THE BAMBOO GROVE
DISCOVERING THE BEAUTY AND UTILITY OF BAMBOO
Interview with Joseph Xuereb
PUBLISHED IN THE MALTA INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY, MARCH 2006
Joseph Xuereb and his employees in his Bamboo Grove in Thailand
We visit an Eco-Bamboo Grove in Thailand and discover that there is nothing as exotic and peaceful as bamboo. With its striking beauty of form, bamboo furniture brings tranquillity and unity with nature into our homes and gardens.
Being a down to earth man, as well as an ecologically conscious and creative person, Joseph Xuereb, co-director of TipTopCommercial, has decided to put down his roots, quite literally, in Thailand. He is busy creating an unusually beautiful Eco-Bamboo Grove, utilising ecological practices and perma-culture techniques, with the intention of proving that in the long run it pays to return to nature and use alternative energy. With the help of a small team of Thai employees, the bamboo grove has taken shape, surrounded by lush vegetation, transforming the once barren and degraded sandy red land into a fertile and green plantation, home to many other exotic plants such as coconut and banana trees, as well as lakes and fresh water fish.
Bamboo is without doubt ‘eco-friendly’ because it helps to re-green the planet, makes an excellent substitute for wood, and it is a very affordable alternative raw material for carpenters, furniture manufacturers, and interior designers alike. In fact the intention is to grow bamboo and sell it both to Thai furniture manufacturing businesses as well as export it to Malta, making it available on the market at a very low price for Maltese carpenters and any householders who would like to use a material which is by far cheaper and more eco-friendly than wood, yet just as resilient, malleable, long-lasting, adaptable and suitable for the interior and outdoor decoration of Maltese and Gozitan homes, gardens, offices and other urban spaces.
A few roots and stems called culms planted here and there have grown into rambling, exotic groves, dotting the landscape with their magnificent, fern-like leafy forms. Long bamboo poles have also been utilised to fence in the property, create a main gate, and canopies as well as comfortable indoor and outdoor furniture and other attractive garden accessories.
To facilitate the growth of bamboo Joseph has also built a number of large oyster shaped ponds with connecting anaconda-like canals fully equipped with aesthetically designed staggered waterfalls. Seen from an aerial perspective the design is very eye-catching, and creates a natural flow around the land. The ponds are multi-purpose as they serve as wells to store rainwater, to nourish and clean the bamboo, as well as to rear fresh water fish.
A simple and natural additive that stimulates the bamboo’s growth is none other than normal laundry soap and phosphates, and he has therefore connected the water pipe running from his laundry section directly into the land and also pays launderettes a minimum amount to use their ‘dirty’ water which normally would have gone to waste! Amongst other innovative ideas, Joseph would like to see Maltese and Gozitan households using bamboo to create slanting roofing on their otherwise flat roof-tops, as an alternative form of water-proofing, to collect rainwater during the winter seasons for their own personal use and the nourishment of their roof gardens and plants, while sheltering the roofs from the sunshine and simultaneously saving on a good dose of water and electricity bills.
WHY CHOOSE BAMBOO as an Eco-friendly replacement of wood?
Awareness of bamboo is now spreading in the West and the material is increasingly used for decorative as well as functional purposes. Bamboo is a plant of ancient and increasing importance for humanity. More and more people have been raised since childhood with an unprecedented dimension of exile from the earth itself, celebrated as a blessed exodus from the bad land of toil. Yet in the midst of this mechanical madness – here and there a dirtied hand is raised for an intimate agriculture, regional self-sufficiency, each of us once more a skilful and close friend of the ways of plants and animals.
Bamboo forms a very hard wood, and is light and exceptionally tough. This makes it useful for many things such as fences, furniture, blinds, bridges, interior design, vases and wind chimes. Bamboo is both decorative and useful. In many parts of the world it is food, and is used for making great variety of useful objects from kitchen tools, to paper to dinnerware. From tropical to temperate conditions, bamboo thrives and enriches the lives of people who simply love being with it as well as those who remain, to some degree, dependent upon it.
