I’ve been diving into the origins of my favourite material. Berkeley University kindly sent some students to help with my research:
Raw rattan grows in the rain forest. Its favorite location is in what forestry guys tend to call secondary forest, where the trees are fairly young and a lot of light penetrates to the forest floor…. Unlike bamboo, which grows almost like a tree, rattan is a creeping plant that closely resembles the stem of a rose. It grows from the forest floor, using the trees to climb upward, and is typically harvested by the rattan farmers when it is years old.
Rattan is great for a sustainable development project because the local farmers actually plant rattan in “gardens,” and the rattan needs trees to grow.
Yippee! Spanking implements are environmentally friendly!
These gardens are between 2 and 5 hectares in size (5 to 12 acres) and typically yield around 1.3 metric tons of rattan every couple of years.
Wow. That’s a lot of sore backsides. A LOT.
Because the trees are left standing when rattan is harvested, the raw material can be classified as a non-forest product, and can therefore be exempt from forestry product tariffs and restrictions.
So why are canes so expensive, huh?
Are you planning to grow your own?
H x
Totally, Harriet, I just considered growing my own! Although I bet the climate is not compatible.
Abel – might be a nice business to start! Importing the canes.
“So why are canes so expensive, huh?” Try shopping sales. My fiance got a handful of canes for a buck each… :-p
Heehee with special discount rates for blog family?
Perhaps rattan distribution has been taken over by spankophile bottoms and they have raised the prices to save their own backsides. I know that if I were in charge of rattan distribution, I wouldn’t just be giving it away. Or perhaps I would be, but only to certain people. The more rattan I don’t sell to the common public, the more there is for my own backside. Though that seems a terrible idea, now that I think about it…
I’d like to know where I can buy some seeds. It would make a lovely houseplant, wouldn’t it? A little pot with tiny canelets.
That’s fine as long as they stay tiny, hermione. Do you think they’d be kind of bonsai if you kept them in little pots? And could you train them to have crook handles? 😉