LEXINGTON, S.C. — Last fall we introduced you to a woman named Lisa Huntley living in Lexington who decided to start growing loofah plants in her backyard.
This was after she discovered our WLTX Gandy's Gardeners Facebook page for some tips.
Well, we checked in with her on Sunday and she explains she harvested about 60 loofahs this season from 20 plants. Her husband and son also built an add-on to the loofah structure, making it stretch 40 feet now.
She also says she got her business license to sell her loofah and soap at local craft markets. Her first festival selling was last weekend at Fire Fest in Aiken.
"So what I do now is I bring a book. I bring some dry loofah that's not in the soap and then I have a book with some pictures of the last couple years of the progress and processing the loofah out and people are just amazed … Educating people on loofah's just been amazing," Huntley said.
Lisa Huntley tells News19 she's learned that you can't plant loofah before April 1 in the South.
Huntley explains that next fall, she plans to use different soil for her loofah and will start her loofah plants in her shed before transferring them outside to her plant structure so that they have a longer growing season.
She adds that her husband has plans to grow her plant structure next fall and that she hopes the loofah are bigger and better.
Next weekend, Huntley tells News19 she'll be at the Makers Market, 9am-2pm at Pineview Baptist Church, 3010 Leaphart Rd., in West Columbia.
She says that last fall she sent 36 envelopes of seeds out to people across the Midlands and she'd love to know if any of these folks were successful in growing their own loofah, so if you're one of those people, be sure to post some pictures on our WLTX Gandy's Gardeners Facebook page here.