Bamboo feels so good - grasp a shoot and energy is defined!
A strong shoot advances from underground to sky, often many tens of feet, many meters, in a matter of weeks. It can grow to tens of feet in height and define an area with breathless beauty. Leaves are variegated in splendid variations. There are leaves slim, thin, pointed, banded and striped, fat and long, tight to the ground and airy as an eagle’s flight. Culms are streaked with rosy, green, violet, shades and grades, specks and streaks of verdant browns, and deep onyx blacks.
The beauty of gathering bamboo is also the satisfaction gained from handling a natural material and crafting it from its raw to finished state. Harvesting gives a good reason to explore a bamboo grove, which is a wonderful adventure in itself. Time reverses in the darkened interior of the giant grass forest, where quiet solitude, and the gentle fluttering of leaves surround the human visitor.
Bamboo protects the environment and the air we breathe
Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded lands, and it releases 35% more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Bamboo can also lower light intensity and protect against ultraviolet rays.
Being a down to earth man, as well as an ecologically conscious and creative person, Joseph Xuereb, co-director of TipTopCommercial, has decided to put down his roots, quite literally, in Thailand. He is busy creating an unusually beautiful Eco-Bamboo Grove, utilising ecological practices and perma-culture techniques, with the intention of proving that in the long run it pays to return to nature and use alternative energy. With the help of a small team of Thai employees, the bamboo grove has taken shape, surrounded by lush vegetation, transforming the once barren and degraded sandy red land into a fertile and green plantation, home to many other exotic plants such as coconut and banana trees, as well as lakes and fresh water fish.
Bamboo is without doubt ‘eco-friendly’ because it helps to re-green the planet, makes an excellent substitute for wood, and it is a very affordable alternative raw material for carpenters, furniture manufacturers, and interior designers alike. In fact the intention is to grow bamboo and sell it both to Thai furniture manufacturing businesses as well as export it to Malta, making it available on the market at a very low price for Maltese carpenters and any householders who would like to use a material which is by far cheaper and more eco-friendly than wood, yet just as resilient, malleable, long-lasting, adaptable and suitable for the interior and outdoor decoration of Maltese and Gozitan homes, gardens, offices and other urban spaces.
A few roots and stems called culms planted here and there have grown into rambling, exotic groves, dotting the landscape with their magnificent, fern-like leafy forms. Long bamboo poles have also been utilised to fence in the property, create a main gate, and canopies as well as comfortable indoor and outdoor furniture and other attractive garden accessories.
To facilitate the growth of bamboo Joseph has also built a number of large oyster shaped ponds with connecting anaconda-like canals fully equipped with aesthetically designed staggered waterfalls. Seen from an aerial perspective the design is very eye-catching, and creates a natural flow around the land. The ponds are multi-purpose as they serve as wells to store rainwater, to nourish and clean the bamboo, as well as to rear fresh water fish.
A simple and natural additive that stimulates the bamboo’s growth is none other than normal laundry soap and phosphates, and he has therefore connected the water pipe running from his laundry section directly into the land and also pays launderettes a minimum amount to use their ‘dirty’ water which normally would have gone to waste! Amongst other innovative ideas, Joseph would like to see Maltese and Gozitan households using bamboo to create slanting roofing on their otherwise flat roof-tops, as an alternative form of water-proofing, to collect rainwater during the winter seasons for their own personal use and the nourishment of their roof gardens and plants, while sheltering the roofs from the sunshine and simultaneously saving on a good dose of water and electricity bills.
WHY CHOOSE BAMBOO as an Eco-friendly replacement of wood?
Awareness of bamboo is now spreading in the West and the material is increasingly used for decorative as well as functional purposes. Bamboo is a plant of ancient and increasing importance for humanity. More and more people have been raised since childhood with an unprecedented dimension of exile from the earth itself, celebrated as a blessed exodus from the bad land of toil. Yet in the midst of this mechanical madness – here and there a dirtied hand is raised for an intimate agriculture, regional self-sufficiency, each of us once more a skilful and close friend of the ways of plants and animals.
