There is another bamboo sculpture contest being organised by the Bamboo Society of Australia. The entries will displayed and judged at the Brisbane International Garden Show in October 2016.
Three prize categories are on offer. First prize is $3,000. Entry fee for non-members is $100. Alternatively, you could take out a yearly e-membership for $20, enter the competition for $75, and have access to years of current and back-issues of the Bamboo Bulletin. The Bamboo Bulletin offers stacks of information about identifying, growing, maintaining, and using bamboo.
The Bamboo Society of Australia will have a booth at the Garden Show. This is a fine opportunity to quiz some experts about growing bamboo.
Bamboo is an integral part of material culture in Japan. Nearly everywhere you go in Japan you see examples of bamboo uses in the landscape, architecture, art, craft, kitchens, bathrooms, gardens… By turns beautiful, intricate, functional, and sometimes, just simplicity itself. This week I’m sharing a few examples of ultra-simple bamboo solutions for take away food, barriers, fencing, ritual cleansing, dividers, gates, borders … let’s start with toys.
Surely, this must be as simple as it gets to keep kids amused using bamboo. (Compare the bamboo toys available online). These were made at a school in Hachioji. The girl certainly looks very pleased with them. (Thanks, Chris). On a complexity scale, next may be the taketombo. Here’s a YouTube demo. Learn to make one here.
Near the entrance to temples in Japan, temizuya, or chōzubachi, often use bamboo as a means of keeping the water scoops in easy reach. This one is in Ueno Park, Tokyo.
At a Sunday flea market in Kyoto these bamboo skewers solve that pesky issue of the meat sliding around on a round skewer.
This ultra-simple barrier keeps the larger stones where they belong in the sublime gardens of Ōkōchi Sansō in Arashiyama.
Fencing in Japan can be elaborate. It can also be minimal and uncomplicated. These fences act primary as barriers in temples in Kyoto and Arashiyama.
Cross sections of large bamboo culms make an eye-catching wall divider in a Tokyo restaurant. (Thanks again, Chris). A few bamboo branches sandwiched and lashed with a couple of small bamboo poles vastly improves this otherwise ordinary gate in a temple in Kyoto.
After the inspirational and motivational inaugural Bamboo Sculpture Competition in Mullumbimby recently, I got to thinking about how to use bamboo to age my current compost bin contents. I trawled through endless Google images seeking my simple solution. And it really was simple. The image to the left is what I based my compost aging bin on.
The original inspiration – simplicity itself
My version, replete with compost
First I set some bamboo stakes in a square to guide my stack and keep it more or less square. Then, I harvested several small culms of obvious age. The design I had in mind only had small gaps between the rails, so the compost would stay inside. The harvested culms were then sawed to length, and I started stacking – with a bit of tie-wire here and there to hold things together as I went. I’m rather pleased with the result.
My research also took me further. I was surprised to discover some very sexy bamboo compost bins (pails, for some) – the ones that live in your kitchen, before the contents make the trip to the outside bin. The research also provided another revelation – bamboo charcoal deodorisers for compost bins. (I lead a sheltered life). Who leaves their compost in the kitchen that long?
Near where the Takano river joins the Kamo river in Kyoto sits the ancient Shimogamo shrine. The main approach to the Shinto shrine is along a wide path through the Tadasu no Mori (the ‘Forest Where Lies are Revealed,’ or the ‘Forest of Correction,’ depending on who you ask). This woodland of broad leaf trees is, apparently, quite rare in modern Japan. Some of the trees are up to 600 years old. And a few of these trees have bamboo skirts.
Investigations into precisely why some of these ancient trees wear skirts revealed little. It seems the bamboo skirts are providing some kind of protection to the trunk of the tree: one local thought that it may be protection from disease. I saw only three trees under bamboo, but I did not fully explore the 12 hectares of national historical site listed forest. The shrine and the forest are of such renown that you will find items such as jigsaw puzzles, mugs, books and prints celebrating them online.
