In the hustle and bustle of modern life, sometimes we suddenly crave for a peaceful place, suddenly remembering simple things in our childhood home. It could be a fragrant countryside alley with the smell of straw, a crock pot glittering with clear well water, or simply a loofah that no one pays much attention to… Those who live in the countryside or have the opportunity to return to their hometown will see it when the land is The sky turned to summer, in the golden sun like pouring honey, there was the bright yellow color of the loofah flowers adorning everywhere. In Tho Ha ancient village, almost every house has a few melon bushes by the fence gate, in the pond, in the corner of the small garden or by the well… Many houses have a rig of loofah over the brick yard. In the morning or in the afternoon, just looking at the cool green melon rig, the fruit dangling like a big wind chime with a few thin butterfly wings drawn around is enough to see how peaceful life is.
It must also be mentioned that eating young melons on summer days is also very interesting! Stir-fried melon with bean sprouts, melon cooked in field crab soup… On those days when a meal is missed, just a melon cooked with mixed vegetables available in the garden is enough to have a bowl of cool soup. Some delicious country dishes, to this day I still fondly remember. But most impressive, are still the loofahs hanging in the kitchen or hanging in front of the porch, preserved as treasures… When I was a child in Tho Ha ancient village, following my father’s footsteps and looking at the loofah on the pond, I was I used to be surprised to see that the long melons were so big that my father left them like that. I found out that it was a melon to breed and get fiber. Ba said, to get durable, beautiful fibers, you must save the melons near the root and must be big melons, not crooked or wormy. Wait until the ripe melons are dry and yellow, then cut the stalks and bring them to dry in the sun, stay in the kitchen for a while.
The melons, when the kitchen has been kept for a full day, are taken down by the father to soak in water. I enjoyed the feeling of sitting next to me, with my father, peeling off each piece of waterlogged and torn melon skin. Then, the ivory-white loofah fibers also gradually revealed themselves. The loofah fibers are like silk threads interwoven, entangled and intertwined, embracing countless glossy black loofah seeds inside, as beautiful as an architectural masterpiece of nature. After removing all the seeds, washing and drying them on the sundeck, the soft, smooth loofahs still have a slight scent on the hands, giving us a feeling of softness and lightness. People keep saying “torn like a loofah”, hearing that they are poor, and seeing the carpet. Yet that tattered loofah got the job done! My sisters and I have been washing dishes with loofah since elementary school. A handful of loofah held in hand rotates evenly, lightly plucked, the chopsticks are clean and pure white.
On hot days, sweat and dirt, or autumn and winter days with white, cracked, cracked limbs, just a bath and scrubbing with a loofah can be clean. In that day, every time I returned from work in the fields, I would go to the pond to drop my feet into the cool water, then take a loofah bun and keep it around my heels, feet to the toes, and then enjoy looking at my pink and white feet. clean. Living far away from Tho Ha ancient village, living in the city for a long time, one day I walked into the supermarket and suddenly saw a lot of products and tools made from loofah displayed on the stalls, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Just the simple loofah pieces back then, but now into fashion products such as bags, hats, shoes… There are also skin care products such as facial massage products, back brushes. Most are household items, souvenirs and decorations such as keychain clips, dishwashing pads, foot rubs, paintings, dried flowers and flower vases.
I liked it so much, I immediately bought some tools made of loofah to use. Unexpectedly, when I brought it home , my husband was also delighted. He also said that now more and more people like to use handmade products from materials close to nature, so there are people who get rich from loofah, not “tear like loofah” anymore… piece of loofah rubs my feet, my heart constantly remembers the image of me by the pond
