Beautify Sunday: we have lots of bamboo shoots in rainy season.
My gardener has been very busy harvesting bamboo shoots for the local market in rainy season. The bamboo grove was located at the other side of the land where it was rather densely populated my trees, bamboos and wild bushes. So, the area under the bamboo canopy was rather dark and some snakes could be sleeping in some holes around the bushes. We had to thin the bushes and wild weeds once a year. Perhaps we should do this in winter months.
The type of bamboos I had planted was a big and tall species of bamboo. They could grow up to fifteen meters and these bamboos could be used to build a small hut. My gardener would usually harvested lots of bamboos to prepare pickled bamboos which she would sell in small plastic bottles. So, my gardener could make more pocket money than me! Some local villagers and the building team would often ask for some fresh bamboo shoots. We just let them collect as many bamboo shoots as they wanted.
One building staff harvested over a dozen bamboo shoots. I told him to give some to his friends and neighbours. He told me that his wife would make pickled bamboo shoots to sell in the market. I told my gardener to give bamboo shoots to people at the village temple. My gardener knew how to make very nice shot and sour soup with bamboo shoots. I liked to have bamboo curry sometimes. We could stir fry diced bamboo shoots but we had to boil bamboo shoots on hot water for ten minutes to get rid of the strong acidic taste of raw bamboo shoots. Steamed sliced bamboo shoots with green curry paste and fish wrapped in banana leaf was always my favourite treat.
My gardener would have to peel the bamboo shoots and clean them in water before cutting and slicing them into long thin strands. These had to be waged with a lot of sea salt twice. Then the bamboo shoots would be soaked in salt water for one day. Then, they could be bottled with salt water and kept in a dark and cool place. These pickled bamboos would keep over a year. They became very popular in dry seasons when fresh bamboo shoots were difficult to find. Bamboo shoots were similar to potatoes in western culture. Bamboo shoots were a great source of nutrients and sustenance.
My gardener would give a few bamboo shoots to her neighbours every week. The tuk-tuk driver also asked me for some bamboo shoots. He told me he missed having bamboo shoots in spicy red curry. Unfortunately he didn’t grow any bamboo in his garden. Bamboo would need quite a lot of space to grow as the stems could reach up to twenty meters. If they weren’t pruned regularly, the bamboo cluster would get very big and thick. I could call my bamboo grove a bamboo jungle. Growing bamboo was a convenient way to keep the land free from high bushy weeds. But pruning bamboo clusters could be quite time consuming too.
Some villagers asked for bamboos for building their garden sheds and for using as poles for mushroom sheds. I was very glad that my bamboo grove has become popular with local people and acquaintances. These bamboos must have felt very good for being able to contribute to the well being of many villagers. I hoped to build a tree house with bamboos and hard wood trees in my garden one day.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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