The Cycle of Scraps

Witness and be a part of the unending cycle of life with your very own kitchen scraps. And our new Bamboo Kitchen Counter Composter will help you do it in style. This handsome piece includes enhanced counter-top intelligence, with a plastic inside liner that can be easily removed and washed by hand or with the energy-saving dishwasher of your choice. Expect to see them at Bambu Batu no later than the first week of June. Call or stop by the shop for availability.

Tour de force

For those skeptics who read the post below and doubted we were ever really in France, here's another couple pictures. They don't come any Frencher than this.

Laissez le bambu roullez!

We traveled all the way to Strasbourg, France to photograph this uncanny grove of north Atlantic bamboo in the university botanical gardens. At 48º N, Strasbourg falls somewhere between Seattle and Vancouver in terms of latitude, but without the Pacific influence the winters can be pretty harsh – it actually snowed on us earlier that morning. So it was no surprise in March to see that the bulk of the garden was still deep in dormancy. But this unidentified species of bamboo was standing firm, resilient as ever in the European winter. And I with my soft, spongey bamboo socks and warm baguette. C'est bon!

Reflections on a tea bag

I touched noses with a curious tea bag this morning, with the standard pearl-of-wisdom-on-a-string offered with each and every cup of Good Earth®.
Today's maxim: "The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends."
Whoa. Deep stuff, man.

Transcendence and the Collective Self

When we grapple to understand life's most puzzling mysteries, we can often look to nature to find the basic patterns that illustrate the most complex aspects of human behavior and psychological development.

As we've demonstrated earlier in this blog, bamboo provides a reliable model for understanding some of human nature's highest qualities and greatest aspirations.

A perennial grass that grows from a prolific system of rhizomes and adventitious roots, bamboo finds strength in numbers. A single root system can produce hundreds of high-flying shoots, each stretching for the sun and spreading its leaves in the fresh air. At times these individual shoots may compete for resources, but more often, the greater intelligence of the rhizome network knows to spread and avoid such self-destructive competition.

Over the years, a patch of bamboo can grow exceedingly thick and excessively dense. For the collective advantage of the grove, individual shoots may be crowded out, or they may need to be removed through selective harvesting. Enter the blade of the scythe, universal symbol for the Grim Reaper: man's worst fear and the greatest nemesis of human consciousness.

But when we recognize our role in a larger system and understand our relationship to something higher and more meaningful, then we see for ourselves the overall unimportance of the individual. Detaching from our own selfish identities, we free ourselves from the bounds of the ego, and elevate to a higher state of consciousness, to find ourselves serving a healthier and more functional community.

This holistic model functions on every level. In our own bodies, cells are constantly dying and decaying, by the hundreds and thousands. The individual's significance has limitations. In about seven years, not a single molecule in our body will remain. Each will be replaced by a younger, fresher one, and we will go on living.

And when a tattered old stalk of bamboo meets its end and falls to the ground, a vigorous young shoot will be there to fill its place - or perhaps it will find an even better place where it can thrive and bring good to the grove. So the cycle of eternal return repeats itself, again and again, as it has since the beginning of time.


In memory of Donald William Hornaday (2/7/1941 - 1/21/2009)

If the shoe fits . . .

It'll take a mighty big man to fill these shoes.

Iraqis recently erected this statue to honor their countryman, Muntazar al-Zaidi, who catapulted to fame after hurling his footwear at George W. Bush on the president's farewell visit to the occupied nation in December.

Elsewhere, a protester in the UK has copied this manner of protest by throwing his shoes at Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao who was speaking at Cambridge University on Monday. The 27-year-old dissenter also shouted a litany of epithets and commanded fellow audience members to "Stand up and protest. . . . This dictator here, how can you listen to the lies he's telling?"

Happy New Year!

Y5K is almost here! Who's ready?

We're talking about the Chinese calendar, of course. They've been recording the days since long before Europeans even knew how to count. If they'd been counting the years, they'd be up to about 4705 or 4706, depending how you reckon. But they don't reckon that way.

One thing's for certain anyway: in the Chinese 12-year zodiac cycle, this is the Year of the Ox. It started on Monday. So if you're born this year (between now and Feb.14, 2010), or if you're turning 12, 24, 36, 48, etc., then you're an ox.

Oxen are renowned for their tenacity, stubbornness, and good looks. Just consider a few famous ones, Napoleon, Walt Disney, Richard Nixon, Rosa Parks, and yours truly. We're also known for our dependability and the innate ability to achieve great things.