The only other instances of bamboo skirts on trees that I found online were academic studies detailing experiments to prevent Nipah virus infection in local populations who harvest and consume date palm sap. The bamboo skirts act as a barrier to fruit bats, also fond of the sap, that transmit Nipah virus by contaminating the raw sap with their saliva.
Bamboo skirts aside, the Shimogamo-jinja and Tadasu no Mori is a lovely place to visit should you find yourself in Kyoto. One of my visits coincided with a market day. Numerous local craft stalls at the market had attracted quite a crowd. And still, the place was quiet and subdued. Lovely.
Yam farmers in Trelawny, north-west Jamaica are increasing yields and saving money by using treated bamboo poles as yam sticks. The bamboo yam sticks used in Trewlawny have a number of additional side struts that promote extra lateral growth and assist in anchoring the vines as they climb. The farmers save money in two ways: less bamboo yam sticks are needed with the side struts in place, and the treated bamboo lasts longer.
The use of treated bamboo for yam sticks has the potentially far-reaching consequences of reducing deforestation, and thereby enhancing groundwater conservation. In recent years, cutting down young forest trees for yam sticks has produced record rates of deforestation in Jamaica. This practice is unsustainable. The young forest trees only last for about two years or less as yam sticks, but take at least five years to regrow.
Treating bamboo
The Jamaica Gleaner reports that the treatment process is simple. “Dried bamboo sticks are placed in water in a ‘tank’ made from blue tarpaulin, framed with lumber; this is allowed to ferment, removing the starch and other substances. The process takes 30 days and the water is changed every seven days.”
Comments on the article from readers indicate that for yam farmers in St Catherine, in the south-west of Jamaica, the use of bamboo is nothing new and they don’t bother with the ‘treatment’. Rather they, “cut the bamboo [on a] ‘dark night’ when the moon shines the least,” to achieve a similar insect-repelling outcome.
I use bamboo in the vegetable garden. With a ready supply of bamboo on hand, I don’t treat the bamboo for the garden. It lasts for a few seasons and I cut some more.
In summer, a frame for a shade cloth canopy is created by hammering star pickets into the earth and ramming large diameter bamboo culms over the star pickets. In the winter, our main vegetable growing season here in the tropics, bamboo is mainly used to support cucumbers and encourage pumpkin vines to grow in the desired direction. The top end of the smaller bamboos, branches intact, are also useful to stop birds stealing seedlings. Are there any creative uses for bamboo in the vege garden you’d like to share?
The phenomena of bamboo flowering is shrouded in myth and misconceptions. After news items about from two different countries about flowering bamboo appeared in the past two months, I decided to research the issue further. Here is what I learned:
Most bamboo does not flower often. There are three different flowering patterns for bamboo: annual, sporadic, and gregarious. Which pattern is followed is determined by the bamboo species.
Annual
Very few species of bamboo flower annually. The seed from annually flowering bamboo is rarely viable.
Sporadic
Sporadic flowering occurs irregularly and is usually confined to a certain geographic area.
Gregarious
Most of the 1,500+ species of bamboo flower gregariously. The timing is regular. Depending on the species, it may be once every 20 to 120 years. All the plants within a particular species across the world will flower, usually within a year. Many of the plants will die.
The consequences of mass bamboo flowering can be disastrous for local populations of people too. From Wikipedia:
The death of the bamboo plants following their fruiting means the local people lose their building material, and the large increase in bamboo fruit leads to a rapid increase in rodent populations. As the number of rodents increases, they consume all available food, including grain fields and stored food, sometimes leading to famine. These rats can also carry dangerous diseases, such as typhus, typhoid, and bubonic plague, which can reach epidemic proportions as the rodents increase in number.
The reasons so much bamboo dies after gregarious flowering episodes are unknown. There are theories, of course. Two dominate.
