#22: CORK HARVESTING (An inherently sustainable resource at the homestead, Portugal Rural Life)

Hello from Portugal to the world!

It may surprise you to learn that Portugal accounts for around 60% of the world cork harvest!
The vast majority of cork trees can be found in the Mediterranean region with more than 1/3rd contained within the borders of Portugal.
The cork oak tree (Quercus Suber) has the amazing ability to grow its skin (bark) back after it is stripped.
It’s a process that takes roughly 9–12 years before it is completely ready to be stripped again.
This can be done over and over again for up to 200 years, because it does no harm to the tree itself.
Some farmers have stripped and lived off of the same trees as their great grandparents!
Not only does this make the tree a renewable resource but it becomes a great asset to the planet.
The tree takes in up to 500% more CO2 when stripped than when they are left un-stripped.
This is no small feat.
The cork forests take in over 20 million tons of CO2 every year! These trees are something worth protecting.
The bark is carefully split from the tree leaving the base layer a beautiful rust colour.
A very delicate manoeuvre, farmers still use fairly rudimentary tools (a sharp axe) as no highly mechanised machine has been developed to strip the bark as well or as carefully.
In teams of two, one in the tree, the other on the ground, they use their hand held axes to carefully peel the tree of its prized possession and lift it in one piece to the ground.

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