Bamboo forms a very hard wood, and is light and exceptionally tough. This makes it useful for many things such as fences, furniture, blinds, bridges, interior design, vases and wind chimes. Bamboo is both decorative and useful. In many parts of the world it is food, and is used for making great variety of useful objects from kitchen tools, to paper to dinnerware. From tropical to temperate conditions, bamboo thrives and enriches the lives of people who simply love being with it as well as those who remain, to some degree, dependent upon it.
Bamboo feels so good - grasp a shoot and energy is defined!
A strong shoot advances from underground to sky, often many tens of feet, many meters, in a matter of weeks. It can grow to tens of feet in height and define an area with breathless beauty. Leaves are variegated in splendid variations. There are leaves slim, thin, pointed, banded and striped, fat and long, tight to the ground and airy as an eagle’s flight. Culms are streaked with rosy, green, violet, shades and grades, specks and streaks of verdant browns, and deep onyx blacks.
The beauty of gathering bamboo is also the satisfaction gained from handling a natural material and crafting it from its raw to finished state. Harvesting gives a good reason to explore a bamboo grove, which is a wonderful adventure in itself. Time reverses in the darkened interior of the giant grass forest, where quiet solitude, and the gentle fluttering of leaves surround the human visitor.
Bamboo protects the environment and the air we breathe
Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded lands, and it releases 35% more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Bamboo can also lower light intensity and protect against ultraviolet rays.
The universal attraction of Bamboo is its beauty, always vibrant, always alive, its leaves respond to the slightest breeze, after the rain, water beads from the leaves drop down the green culms, and the magical sound transports the spirit to a quieter place.
Plants heal people. Living with them is a most beneficial therapy, and their unprecedented absence from our present urban designs may have more to do with the neurosis of our times than we imagine. In this cultural context, bamboo is suggested as one of the easiest of all plants to cultivate and love. Leaves are therapeutic principally because they pump oxygen, the reduction of which in brain cells has been clinically found to increase anxiety and the whole spectrum of negative emotions that compose the familiar attitude configuration of hurried human urbanities. This airy green filter and a dense underground life renowned for erosion control combine to make bamboo a healing force for soil and soul.
"Only the bamboo knows the pure breeze" – Zen Master Kabori-Roshi, Ryoko Temple, Kyoto
Far Eastern culture is deeply interwoven with bamboo. It’s so important to the material life of the region’s cultures that it is inseparable from the fabric of those cultures. Bamboo is a Chinese symbol of long life, while in India it is a symbol of friendship. Malaysian legends include the story of a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant - he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. In Japan a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evil.
For the ancient Chinese living according to Taoist and Buddhist principles, a measured, meaningful life was defined and created in terms of, and in relationship with, bamboo. To study bamboo, its many utilities and its aesthetic dimensions defined a lifetime well lived. In some ways, stronger than steel, it is ever ready to be of service, and to offer contemplative beauty. Amidst death and destruction, bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast. In fact it represents long life, and resilience in adversity, and the Japanese have a special place in their hearts for this hardy survivor.
We do not know bamboo as most of Asia knows and reveres bamboo, and it is our loss. It is our opportunity to redress imbalances with nature brought on by those who cut down, and those who decimate what nature freely gives. Here and there, humankind is making efforts and searching for what we define as sensible, and renewable. Bamboo is a natural. Like grass it grows rapidly and propagates itself if left alone. Like wood it is strong, grows many places and has many, many uses. Growing profusely among peoples judged materially poorest on the planet, bamboo is here, waiting to serve. It is here to shelter, to fashion tools, to provide beauty and sounds. Wind moving little pieces of bamboo to strike against each other gives joy and peace to those who hear it.
Bamboo has the potential of adding an aesthetically beautiful element, inwardly meaningful as well as practical touch to your home and particular choice of interior design. With the current trend of enhancing and personalising homes using Asian Arts and Crafts and stylish Zen simplicity, bamboo can be combined effortlessly and easily into Maltese homes in total natural harmony with serene living, and working spaces.