The bamboo expends so much energy in the flowering that stress kills the plants.
The parent plant is creating an optimal environment for the seedlings to survive by freeing up light and water resources.
Bamboo culms age prematurely during the flowering process. They become brittle and are not suitable for building or crafting. If you observe an impending flowering event, you might consider harvesting the bamboo beforehand.
I asked Liya Dasfor some Primal and Paleo-friendly Indian bamboo shoot recipes. Here is the first one:
Special guest post from Liya
Do you have a special corner for spicy food? If yes, then Goan food is bound to blow your mind away! Goa, a small state in the west coast of India is synonymous to coconut, spices and seafood. So when these aspects come together in one single dish, the outcome is nothing short of magic. Bamboo shoots make an interesting addition to the entire ensemble as well and turn this Goan curry into an ultimate gastronomic indulgence.
While tinned bamboo shoots can be used in this dish, but nothing compares to the crunchiness and delicate flavours of the fresh shoots. The narrower shoots are packed with maximum flavours and when not processed properly, they can ruin a dish with their bitterness. So make sure to peel off the hard, outer layers and soak the tender part in water overnight to get rid of any unpleasant flavors. However, if you can’t wait to enjoy your bamboo shoots, boil them in salted water, drain and soak them in fresh, cold water for at least half an hour before using.
Once processed properly, the bamboo shoots are ready to blend with the spicy flavors to please your taste buds. The coconut milk mellow out the spiciness to some extent and teams up with the marine flavors of the prawns to create mouth-watering result.
So run off to the recipe to taste a slice of India with this classic Indian curry.
Prawn and bamboo shoots in coconut curry
Serves: 4-6
For the spice paste:
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
4-7 cloves
1 cm cinnamon stick
6 garlic cloves
4-6 dried red chilies
6 garlic cloves
1 tbsp rice vinegar
For the curry:
450 g prawns, peeled and deveined
1 tsp ground turmeric
One large pinch salt
3 medium fresh bamboo shoots, diced
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp dried coconut
2 green chilies
1 can coconut milk
2 tsp coconut oil
Few fresh curry leaves
Method:
To marinate, sprinkle the ground turmeric as well as a dash of salt onto the prawns and stir them all together until well coated; set aside to marinate for half an hour.
Meanwhile, toss all the spices for the paste into a dry, hot skillet and fry for several minutes until they start spluttering and give out a spicy aroma.
Tip them into a blender along with rest of the paste ingredients and pulse them into a smooth paste; set aside until necessary.
For the curry, heat coconut oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and throw in the chilies as well as onions.
Saute for a while until they soften and stir in the dried coconut.
Scatter the curry leaves on top and saute over moderate heat for another 3-4 minutes or until the onion caramelise and the coconut gives out its characteristic aroma.
Stir in the tomato chunks and cook for another 5 minutes, while stirring often.
Scrape out the prepared spice paste into the pot along with few splashes of water.
Stir them all together to mix well and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Continue to simmer for 5-7 minutes and throw in the chopped shoots.
Simmer further for another half an hour over slow flame, while stirring at times, until the mixture nearly dries out.
Pour in the coconut and bring it to near boiling temperature over moderately high heat while stirring often.
Dump the marinated prawns into the curry and reduce the heat back to low.
Simmer for 6-8 minutes or until the prawns turn pinkish, indicating that they are cooked through.
Turn off the heat and let the curry rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to develop further.
Serve hot with hot cauliflower rice (or just steamed rice) and have fun!
The onset of the monsoon has inspired the small bamboo to start shooting. Shoots are sprouting up within the grove and all through the lawn metres from the grove. Apparently, a good way to control bamboo is to eat it.
For the variety of bamboo being harvested here, I found the optimum size of the shoots to be about 20 cm high. Any smaller and the yield is a mere mouthful. Any larger and the shoots start to get a bit fibrous.
