Massive amount of work!!!
The week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot has just finished. During this week, many Jews build and decorate a small hut (sukkah) with a roof of branches and leaves so they can see through to the sky. They often have meals in the sukkah and sometimes even sleep inside.
After the festival finishes, everything gets packed up again until next year. But the roof usually gets composted.
I wondered about the possibility of using the palm leaves (very commonly used here in Melbourne) for weaving. So yesterday I picked up about 30 large palm leaves. They were HUGE!! And they were covered in dirt and bugs.
I stripped each frond to the core, placed the leaves in a soapy water bath and laid them out to dry. Now they've been packed up to be transported to Castlemaine where they will be hung for a few weeks to cure and properly dry before they can be used for weaving.
Such a massive job. I hope it will be worth it.
What should I do with the leftover cores? Once dried, they'll be very woody and tough.
Well done if you've read to this point. Hope you have a glorious Wednesday x