in your home, cooking for your family, sewing and knitting, cleaning your nest and organising the lives of your family is not important work. Sure it can be tiring at times, all jobs are, but from where I stand, in my grandmothering years, I know that I have done my best work here at home. I'm just an ordinary woman and I don't know much, but this I know, with certainty, when you actively take control of your life and your home, when you plan and make decisions and don't leave things to chance, you will be paid back in ways you never expected. Take control, plan your work spaces, organise your family and your work and then sit back to enjoy the fruits of all that with the people you love. But don't expect it to be perfect, learn from your mistakes and celebrate your successes. It's that simple.

This is a big topic and I've already taken up too much of your time today, so I'll continue tomorrow to talk about the financial side of homemaking. I hope you have a lovely day - enjoy your work whether it be in the home or somewhere else.

There is no doubt about it, when you start living a more simple life and decide to get rid of as many harsh chemicals as you can, you have to turn into a bit of a detective. Some of the information we seek to live simply is not openly available, we have to search for it; luckily we all have our computers to make that easier. All the decisions you make about what you include in your life now should be examined. Don't make soap or bread because I do it, or your best friend does, if has to make sense to you in your circumstances. So, if you're trying to decide whether you should put some time aside to make your own soap, bread, cleaners, pasta, jam etc., you might want to compare it with what you're already using. You might need to read information such as the following before you can make up your mind.

Soap and detergent - how they work
Various UK chemical databases

Household Products Database USA
Household Ingredients Database - USA
Tox Town - chemicals database USA

Food Intolerance Network - Sue Dengate
TGA Product Recalls
Material Safety Data Sheets for Australian Colgate products
Material Safety Data Sheets for Australian soaps, including Lux Flakes
Guidelines for School Canteens in Australia

People often say to me that simple living is far from simple but this is a good case in point. Have a look at the additives in many of the cleaning products and soap listed in the links above, or what you have in your cupboards right now. Then compare that with what you could be using on your skin. I know which is simple. These are the ingredients I use when making soap:

Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Caustic Soda
Rainwater

There are decisions to be made regarding food additives and preservatives too. Are you trying to decide between buying certain foods and making or preserving your own? Make your decision according to what you know to be true and make sure it suits the unique family you're part of. There is no one size fits all.

Australian information about food additives (left side column)

UK food additives

USA food additives

Look at the additives on any label of jam or marmalade you currently have in your pantry or fridge and compare that with my recipe, or anyone's homemade recipe for raspberry jam:

Raspberries
Sugar
Lemon

Want to compare breads? Check the label of your plastic sliced bread or even some of the more expensive speciality breads and compare that with my recipes for the bread we eat here:

Baker's flour
Yeast
Salt
Water

There are no preservatives in what we use, we make it fresh and eat it the same day. It doesn't need to sit on a shelf for a day or a week; it doesn't need to have preservatives added.

What is in the salad dressing you use? How many gums and numbers does the ingredients list contain? Compare that with:

Extra virgin olive oil
Vinegar
Pepper
Garlic

I could go on and on but I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about. I think it's as plain as the nose on your face - homemade from scratch will be less likely to contain preservatives, colourings and artificial flavourings, in fact whatever you make will contain only what you add. You can't be more sure of your food or personal cleaners than that. So I guess the choice is between paying someone else to make what you need and not having control over what is added, and making it yourself, which takes time and effort. Convenience versus time, effort and cost.

I cannot make everything we use here but I made the choice of what I make and what I buy after doing my research and all my detective work. We all have to make our own decisions according to the time, energy and money we have available, and if you have to buy certain products and food, I encourage you to base your decisions on what you know about the product, not habit, convenience or advertising.

There is a very good book called The Chemical Maze that contains lists and the dangers of additives in food and cosmetics. It's small enough to go into my bag when I'm shopping so I can check things I don't know before buying them. If there is an ingredient on a label I'm not familiar with, I can check it. I've had this book for many years and was just checking to see if it's still available, and yes, it is, but it also comes as a variety of apps as well. You can find the information about it here. I'm not affiliated with this book or the author at all.

There is no right or wrong way of doing this. Each of us will prefer to buy certain things already made and make others at home. Don't be pressured into making soap, or anything, at home because your friends are doing it, that's as crazy as buying a certain brand of soap because you like the advertising for it. Do your research, read labels, ask questions, know what is in what you use and eat, then make your decisions according to your knowledge, the money and time you have available and your common sense. And if you have another way to check these things, I'd love to hear about it, please share what you know in the comments.

You often see loofahs being sold in shops; in Australia they're sold at the Chemist. People see them and know they're sponges but often they're mistaken for sea sponges. Of course there are beautiful sea sponges but loofahs are plant sponges and we grow them in our backyard.

I discovered something new about loofahs this year and last. If you don't pull out the vines when you harvest your summer crop, they'll rest over winter, then start producing flowers and loofahs again the following year. At least they do that here in the subtropics. We planted the loofahs late last year - they went in during November, flowered soon after, produced loofahs in March/April, were harvested in August and we left the vines in. They're flowering again now on very healthy lush vines.

This was taken yesterday. There are about six loofahs growing now.

Loofahs are a member of the vine family of cucurbits, such as pumpkins, squash and zucchini. If you want to grow them, you'll need a warm climate, a large study trellis and about 110 days of warm-hot growing days. They grow well from seeds harvested the previous year so when you pick your loofahs, choose your best ones to collect seeds from.

Loofahs are pollinated by bees but you often see ants on the flowers and vines. They're attracted to the plants and don't usually cause any harm. Plant into rich soil, water in with seaweed tea but don't over-fertilise with nitrogen. A sprinkling of sulphate of potash when planting and another sprinkling when the first flowers appear will keep them producing flowers and fruit. They need to be kept fairly well watered but once the loofahs have grown, you don't want a lot of rain because that will start mould growing in them. The young shoots are suitable for stir frying and the young fruit can be cooked like zucchini but they become hard and fibrous quickly and are then unsuitable for eating but great for washing yourself.

When the flowers turn into fruit and grow, wait until they go brown and start drying out. They can dry out completely on the vine but if you have a prolonged period of rain forecast it's best to pick them brown and not completely dry and leave them in a sheltered position to dry out completely. When the skin is dry and brittle, you can crack them open, shake the seeds out, remove all the outer skin and soak them in a bucket of water to which you've added about quarter a cup of peroxide or a tablespoon of bleach. That will clean them up nicely and kill of any mould spores they might be hiding.

So these are the loofahs we picked in August. They'd been on the vine far too long so some of them were full of mould and had to be thrown on the compost. The rest are fine and will keep us in loofahs for the year.

And these are the vines: above is the vine when I picked the loofahs in August, below is the same vine yesterday afternoon.

If you live in a warm climate, loofahs make a great addition to a sustainable and productive backyard. They're multi-purpose, so would make a good choice for a permaculture garden, and they're easy to grow. One crop will keep you in loofahs for the year and they also make a lovely gift with a cake of homemade soap.