16Jan
Going On a Giant Golden Bamboo Mission!
Here is a look into how we harvested the largest of the bamboo, called golden bamboo, with ropes, pulleys and some mechanical advantage.
We have been working hard to rebuild the hatchery bigger and stronger. After the hurricane of 2018 that broke our island in half and destroyed the last hatchery, we have been looking for ways to make the hatchery stronger but still sustainable and affordable. After much consideration we landed on bamboo, and through some generous donations allowing us to harvest bamboo on private land we are ready to get started.
Harvesting large bamboo is not an easy task. The bamboo naturally grows together in clumps, and the branches of the bamboo cane weave together and intertwine making them extremely difficult to separate and pull out. We were not allowed, and did not want, to cut the entire clump. The bamboo roots are very helpful to hold the soil together near the banks of rivers preventing the rapid advance of erosion. Also, since we only needed 40 pieces, cutting everything down to make it easier would be very wasteful. Here is a look into how we harvested the largest of the bamboo, called golden bamboo, with ropes, pulleys and some mechanical advantage.