silkworms!

This morning, Bryan gave us a lesson in raising silkworms and the silkworm industry in Japan. His enthusiasm for silkworms is contagious, even while he emphasizes how much work they are to raise and raise well. This is the first year in 15 years he hasn’t had silkworms munching and growing throughout the house.

Traditionally (at least in the sense of back in the 1920s and before), every house in this area would grow some silkworms and process the cocoons and silk for home use. Bryan gained a lot of his knowledge by talking to locals who had grown up raising silkworms and through learning by doing. When he talks about raising silkworms, it isn’t theoretical knowledge  (“In theory, this is how x is done”), it is practical knowledge (“When I was doing x, I did it this way”). Sometimes I feel like I am in the Japan of a century ago.

And then I blog about it.

Bryan showed us how to start with a dry cocoon, process it, and reel it.