Friday, August 2, 2013

Bamboo

During our recent weekend at Primitive Skills Camp, we learned all about bamboo, and crafted some useful items using freshly cut bamboo.  Bamboo is a very invasive plant that many states have restricted the sale of it in nurseries because it is so invasive and strong it can push up through cement or macadam.   It is an interesting plant though because you can do so much with it. 

Eat the young shoots,  boil 20 min just to be safe and toss with some butter, salt and pepper.

Make a Didgeridoo -- a handy instrument that can be made relatively on the spot and left behind (not carried)

Other crafts you can make include:
Bamboo or River Cane needle holders above.

Tea Cups
Cups
Chopsticks
Filipino Rice Cooker

This is a water bottle.
Asian spoons, Scoops,
Our instructor giving us the ideas and guidance to get started
Sorry for the quality of the photo but this is the inside of a young shoot.  The part you can eat.  The segments are all there within the bamboo and as it grows taller they just push out.
We are hard at work at our bamboo crafts.  Matching tumblers are what we made.  Really there is so much to do with Bamboo.  It left us with the question - What can't you do with it?

2 comments:

Steph said...

I'm taking a bamboo class next weekend - on carving tea scoops and making vases. It's an incredible plant!

Angela McRae said...

We have a ton of bamboo growing along our creek -- I should have taken this class!