Erik the Bamboo Flute Maker

Listen to Erik play his wide array of flutes and saxaphones made from bamboo.  Hard to believe?  It is true.  Bamboo instruments are widely used around the world.

Bamboo Shoots

OK, I confess I normally use canned bamboo shoots, but last week I was given (a) freshly cut bamboo in a salt water solution in a container and (b) a bamboo shoot to prepare myself.

First of all, I was shown the amazing plant that it had came from.  I doubt the photo will do it justice - it is thicker than a man's arm, and strong.   It grows at a terrible fast rate and at 8 weeks is fully grown, and  6 or 7 metres tall.  Awesome.

These shoots have appeared in early February - though other species might shoot at other times of the year.

I peeled off the leafy bits after I cut the root in half, and then peeled back the rough tough looking outer pieces, put them in a saucepan after I rinsed them and covered them with water.  then onto the stove with some salt to boil for about 10 minutes.  I'm told it is best to boil them twice so - after the first boiling I discarded the 'old' water and fresh water, they boiled again.

Then I cut some of it it into slices so that I can add it quickly to my cooking and put it in the refrigerator in a plastic container with salted water.

Community Gardens

These are set up to give people an opportunity to learn appreciate organic food.  There are groups everywhere, who work together to grow fruit and vegetables and other organic plants.  One such groups vision is 'to help create a sense of community through encouraging and promoting the growing and sharing of organic food."

It reminds me that as a child we grew all sorts of fruit and vegetables in our own back garden in Adelaide.  Organic?  Probably my parents used some simple chemicals but post war there was not the plethora of bottles of this and that to attack the myriad of bugs and diseases that can attack one's crops.

I still like to grow things but as a house sitter I get very little opportunity though I do cart with me some herbs, some bamboo, and a fig tree in a pot which this year produced just two figs.

I have learned that the community gardens are enthusiastic about bamboo, and often have workshops regarding some aspect of it.  Northey Street City Farm has a number of workshops on featuring bamboo in the next few days.  You can source information about them here.   I remember when Northey Street was full of houses on both sides of the road, and with heavy rain the area flooded.  Eventually the houses were removed from the area, and later on the community garden was created.

Our local community garden is Wynnum Manly Community Gardens Group, Inc and their website is here.

Again supporting and keeping in touch with these organisation can help you find out more about growing bamboo and other sustainable foods.

Bamboo Art

Bamboo has a popular focus for artists, particularly in China over the years.  A quick search on the internet will reveal thousands of drawings - some feature the strong 'pole' of the bamboo plant, and other feature the leaves.

Just do any Google search on 'bamboo art' 'drawing bamboo' and so forth and you will find a plethora of websites with information.

Here's one that teaches how to draw bamboo.

Video and more..............

Firstly I want to report on other retailers that have recently promoted bamboo products.  I note that Aldi in their last catalogue have a cutlery tray on special this coming week - I think starting on 22nd February.  I shall have a look for it - not that I am in the market for such an item right now.

However, I found this video - which in part explains the attitude many people have to bamboo as a low class product - his story and the awarding of such prestige recognition for his work, is worth watching.

More Bamboo Featured

In my pile of catalogues and flyers left in the letter box yesterday was a Target flyer - with a whole page of bamboo products at reduced prices.
hamper
There was a towel ladder, laundry , waste paper bin, duckboard, and range of storage boxes  (On page 9).  On page 11 there is a 'Bamboo butterfly laundry hamper" and on page 12, there are some kitchen items including a bamboo turntable with a utensil jar.

I'm sure there are more products in Target made of bamboo.

Bamboo Products on the Market

I notice this week that there are a few more bamboo products on the market or being advertised in catalogues.

Bamboo towels in Pillowtalk, Bamboo kitchen items in K-Mart and Bamboo display stands in Officeworks.

Good to see. 

John Gray and his Green Projects

One person I would have loved to have met in Bali is John Hardy - he is the creator of The Green School and the Green Village in Bali.

I did visit The Green Village - but not the school.  It is No 1 on my agenda for my next visit to Bali.

Listen to what John Gray has to say.

What's Up? by John Hardy from Qi GLOBAL on Vimeo.

Religious Ceremony and Bamboo

Quite amazingly I arrived in Bali, Indonesia, at the time of a big festival of the Hindu's - called Galungan and it has significant association with bamboo.

The streets are lined with bamboo poles, called peniors, highly decorated bamboo poles - with that they call 'flying dragon tails'.

The long bamboo poles are harvested and their tapering points are kept as they are a feature of the penior.

It is the tradition that the male members of the family decorate the penoir, though some families prefer to purchase peniors already decorated.  The women of the household would be busy preparing the food offerings for the holy festival.

The undecorated bamboo pole is called a janur, and the men will select one that they can decorate well, as it is very competitive to have the best penoir,

The decorations of the pole are made with coconut leaves and fashioned into intricate additions to the pole.

When complete the pole is erected along the main street, and as part of it is a little 'box' about 6 feet from the ground, again created by coconut leaves, and into this box on a daily basis food and other offerings are placed.  This altar is decorated to resemble the dragon's head.

From the Bali Events calendar

Hari Raya Galungan, This is the most important holiday symbolizing the victory of Virtue (Dharma) upon Evil (Adharma). The holiday is specialized by the fitting of 'penjor', a tall bamboo pole splendidly decorated with woven young coconut leaves, fruit, cakes and flowers, on the right side of every house entrance. People are attired in their finest clothes and jewels this day.

Bali Bamboo

I can think of no other place but Bali to research the best of bamboo, and so I set off on Feb 1st, 2012, to see what I could learn.

After surviving the maze of traffic, (human and machine) at Denpasar airport, along with several other passengers, I was transported to my hotel supposedly in Legian, but more Kuta I suspect.  Along the way though I could see how bamboo was used.

There were fences, and barriers made with bamboo - surprisingly rather fragile barriers surrounded some holes in the footpath - not quite the safely barriers we must have in Oz.

I could see many examples of bamboo using in building, but to me mostly it was used to help prop up cement, or other building materials.

Of course bamboo was growing everywhere - from the fine stalked bamboo to the very thick - it seems to grow everywhere.  Anywhere.

When we reached my hotel, the Jayakarta Hotel, I was slightly amused that the room I was given was the closest room to two stands of bamboo! Strange!  There was no other stand of bamboo in the whole complex.

Bamboo holding up the floor

There were several building sites similar to the above.  I suspect in time the bamboo pillars will be replaced by brick or other material.