I needed a bit of twine for the bees
Cleaning up my garden for spring, I had a bunch of dried milkweed stalks. Out of curiosity, I broke one in half, and noticed two things: the center was completely hollow (not filled with pith, as some stalks are), and there was a fibrous sheath around the outside of the stalk. I decided to make a shelter for orchard bees with the stalk, so I chopped it in to 4" lengths with my bandsaw, and the fibers around the outside were becoming a bother. To make a long story short, I then peeled the sheath off of another stalk, twisted it into a cord, and found that it was strong enough to tie around the bundle of short pieces.
"Chinese jute" is one name for another plant that grew on my property last summer, so I peeled one of its stalks, twisted a piece that started about 3/8" wide, then folded it in half and twisted that into a stronger cord. It was strong enough to lift a 25 lb. stack of iron plate weights!
Now, as long as I can buy a roll of twine at the hardware store, it doesn't make economic sense to spin my own, but it's nice to know that the option is there if I ever need it.
ClareBroommaker
Thu, 02/10/2022 - 22:09
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Oh, string!
I'm interested in "naturally occurring string," too. There's almost always some green bindweed near that is sufficient for _very_ light short-term work. The roselle I grew the last two years is supposed to be a really good fiber source but I did not fiddle with it until the end of summer. I can see there are some nice fibers in the stalks, but I think it has to be treated like flax for linen-- letting it rot for a while in stagnant water to isolate the long fibers.
I think there is a previous post about making string. Yucca was probably high on the recommended list. Like you, I will buy (and re-use) string. I will make ties from fabric scraps, and I will improvise in the middle if garden when I just need a quick little something that can tie. I don't think I have sufficient space to grow much fiber for string. I think it's only human to notice what's around and how it can be used.
Oh, Chinese jute. I had to look up that name. Abutilon is a weed here, especially detested in large agricultural fields. Gets called "velvet leaf". Two thirds of a lifetime ago when I worked in commercial greenhouses, we grew an Abutilon as house plants. That one was called flowering maple.
Hey, must be nice to have spring dawning. We've got a ways to go, here. We have not even seen any crocus leaves yet.
lathechuck
Sat, 02/12/2022 - 20:04
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"Velvet leaf" is what you call it...
... when you're out of toilet paper.
I peeled the fibers off of stalks that had been outside all winter. Maybe next fall I'll see whether they can be stripped sooner.
The seeds are, allegedly, a potential source of oil (just as flax seeds and cotton seeds can be pressed for oil), and are edible. At least, I've eaten them, without noticeable ill effects. I much prefer sunflower seeds, though! It's hard to imagine it as a house-plant, though, because the flowers weren't much, either individually or as they grew on the plant.