Bamboo Treatment
Bamboo is a strong, resilient building material, but it must be treated to become durable. First, we harvest it (1), bamboo should be harvested at the age of 3-5 years. Each rhizome produces 3–7 new shoots every year, making bamboo a highly renewable resource.
After harvesting, the culms are cleaned with water (2), then holes are drilled (3) to allow the borax/boric-acid/water solution to penetrate fully. The bamboo is then soaked (4) in a mixture of boric acid and borax with water, which alters the sugars inside and makes it resistant to insects and fire.
Finally, it is left to dry in the sun (5).
Once dry, it’s ready to use. Bamboo is everywhere on our farm – see if you can spot the structures built with it!
Kids bamboo drawings…