Be Here Now.... Going there soon!

After years of grazing the pastures of SLO County in search of the richest plot of soil in which to run our vigorous roots, Bambu Batu is finally ready to embark on its most promising transplant ever. Just a stone's throw from our current downtown location, across Higuera Street and under the verdant canopy of SLO Creek's thriving grove of willows and sycamores, this bigger and brighter space offers a spectacular opportunity for Bambu Batu to continue flourishing for years to come.

Away from the seemingly endless construction of mandatory retrofits, enterprising pizzerias and up-and-coming mixed-use high-rises, the new, creekside location includes unsurpassed Zen access and plenty of room to develop our own variety of panda-monium.

Still within sight of Big Sky and the beloved Hemp Shak, we now look forward to making good neighbors with the Natural Cafe, the SLO Museum of Art and Creekside Brewing Co. And we can't wait to see you there. In the meantime, we will be conducting a storewide moving sale, with discounts of at least 20% on everything in the store. Come join us in celebration!

The Many Faces of Buddha

As we've just gotten in a beautiful new batch of mythic eastern statuary, this seems like an apt moment to review the line-up of oriental iconography...

Buddha in Deep Meditation:
The cross-legged figure depicts the young Buddha seated in deep meditation. Legend says that Siddhartha Gautama lived off just a single grain of rice a day for six years in hopes of discovering the truth. Finally he sat under the Boddhi tree in quiet solitude, and after 49 days achieved Enlightenment. At that time he became known as the Buddha, or "The Awakened One."


Fat Laughing Buddha:
In order to reach enlightenment, the Buddha first had to discover the Middle Way, the path of moderation between self-indulgence and self-mortification. By following this path, the Buddha was able to transcend duality and all the pairs of opposites, such and good and evil, joy and sorrow,
human and divine. With this realization he broke the cycle of suffering, and the fat, laughing buddha expresses this state of bliss.


Hotei, the Rejoicing Buddha:
Arms lifted overhead in a display of joyful victory, Hotei is considered the god of good fortune, the representation of contentment and abundance, and sometimes the guardian of children. Whether seated or standing, his message of prosperity and satisfaction remains the same.


Guan Yin:
The eastern goddess or bodhisattva of compassion, female embodiment of Avalokiteshvara, Quan Yin's worship goes back thousands of years, throughout China, Japan, and southeast Asia. Also known as the goddess of mercy, her name literally means "She who hears the cries of the world."
(Also Kuan Yin or Quan Yin.)


Ganesh
The story of this iconic Indian deity goes back many thousands of years and incorporates dozens of myths from the ancient Vedic texts. He is most commonly known as the remover of obstacles, but in his negative aspect he can also be the creator of obstacles. Ganesh is also revered as the lord of success and a guardian of travelers. He is easily recognized with his elephant head and six arms, but has many different incarnations. Most representations of Ganesh include a small mouse at his feet, and often he is even riding on the mouse's back. This imagery evokes the unity of opposites and a special balance between the grandest and the most humble of creatures.
(Other names for Ganesh include Ganesha and Ganapati.)

More from Mohandas

Following our recent post about Gandhi's commentary on cotton commerce between India and her British Imperial masters, we had a number of requests for more sagacious words from the Great One.

So today we impart to you Gandhi's Seven Social Sins:

* Wealth without Work
* Pleasure without Conscience
* Science without Humanity
* Knowledge without Character
* Politics without Principle
* Commerce without Morality
* Worship without Sacrifice


We've also had a surge of requests for Gandhi related Limericks, so I give you this:

There’s a march from Ahmedabad to Dandi
Where the Indian beaches are sandy
          They made their own salt
          And were ordered to halt
But orders meant nothing to Gandhi

Support Your Friendly Farmer

With the blossoming awareness of sustainability, local economies and fair trade practices, we are committed to sourcing the highest quality as well as the most ethically and ecologically produced products we can find. That includes a number of fair trade companies working in India, Thailand and Vietnam; several manufacturers who cut and sew their bamboo and organic cotton clothing here in the US; and a variety of chocolatiers, candle makers, seamstresses and herbalists all based right here in SLO County.

But we still get a lot of concerned customers asking, "When are we going to start growing the bamboo here in the states?" Well, that's a good question, because that's an awfully appealing idea, at least in theory. It could, after all, be an important step in getting off our oil dependency and the reliance on Chinese imports.

As much as we strive to eliminate our carbon footprints and environmental impacts, there are limits. We can reduce and minimize, but there are no consumer products with zero impact. Even if you grow all your own organic produce and make your own clothing with a solar-powered sewing machine, you'll still need to haul methane-rich manure in from somewhere, and get your new sewing needles, threads and fabrics from somewhere.

In this six billion man village, our survival depends on specialization, and specialization means commerce. We can encourage as much local trade as possible, but we cannot eliminate international commerce. The fair trade movement, for example, fosters socially responsible trade with the third world, recognizing that we need to eliminate inhumane business practices without completely severing ties with our trading partners around the globe.