Plants heal people. Living with them is a most beneficial therapy, and their unprecedented absence from our present urban designs may have more to do with the neurosis of our times than we imagine. In this cultural context, bamboo is suggested as one of the easiest of all plants to cultivate and love. Leaves are therapeutic principally because they pump oxygen, the reduction of which in brain cells has been clinically found to increase anxiety and the whole spectrum of negative emotions that compose the familiar attitude configuration of hurried human urbanities. This airy green filter and a dense underground life renowned for erosion control combine to make bamboo a healing force for soil and soul.
"Only the bamboo knows the pure breeze" – Zen Master Kabori-Roshi, Ryoko Temple, Kyoto
Far Eastern culture is deeply interwoven with bamboo. It’s so important to the material life of the region’s cultures that it is inseparable from the fabric of those cultures. Bamboo is a Chinese symbol of long life, while in India it is a symbol of friendship. Malaysian legends include the story of a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant - he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. In Japan a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evil.
For the ancient Chinese living according to Taoist and Buddhist principles, a measured, meaningful life was defined and created in terms of, and in relationship with, bamboo. To study bamboo, its many utilities and its aesthetic dimensions defined a lifetime well lived. In some ways, stronger than steel, it is ever ready to be of service, and to offer contemplative beauty. Amidst death and destruction, bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast. In fact it represents long life, and resilience in adversity, and the Japanese have a special place in their hearts for this hardy survivor.
We do not know bamboo as most of Asia knows and reveres bamboo, and it is our loss. It is our opportunity to redress imbalances with nature brought on by those who cut down, and those who decimate what nature freely gives. Here and there, humankind is making efforts and searching for what we define as sensible, and renewable. Bamboo is a natural. Like grass it grows rapidly and propagates itself if left alone. Like wood it is strong, grows many places and has many, many uses. Growing profusely among peoples judged materially poorest on the planet, bamboo is here, waiting to serve. It is here to shelter, to fashion tools, to provide beauty and sounds. Wind moving little pieces of bamboo to strike against each other gives joy and peace to those who hear it.
Bamboo has the potential of adding an aesthetically beautiful element, inwardly meaningful as well as practical touch to your home and particular choice of interior design. With the current trend of enhancing and personalising homes using Asian Arts and Crafts and stylish Zen simplicity, bamboo can be combined effortlessly and easily into Maltese homes in total natural harmony with serene living, and working spaces.
Bamboo is as functional and pleasing inside the house as it is outside, and handcrafted bamboo objects lend a natural outdoor feeling. Its strength and smooth, cylindrical surface makes it a versatile material with which to craft tables, chairs, head rests, benches, screens, blinds, flooring and other furnishings. In addition to furniture it’s easy to make simple bamboo objects to add a serene feeling to any room. Bamboo vases hung on walls or grouped on a tabletop make charming displays for flowers. If you’re entertaining guests, you can offer food in sushi trays and drinks in bamboo cups. With a few well-placed cuts, you can transform cast-off lengths of bamboo into sophisticated flower vases, or serving vessels. Simplicity is the key to artful entertaining, and bamboo dining utensils and trays are lovely to look at and use. Teacups, trays and napkin rings can be bought, yet are also very easy to make.
Each in our own way, and in our own place and time, can learn to live with bamboo, to create things using bamboo, to invest in a bamboo future by making our personal commitments to a wonderful gift of nature. Ask for bamboo products and furniture. Put bamboo blinds on your windows, bamboo wind chimes in your trees, bamboo furniture in your rooms, bamboo rugs on your floors, bamboo shoots in your oriental dishes, bamboo decor on your shelves and walls. With a little care, appropriate and seasonal maintenance, bamboo is easy to live with and guaranteed to be a good neighbour.
