So Versatile...

Ode to Bamboo

Quoted from A Yankee on the Yangtze by William Edgar Geil, 1904.

A man can sit in a bamboo house under a bamboo roof, on a bamboo chair at a bamboo table, with a bamboo hat on his head and bamboo sandals on his feet. He can at the same time hold in one hand a bamboo bowl, in the other hand bamboo chopsticks and eat bamboo sprouts. When through with his meal, which has been cooked over a bamboo fire, the table may be washed with a bamboo cloth, and he can fan himself with a bamboo fan, take a siesta on a bamboo bed, lying on a bamboo mat with his head resting on a bamboo pillow. His child might be lying in a bamboo cradle, playing with a bamboo toy. On rising he would smoke a bamboo pipe and taking a bamboo pen, write on bamboo paper, or carry his articles in bamboo baskets suspended from a bamboo pole, with a bamboo umbrella over his head. He might then take a walk over a bamboo suspension bridge, drink water from a bamboo ladle, and scrape himself with a bamboo scraper (handkerchief).

We received a set of bamboo sheets for Christmas and I can't even begin to tell you how much they ROCK! All of that same stuff you can do with hemp...wow. Check out these very informative links on bamboo and hemp to see just how earth-friendly, sustainable, and versatile these overlooked plants really are.
Bamboo
Hemp