Utah"s Grassroots Movement For Bamboo Farming
Growing Bamboo? It's certainly not a foreign idea for a domestic crop.
Beyond the beauty of a bamboo garden, you will find a lot of reasons to grow bamboo on a larger scale, be it for research of commercial use.
Jackie Heinricher of Booshoots Garden LLC continues her work in the Delta to integrate bamboo as the next money crop in that devastated region.
And why not? Not merely will it supply a domestic source of a raw material to feed America's growing appetite for bamboo goods from bamboo clothing to bamboo sheets, but it will also shield our soil from the conventional farming techniques utilised to grow classic crops here in the United States.
Those methods can demand heavy equipment, deforestation, large-scale irrigation projects and heavy chemical use whereas the bamboo plant is harvested by cutting in the stem, regenerates quickly and needs no intensive irrigation or chemicals.
So although we wait with bated breath for investors to make our commercial bamboo farm dreams a reality, one woman from Teton Valley, Utah is taking matters into her own hands.
According to an interview with the Teton Valley News, Kate Reynolds Yaskot is hoping to give her local economy a boost far from the Delta inside the mountains of Idaho.
Reynolds Yaskot originally researched bamboo as a houseplant choice until she realized the plant's benefits beyond decorative.
"Bamboo grows faster and converts more carbon dioxide to oxygen than any other plant; it is stronger than steel - bamboo structures have survived earthquakes when other buildings collapsed - and it can be harvested every 3 to seven years, unlike trees, which take many years to grow back," she said.
Reynolds Yaskot, recognizing the value of bamboo for local farmers, approached several of them to see if they would think about taking a leap of faith on this alternative crop.
Their greatest concern? How would a plant so heavily associated with the tropics survive a Utah winter? This can be a frequent misconception of the bamboo plant, but with over 1000 species of bamboo in 90 general, you'll find as many varieties of bamboo as you'll find climate regions.
And surprisingly, this plant so associated with steamy weather has species that thrive just as easily in winter wonderlands.
So to show the hardiness of the bamboo plants and put the farmer's minds at ease, Reynolds Yaskot transplanted two of her bamboo plants from her bathtub garden (seriously!) and placed them in her front yard last fall to see how they weathered the cold temperatures, snow and ice.
And the hardy plants survived! Now Reynolds Yaskot is looking into enterprise plans and viable growing options to take advantage of the growing, environmentally-friendly trend of purchasing sustainable merchandise.
And what is more sustainable than a plant that could regenerate to full maturity in 4 years of harvest and might be utilized for almost everything from baby blankets to bridges?? Hopefully other intrepid gardeners, entrepreneurs and investors will follow her lead and make the commitment to supporting nearby economies and sustainable products via bamboo farming.
Beyond the beauty of a bamboo garden, you will find a lot of reasons to grow bamboo on a larger scale, be it for research of commercial use.
Jackie Heinricher of Booshoots Garden LLC continues her work in the Delta to integrate bamboo as the next money crop in that devastated region.
And why not? Not merely will it supply a domestic source of a raw material to feed America's growing appetite for bamboo goods from bamboo clothing to bamboo sheets, but it will also shield our soil from the conventional farming techniques utilised to grow classic crops here in the United States.
Those methods can demand heavy equipment, deforestation, large-scale irrigation projects and heavy chemical use whereas the bamboo plant is harvested by cutting in the stem, regenerates quickly and needs no intensive irrigation or chemicals.
So although we wait with bated breath for investors to make our commercial bamboo farm dreams a reality, one woman from Teton Valley, Utah is taking matters into her own hands.
According to an interview with the Teton Valley News, Kate Reynolds Yaskot is hoping to give her local economy a boost far from the Delta inside the mountains of Idaho.
Reynolds Yaskot originally researched bamboo as a houseplant choice until she realized the plant's benefits beyond decorative.
"Bamboo grows faster and converts more carbon dioxide to oxygen than any other plant; it is stronger than steel - bamboo structures have survived earthquakes when other buildings collapsed - and it can be harvested every 3 to seven years, unlike trees, which take many years to grow back," she said.
Reynolds Yaskot, recognizing the value of bamboo for local farmers, approached several of them to see if they would think about taking a leap of faith on this alternative crop.
Their greatest concern? How would a plant so heavily associated with the tropics survive a Utah winter? This can be a frequent misconception of the bamboo plant, but with over 1000 species of bamboo in 90 general, you'll find as many varieties of bamboo as you'll find climate regions.
And surprisingly, this plant so associated with steamy weather has species that thrive just as easily in winter wonderlands.
So to show the hardiness of the bamboo plants and put the farmer's minds at ease, Reynolds Yaskot transplanted two of her bamboo plants from her bathtub garden (seriously!) and placed them in her front yard last fall to see how they weathered the cold temperatures, snow and ice.
And the hardy plants survived! Now Reynolds Yaskot is looking into enterprise plans and viable growing options to take advantage of the growing, environmentally-friendly trend of purchasing sustainable merchandise.
And what is more sustainable than a plant that could regenerate to full maturity in 4 years of harvest and might be utilized for almost everything from baby blankets to bridges?? Hopefully other intrepid gardeners, entrepreneurs and investors will follow her lead and make the commitment to supporting nearby economies and sustainable products via bamboo farming.
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