Just about any garden can benefit from structures made of harvested bamboo, whether the construction of a fence, gate, bridge, stabilizing poles or a bamboo trellis which gives graceful support to flowering and fruiting vines. A simple bamboo pipe and dripper can add movement and calming sounds to a water garden. The slow movement of water, the actions of filling and emptying, and the punctuation of sudden sound are counterpoints to the stillness of the garden and markers of the passage of time. You can also use bamboo to build fences, handrails and screens in a wide range of styles to complement gardens, ponds, courtyards, decks and patios. A low see-though fence can ease the transition between diverse areas in a landscape, while a tall, narrow screen adjacent to a house can suggest a sense of privacy. Solid walls of bamboo can conveniently shut out an undesirable view, while an open bamboo fence can embrace the landscape beyond.
Mr. Xuereb has also used his home-grown bamboo to build a protective yet natural fence around his property and his main gate, allowing a fine balance between a warm welcome, and complete privacy. Relax in your favourite garden spot and learn about bamboo. Then visualize your landscape, garden, and home with your new bamboo furniture, crafts and works of art, integrating naturally. Guaranteed to bring new energy to your environment!
Each in our own way, and in our own place and time, can learn to live with bamboo, to create things using bamboo, to invest in a bamboo future by making our personal commitments to a wonderful gift of nature. Ask for bamboo products and furniture. Put bamboo blinds on your windows, bamboo wind chimes in your trees, bamboo furniture in your rooms, bamboo rugs on your floors, bamboo shoots in your oriental dishes, bamboo decor on your shelves and walls. With a little care, appropriate and seasonal maintenance, bamboo is easy to live with and guaranteed to be a good neighbour.
Just about any garden can benefit from structures made of harvested bamboo, whether the construction of a fence, gate, bridge, stabilizing poles or a bamboo trellis which gives graceful support to flowering and fruiting vines. A simple bamboo pipe and dripper can add movement and calming sounds to a water garden. The slow movement of water, the actions of filling and emptying, and the punctuation of sudden sound are counterpoints to the stillness of the garden and markers of the passage of time. You can also use bamboo to build fences, handrails and screens in a wide range of styles to complement gardens, ponds, courtyards, decks and patios. A low see-though fence can ease the transition between diverse areas in a landscape, while a tall, narrow screen adjacent to a house can suggest a sense of privacy. Solid walls of bamboo can conveniently shut out an undesirable view, while an open bamboo fence can embrace the landscape beyond.
Mr. Xuereb has also used his home-grown bamboo to build a protective yet natural fence around his property and his main gate, allowing a fine balance between a warm welcome, and complete privacy. Relax in your favourite garden spot and learn about bamboo. Then visualize your landscape, garden, and home with your new bamboo furniture, crafts and works of art, integrating naturally. Guaranteed to bring new energy to your environment!
Kosumet Island, Thailand
Traditional belief holds that being in a Bamboo Grove restores calmness to emotions and stimulates creativity Bamboo’s Inner Message:
“Like a hollow bamboo, rest at ease with your body” – Tilopa
“A bamboo inside is completely hollow. When you rest you feel that you are like a bamboo, inside completely hollow and empty. And in fact this is the case: your body is just like a bamboo and inside it is hollow. When you are sitting inactive and silent, mind watching passively – feel like a hollow bamboo. And suddenly infinite energy starts pouring within you. You are filled with the unknown, with the mysterious, with the divine. A hollow bamboo becomes a flute and the divine starts playing through it. This is reminiscent of Krishna playing on his flute for his seductive and heavenly ‘gopis’ to dance to. Once you are empty there is no barrier for the divine to enter you. You are like a womb and new life is entering into you. Rest at ease - do not desire spiritual things, don’t desire heaven, don’t even desire God. God cannot be desired. When you are desireless he comes to you.
Creativity is a very paradoxical state of consciousness. It is not a doing. It is an allowing. It is becoming a passage so the whole can flow through you. It is becoming a hollow bamboo, just a hollow bamboo. And then immediately something starts happening. Because hidden behind man is God. Just give him a little way, a little passage to come through. Allowing God to happen is creativity. Creativity simply means you are in a total relaxation, and out of relaxation much action will be born. But that will not be your doing - you will be just a vehicle. The song of life will start coming through you – you are not the creator of it though, it comes from the beyond. When you create it, it is just ordinary. When it comes through you, it has supreme beauty and it brings something of the unknown in it.
