Series uses for bamboo, no. 2,103 and 3,180 of 10, 984

Above you see two of the many uses for bamboo, another new series on these pages. On top the leaves are used as mulch to suppress weeds between future rows of broad beans, and below Susan is constructing an extension to the framework of our compost heap. Maybe I shall try to make at least a prototype of use 525, the chicken coop, while the mountains of bamboo left is still green and pliable. See what the next days are going to bring.

The bottom picture features me 6 feet above the ground inside an olive tree, trying to cut out some dead bits. Susan gave me – hmmm how do you say this in English, a Räuberleiter, a “thieve’s ladder” – to reach the lower branches. There I had quite a secure foothold. We’re making some real progress in tidying up our orto. This is about the first time in 2 ½ years that we can see al the way from the top to the bottom! We transplanted a couple more bay trees, one into a pot to take home. As with all herbs, it is always useful to have some around the house. There is nothing more annoying to find in the middle of cooking that you are missing a herb. Luckily many of the most common herbs I can find growing wild not too far from our house. Within 10 minutes walk I can find, depending on the time of year, rosemary, sage, mint, lemon balm, thyme, oregano, marjoram, borage, salad burnet, curry plant and wild fennel free for the picking and I’ve probably forgotten a few. Why people go out to shops to buy these herbs around here is beyond me.

Yes on the middle picture you see Susan in a t-shirt and the photo was taken today. However, they did threaten cold weather in the next few days. It is to stay dry though, snow only in the mountains.

Dr. Livingstone I presume?

I was about to come across Dr. Livingstone any moment. Or else the cast of a popular UK TV reality show ending in “get me out of here!” The bamboo behind me was up to about 12 feet tall. Bamboo does have many uses - as supports for beans, peas, vines, young trees, as building material for compost heaps, furniture, great for starting a fire even when wet, the latest alternative textile fibre, much better and environmentally friendly than cotton, the leaves make a great mulch to suppress weeds – but boy is it invasive! These towering monsters were only cut down less than a year ago. I’m thinking we should get ourselves a panda bear. They eat this stuff don’t they? That way we can probably charge people to come and see it, which would also improve our finances. And bear sh… manure probably makes good compost. Anyone know of a well stocked pet shop where we can buy a panda? Or some equivalent to the “Battersea Panda Home”?

The weather has brightened up again today, but it has got cold. The distant mountains of the Apennines are now definitively covered by snow. We have now covered our lemon and kumquat for the winter as they are not frost-hardy.