If you've ever noticed a thicket of bamboo growing in someone's yard, you already know it's a fast grower that spreads easily.
It's also a sustainable resource that you should be hearing more about, because, while it's been around for hundreds of years, more recently it's being used to make everything from flooring, furniture and tableware to competition-grade skateboards and eco-resort construction.
I recently bought a beautiful bamboo rug for my screened porch. Natural Home Rugs offers a great selection of bamboo and natural fiber rugs that are attractive and quite affordable.
Here's a closeup of one I got.
It looks like wood, doesn't it?
Interestingly, many shops sell bamboo towels, said to be super-soft and more absorbent than cotton. The towels are actually made from the bamboo fiber.
Bamboo is a versatile grass that's light as balsa wood but possesses a tensile strength superior to steel. It can be harvested in 3 to 5 years (compare that to 15 or 20 years for hardwood trees) and represents a much-needed replacement product that can ease the strain on our timber forests. It grows rapidly, fertilizer- and pesticide-free.
Posted by Dawn
Just spotted another mention of bamboo on ivillage.com, where "Emmaspirit" blogs about her favorite bamboo kitchen gadgets.
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