It’s party time! Find the glasses. Grab the bottle. Pop the CORK!
Back in historical times, when I attended elementary school and we prepared product maps of Europe (do they still do that in social studies class?) we would find a bit of cork for Portugal. Our sources were either from the fishing tackle box or a wine bottle. Parents frowned on stealing a piece of a trivet.
I’ve always found the idea of harvesting tree bark — carefully so as not to harm the tree — fascinating. Cork farmers need to be patient and plant trees to be harvested only in the next generation.
I’ve also found this tree in the Missouri Botanical Garden fascinating. It’s called a cork tree — but it’s not the sort that’s harvested on Portuguese plantations. This unrelated tree is native to the Amur river valley. If you’re going for the world atlas — look at the border of China and Siberia. Can you use your imagination and picture yourself snug in these branches with a book — or a daydream?