As much as we love to support our local farmers, most varieties of bamboo are native to Asia. Of the 1500+ species, only two or three are native to North America. Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens), the variety most commonly harvested for commercial use — for clothing, flooring and kitchen wares — is native to China and Japan. And while it may grow well in gardens of California and the Pacific Northwest, introducing it to the U.S. on a massive agricultural scale could bring all kinds of unforeseeable ecological problems.

The beauty of bamboo, as a natural resource, resides in its tenacious growth habit without need of irrigation or fertilizers, and its resilience against pests — in sharp contrast to cotton, it requires no pesticides or herbicides. These wonderful benefits are seen in bamboo's natural habitat. But transplanted to someplace like the San Joaquin Valley, intensive irrigation would become necessary, and who know what sort of pest and disease issues might crop up.

Does this mean we should abandon the idea altogether? Not necessarily, but extensive consideration and research will be needed. Just remember the rabbits in Australia. And yes, in the right (or wrong?) conditions, bamboo spreads just as fast as bunnies.

Stay tuned for further stories on the unexpected outcomes of bamboo ecology . . .

Accept No Imitation

Don't be fooled by imitations. While there are several hundred (if not thousands of) species of Bamboo, there are also a handful of lookalikes to be aware of and perhaps to be avoided. Last year we told you about that friendly desktop pot of Lucky Bamboo that you probably thought belonged to the Bamboo family. Don't worry, we forgive you. It was an honest mistake. The folks at the hardware store just wouldn't sell as many if they labeled them "Lucky Dracaena".

Today we'd like to tell you about an invasive reed grass clogging the creek beds of southern California, and spreading vigorously. From a distance and to the untrained eye, it will look a lot like Bamboo, but it's actually a Mediterranean import known as Arundo donax or giant cane.

As you probably realize, or perhaps have even witnessed, many varieties of bamboo can also be very invasive. What starts as an ornamental accent or an oriental privacy hedge can spread into a horrible nuisance under the right (or wrong) conditions. This is what we call "sustainability in its unfriendliest form." While it makes a beautiful addition to many domestic landscapes, Bamboo does require proper containment. This can be as cheap and simple as an old wine barrel, or as expensive and complicated as you want to make it. Otherwise it will spread and spread, generally in the direction of water, such as lawn sprinklers.

Unlike Bamboo, however, Giant Cane is native to the Mediterranean. This means that California climate conditions are ideal, with or without the irrigation required by most species of Bamboo. It was brought over in the 1820 for erosion control in the Los Angeles area, and in the subsequent 190 years has established a tenacious foothold throughout the region, but especially in riverbeds.

As with most invasive species, Giant Cane has no real predators in this part of the world, so it continues to spread while choking out the native flora. Ideas for containment range from toxic chemical herbicides (not necessarily something we like to see sprayed around creeks and river beds) to the importation of natural predator insects from the other side of the globe (can you say "unforeseeable environmental consequences"?).

One reason that the Arundo donax is so resilient against local insects has to do with the high levels of noxious chemicals in its leaves and stems. As it so often happens in plant chemistry, many of these "toxic" chemicals also happen to be psychotropic alkaloids and tryptamine compounds. So while it may lack most of the industrial applications that Bamboo is known for, this giant reed grass may have certain pharmaceutical and/or recreational uses yet to be fully explored.

Otherwise, the Giant Cane has historically been used for flute making and is also said to be an ideal material to make reeds for woodwind instruments. The canes are not nearly as hard and durable as Bamboo, but it does get very tall (upwards of 20 feet) with fairly thick canes (over 1" in diameter). But despite its size and feasibility as a privacy screen, Arundo donax does not have nearly the same grace and elegance as a healthy stand of bamboo.

Finally, the Giant Cane's invasive characteristics appear to be far worse than those of bamboo. Highly flammable, the cane has been known to increase the probability and intensity of wildfires. And what's worse, it has a far better burn-recovery rate than any native species, so that when the landscape is decimated by fire, the canes sprout up first, leaving no room for the original natives to return or survive.

So be careful, and remember to enjoy your grasses responsibly.

Gandhi on the Economy of Cotton

The picture above shows Mahatma Gandhi spinning his own cotton in protest of British Imperialism, similar to the more famous demonstration where he and his followers collected their own salt on the beaches of Dandi (Salt Satyagraha) in 1930.

Gandhi also made the following observations about the economics of Indian cotton and the systematic exploitation of Indian for her raw materials under British rule.

Step 1: English people buy Indian cotton in the field, picked by Indian labor at seven cents a day, through an optional monopoly.

Step 2: This cotton is shipped on British ships, a three-week journey across the Indian Ocean, down the Red Sea, across the Mediterranean, through Gibraltar, across the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean to London. One hundred per cent profit on this freight is regarded as small.

Step 3: The cotton is turned into cloth in Lancashire. You pay shilling wages instead of Indian pennies to your workers. The English worker not only has the advantage of better wages, but the steel companies of England get the profit of building the factories and machines. Wages; profits; all these are spent in England.

Step 4: The finished product is sent back to India at European shipping rates, once again on British ships. The captains, officers, sailors of these ships, whose wages must be paid, are English. The only Indians who profit are a few lascars who do the dirty work on the boats for a few cents a day.

