Pala-U Silk farm & goodbye to Pala-U & its mischeivous Elephants

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Ok...... It's a while since I added an entry to my blog, so this is my catch up with lots of pictures. It's now less than a week untill I return home to the UK.

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Photos

Making silk thread
These are the cocoons of the silk worm. They are placed in boiling water & then a tiny thread from each cocoon is picked up and wound onto the spinning wheel.

Spinning Silk
.... a highly skilled process.

This is the only silk farmer left in this area.
He was kind enough to show me the process.

The tiny silk worms feed on Mullbury Leaves.....
.... grown as a crop by the farmer.

The cocoons are then added to boiling water & a fine thread from each is fed into the spinning wheel
The cooked silkworm is often eaten as a tasty source of protein.

Once the required ammount of thread has been produced...
the silk is carefully divided into sections & loosely tied with a thread to stop any tangles.

The threads are then teased apart by hand to make sure they are not stuck together
For eack 1kg of silk thread produced, he gets 1,000baht (about 15 UK pounds). On a good day, he can produce 2 kg.

The owner developed his own spinning system
He showed me his first prototype , used befor he developed his high tech version.

This is his modest home
He is hoping to be able to offer homestays to future volunteers to supplement his income

Villagers meet to discuss the Elephant situation
Before the meeting ended, the warning system started, indicating Elephants in the crops. We drove round to look for the culprit(s)

A noble beast
...... but a bloody nuisance if you are a pinapple farmer, and a dam site more difficult to deal with than greenfly!

Saying goodbye to Pala-U Elephant Conservation Centre
...my home for the last 10 days.

Comments

[Ede Rothaus]

Photo permissions request
Hello, I am a photo researcher working on a Grade 7 Science unit on Silk and Sericulture for the Ross School in East Hampton, New York. We would like to use your image of the cocoons added to boiling water for an online, classroom Powerpoint presentation. Can you please advise if you can grant permission to use/license this image? Today is Sunday, June 16 and the project is closing so a reply would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Ede [e-mail]

[ST100mph]

Sorry for the late reply
Unfortunately I have not visited my blog admin page for some time. If it is still useful for you, you are very welcome to use this picture for your PowerPoint presentation. Thank you for asking and I hope that you find it useful. Best regards Shaun