The inner heart of the shoots
There are some helpful instructions for peeling and cutting the shoots in this short YouTube vid posted by Suburban Foragers.
The inner heart of the bamboo should be soaked, or boiled, or both, depending on who is telling the story. I do not have the definitive answer on this. Some folk say the soaking and/or boiling is to remove the bitter taste and some say it is to remove the hydrocyanic acid present in some varieties of bamboo.
The Life with Bamboo hybrid method
Even though the bamboo I’m using is not bitter when raw, I opted for a just-in-case method and soaked AND boiled the shoots. The shoots were soaked overnight in water, and then boiled for 20 minutes. Bamboo shoots will keep for up to two weeks covered in the water in the fridge. Change the water daily. Or freeze the prepared shoots.
The first batch of shoots that I harvested, were just dropped into a butter chicken dish near the end of cooking. As a vegetable, the shoots were delightfully crisp and tender. Nutritionally, they are good source of dietary fibre, potassium, and some other minerals.
The dogs love them too, raw, if I peel the outer leaves off for them. And the horses.
Soon I’ll post some bamboo shoot recipes. Do you have a favourite bamboo shoot recipe?
I have created my own walk-through bamboo forest. While not on the awesome scale of the giant forests of moso bamboo one might find in Japan, say, or Taiwan, it is not without delight.
The bamboo here was planted over 30 years ago. The grove I have been working in has not had any maintenance lavished upon it except for a yearly slashing of the new shoots that stray too far from the grove. A few weeks ago, this grove was a mass of dead and live bamboo too dense to squeeze through.
Bottom end of grove before. The yellow bamboo you can see is a stand of painted bamboo completely surrounded by the smaller, green running bamboo.
Bottom end of grove after.
Today, it is a 33 metre long by 10 metre wide grove of bamboo that is a pleasure to walk through. Admittedly, it is a bit tight in places, but easy for someone of a healthy weight. The earth underfoot is gently cushioned by 30 years of bamboo leaf detritus. The gently swaying canopy overhead provides welcome shade for the visitor and safe haven for small birds.
Creating the walk-through forest was not hard work, just time-consuming. Each stem of dead bamboo was removed from inside the grove. Bamboo that was not growing vertically was cut out if it impeded my exit route. Sometimes only one culm at a time could be dragged out. I plugged away at it for an hour or so a day over several weeks.
The numerous loads of dead and surplus culms were taken to an allocated spot in the paddock using the trusty old Brumby. The 4 horses that live in the paddock are always really interested in the contents of the Brumby. They often impede any unloading, looking for fresh bamboo leaves to snack on.
Do you have any experience with culling your own bamboo forest?
It’s now a month since I cut a selection of bamboo. The process was described in the World Bamboo Day post. Theculmswereallleft upright in their respective groves, propped up off the ground by various means. Some had stones under them, others were held off the ground with bricks or blocks. Some sat quite neatly over, or in, the stump of a freshly cut neighbouring stem of bamboo. After a month of transpiration, this week I removed the cut bamboo from one grove.
After a month, the leaves are dry and crisp and brown. The top sections of each culm, where the branches start, are changing colour to yellows and browns. Below the branches, the colour on the lower parts looks to be pretty much the same as when they were cut. Unsurprising, given that this is where most of the moisture is stored. I cut each stem just above the lowest branch and discarded the upper section with all the branches.
This sudden influx of bamboo culms has created an urgent need to get creative with storage solutions. The bamboo needs to be out of the weather, in a covered area, and off the ground. My storage solution?
Hang them from the rafters
I’m very fond of simple, practical solutions to any challenge or problem. To create an additional area to cure and store the freshly cut, slim and light bamboo culms I used some silver rope and short lengths of bamboo. Like a series of swings or trapezes. This system will be easily expandable.
There is another bamboo sculpture contest being organised by the Bamboo Society of Australia. The entries will displayed and judged at the Brisbane International Garden Show in October 2016.
Life with Bamboo 