The essence of wisdom is to act in harmony with nature
Man has to act consciously in harmony with nature. Unlike animals, man can willingly choose not to act in harmony, and thus he has greater responsibility. To be in harmony with nature and with the natural rhythm of the universe is the essence of wisdom. And whenever you are in harmony with the universe, you are a poet, a writer, a painter, a carpenter, a musician, a dancer, or a lover! Even in cooking or cleaning there will be a kind of worship, a prayer. And we don’t need many painters, or many poets; we need gardeners, we need farmers, carpenters, builders and bakers too. Each person can be creative according to his capacities. According to his potential, God starts taking form. God starts flowing through him or her.” - Osho in “Creativity and Unleashing the Forces Within”
“Like a hollow bamboo, rest at ease with your body” – Tilopa
“A bamboo inside is completely hollow. When you rest you feel that you are like a bamboo, inside completely hollow and empty. And in fact this is the case: your body is just like a bamboo and inside it is hollow. When you are sitting inactive and silent, mind watching passively – feel like a hollow bamboo. And suddenly infinite energy starts pouring within you. You are filled with the unknown, with the mysterious, with the divine. A hollow bamboo becomes a flute and the divine starts playing through it. This is reminiscent of Krishna playing on his flute for his seductive and heavenly ‘gopis’ to dance to. Once you are empty there is no barrier for the divine to enter you. You are like a womb and new life is entering into you. Rest at ease - do not desire spiritual things, don’t desire heaven, don’t even desire God. God cannot be desired. When you are desireless he comes to you.
Creativity is a very paradoxical state of consciousness. It is not a doing. It is an allowing. It is becoming a passage so the whole can flow through you. It is becoming a hollow bamboo, just a hollow bamboo. And then immediately something starts happening. Because hidden behind man is God. Just give him a little way, a little passage to come through. Allowing God to happen is creativity. Creativity simply means you are in a total relaxation, and out of relaxation much action will be born. But that will not be your doing - you will be just a vehicle. The song of life will start coming through you – you are not the creator of it though, it comes from the beyond. When you create it, it is just ordinary. When it comes through you, it has supreme beauty and it brings something of the unknown in it.
The essence of wisdom is to act in harmony with nature
Man has to act consciously in harmony with nature. Unlike animals, man can willingly choose not to act in harmony, and thus he has greater responsibility. To be in harmony with nature and with the natural rhythm of the universe is the essence of wisdom. And whenever you are in harmony with the universe, you are a poet, a writer, a painter, a carpenter, a musician, a dancer, or a lover! Even in cooking or cleaning there will be a kind of worship, a prayer. And we don’t need many painters, or many poets; we need gardeners, we need farmers, carpenters, builders and bakers too. Each person can be creative according to his capacities. According to his potential, God starts taking form. God starts flowing through him or her.” - Osho in “Creativity and Unleashing the Forces Within”
BAMBOO FACT FILE
Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family called Bambuseae. Its family is distinguished from other grasses by its flowering characteristics and its spectacular growth rate: Bamboo reaches its full potential in only two seasons! Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. They are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. The stems can range in height from a few centimetres to 40 metres. Many of the larger bamboos are very tree-like in appearance, but perhaps illogically they are rarely called trees! A single stem of bamboo from an established root system typically reaches full height in just one year, but then persists for several years, gradually increasing the number of side branches.
Many bamboos are popular in cultivation as garden plants, and the shoots are renowned as a delicacy in the East. Care needs to be taken of their potential for invasive behaviour. They spread mainly through their roots that can travel widely underground and send off new culms to break through the surface. Once established as a grove, it is difficult to completely remove bamboo without digging up the entire network of underground roots.
Many bamboos are popular in cultivation as garden plants, and the shoots are renowned as a delicacy in the East. Care needs to be taken of their potential for invasive behaviour. They spread mainly through their roots that can travel widely underground and send off new culms to break through the surface. Once established as a grove, it is difficult to completely remove bamboo without digging up the entire network of underground roots.