Step 5: The cloth is finally sold back to the kings and landlords of India who got the money to buy this expensive cloth out of the poor peasants of India who worked at seven cents a day.

(Fisher, F.B., 1932 That Strange Little Brown Man Gandhi, New York: Ray Long & Richard Smith, Inc.)

Sustainable Ag and the Trouble with Monoculture

With deep gratitude to the investigative journalism of Michael Pollan and to the burgeoning intrusion of natural fiber alternatives into the fashion industry, the general public is growing increasingly aware of the need for a revival of sustainable agriculture. In a climate of concern and sometimes desperation, buzzwords like green, organic and sustainable may be cast into the breeze like so many granules of pollen, but they mean little without a proper context for understanding the roots of this thorny issue. Agronomy is not a subject to be mastered overnight, but one to be studied over the seasons of a lifetime. For now let's consider the modern method of monocropping.

In the past 80 years or so, the art and science of agriculture has undergone an astonishing transformation in order to keep up with the hyperbolic rate of world population growth. The need to extract an ever-growing quantity of produce — whether for food, fuel or fiber — from a planet of limited resources has required a massive wave of innovation among an ever-shrinking number of increasingly specialized farmers. The capacity of these mega-farms to meet the demand of global consumption with sufficient supply and minimal prices represents a genuine triumph of modern civilization. But (you knew there'd be a but, right?), at what cost?

One of the key components of this hyper-efficient system of modern farming involves the technique of cultivation called monoculture, growing huge areas of a single crop, such as the millions of acres in and around Iowa farmed exclusively for corn. If you visit almost any major farm in the world, you will see this technique in practice, row after identical row of crop X, bred to perfect uniformity and invariable mediocrity. The tidy, geometric rows may bear a certain appeal to the post-industrial, minimalist sense of aesthetic, but the impact on both the farmland and the finished product can be detrimental.

In the old days of subsistence farming, a family would plant variegated rows of roots, tubers and vegetables to ensure themselves a diverse diet come harvest time. But because each crop has its own soil nutrient and water needs, not to mention pruning and harvesting methods, this method of "polyculture" is certainly not the most efficient for large scale production. On the other hand, it does tend to yield a more nutritious and full flavored product with minimal pest and disease issues.

These are the chief problems we can associate with monocropping. When thousand of acres of broccoli or cotton, for example, are cultivated en masse, they are guaranteed to deplete the soil of those specific nutrients that broccoli or cotton use most. Industrial agriculture addresses this issue with the heavy application of chemical fertilizers. Residue and run-off from these petrochemical fertilizers has been demonstrated to be potentially harmful to both the habitat and the end consumer.

Secondly, monocropping results in the crop's severe vulnerability to pests and diseases. An unnaturally high concentration of a given plant is sure to attract and support an unnaturally high number of whichever pests thrive on that plant, while their natural predators will remain absent or ineffective. Likewise, a plant-specific disease could spread like the plague across the exposed acreage of monoculture. Again, these man-made challenges are overcome with manmade solutions, i.e. the heavy application of pesticides and insecticides, with whose risks we are already familiar, those which chemical companies like Monsanto fervently deny.

How to draw the greatest efficiency out of a plant without chemically-intensive monocropping is a leading concern among organic farmers. Many have simply resorted to the use of more natural and organic fertilizers, animal-derived but industrially produced. But we might also look to nature for her solutions.

Unlike cotton and broccoli, there are a number of plants that actually thrive in monoculture conditions. Take the giant redwood, for example. They can stand alone, with reasonable success, in parks and gardens up and down the west coast, but only in vast swaths do they truly thrive. In their native habitat, these evergreen macro-organisms generate a climate of their own, attracting storm systems to satisfy their unquenchable thirst, while also sheltering one another from the high winds. As these old-growth forests shrink, the viability of individual trees is put at peril. That ecological sensitivity makes redwoods less than ideal as a crop for commercial cultivation, but under responsible forest management, other trees can be grown and harvested for lumber with a minimal environmental impact.

In addition to certain trees, many grasses also thrive in a monoculture. One of these grasses is bamboo. Not only does it renew itself with ease (similar to your front yard after it's mown), and grow at record rates of several inches (even up to a couple feet) per day, but it also flourishes in the modern farmers' ideal setting: the monoculture. Hence it can be cultivated on a commercial scale with minimal unnatural assistance. As a lumber alternative, its rate of renewability outpaces most trees by about 10 or 20 to one. As a fiber alternative, it leaves cotton in the dust; conventional cotton, after all, is subjected to more heavy chemical crop dusting than any other plant on the planet.

So if you're concerned about sustainable agriculture, you need to be thinking about alternatives to unnatural monocropping. But if you're interested in agricultural efficiency, you may find the large scale of monoculture all too enticing. While something of a botanical phenomenon, bamboo cannot and should not replace replace every other source of lumber and fiber on the planet, but it certainly cannot be ignored. It must play a major role in the global polyculture of the future, as we struggle to meet the needs of a shrinking planet, a mushrooming population, and an overburdened environment.