Field Trip - Learning the use of Bamboo

Ever since I was a child bamboo has been in existence I have seen my entire life.... We probably seen it everywhere, In products, furniture, and even for building homes. What never came to my thought was...

" what exactly is bamboo? where does it grow? how has it been used in total natural form by human throughout our history? "

I am sometimes in a realization of how stupid and clueless I am on not knowing things I have seen and used a million times that I take for granted. One of these materials in this wonderful mysterious earth we live in.... is Bamboo.

I wanted to know more about Bamboo... so with the help of my wife we have decided to go on a field trip to the country side of Taiwan where bamboo is grown and resourced naturally through its local people. Not visiting a factory with machines... no.... I wanted to see how we as human beings use it in a natural way. So let me give our readers a show and tell of what I have discovered and learned. :)

Our instructor explaining how bamboo grows and what type to choose when cutting them down for use.

Teaching us how to cut bamboo through example.

After the lecture it was time for us to give a chance to cut down a bamboo tree. As tall as they are its amazing how easy it is to it down. As you see the photo... even a child can cut down a bamboo tree that is high as a two to three floored building.

I also gave it a shot at cutting down one with a very small chain saw... it was surprisingly so easy. As the tree is cut off it doesn't fall down like a regular tree as we see in TV... rather it just kinda stays in place cause the surrounding bamboo tree branches are keeping it in position since the bamboo itself is so light. To bring it down we need to grab the tree with our hands and push it down to the ground. Amazingly safe... I seen on YouTube where people get fucked cutting off a tree when it comes smashing down to the ground. I realized for bamboo... this is never the case.

After chopping down the tree from the bamboo forest we needed to bring it back to base to begin processing the material for whatever we can make with simple hand tools.

My son learning how to remove the branches off the bamboo tree in order to make clean use of the trunk. As you see in the photo he is grabbing the branches in one hand and preparing to knock it off with the tool.

As you can see with the tool he can just knock off the branches with ease. The cool part is that the edge this tool is not sharp... its just a rounded edge used to knock off the branches, not cutting them with like a knife. So easy a child can even do it. :)

After the branches were cut it was time to saw off the trunk into more practical sizes to make them into something useful.

It is absolutely mind boggling to see how ultra clean it is inside the bamboo trunk... so clean that you can't even see a speck of dirt or debris of any kind.

All the basic things you need for eating a good meal outdoors when you didn't bring any cups, forks, plates... Its all there in the bamboo. We as humans just make them into a tool. Thank you mother nature. :)

This was a first.... throughout my entire life.... I have always bought utensils made with shit plastic that is not very good at decomposing itself. Now I learned... If I ever do have an outdoor bbq or somethin and if I see bamboo around me... Now I know what I am gonna do. Saving the environment one chopstick at a time. I love nature and I sure do love bamboo. :)

Eating bamboo with bamboo chopsticks.... cant get any better than this. :) You got your food and your tools at the same fuckin time. Absolutely genius.

Hold up.... you got some rice but need to find a way to cook it outdoors? Put it inside the bamboo and cover it with some leaves (preferably banana leaves) and tie it up up in the heat.

Boom.... now you got some cooked rice. How freakin cool is that?

In the end... this was a great trip to remember. Great for myself to learn how to be more eco friendly in a realistic way, and also for kids since my son was having a blast. I recommend it for those who want to just do something simple outdoors in Taiwan. I will ad a link below if anyone is interested.

Love our earth guys... we only have one.