In South Texas luffa or loofah is called estrapajo (es-trah-pa-ho). Estrapajo grows well in warm climates
and as such is perfect for the area. Here
at the house we grow estrapajo at the
base of a couple of mesquite trees where the vines climb the branches into the
upper canopies and when in bloom the trees are studded with bright yellow
blossoms. Over time the vines produce
the long corpulent estrapajos we use
for washing as has been done for centuries in many places. The problem however is in harvesting each estrapajo from atop the trees. This is where a pellet rifle comes in handy.
We’ve got an old .177 caliber pellet rifle here at the house and
a couple of tins full of pellets so of course this gave the Old Woods Roamer a
chance to hone his shooting skills and collect some estrapajo at the same time.
Each estrapajo dangles
about 20 feet overhead and provides a moving target since nothing holds still
around here in the persistent wind. Compounding
the problem is that estrapajo vines
are fibrous and so when a pellet strikes a dried vine it simply breaks into
many dangling fibers that continue to hold each desiccated fruit. It then becomes a matter of splitting each fiber
individually and that requires some precise shooting.
In about 30 minutes and around 50 pellets later I’d collected
a couple of estrapajo.
Note the fibers that separate when struck by a pellet. Each fiber needs to be severed before the fruit
falls to the ground.
An estrapajo flower
on the vine.
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