The origin of silk

Silk, as you probably know, comes from silkworms. In the tiedying course we did at Ok Pop Tok, we saw silkworms, and learned how they raise the silkworms, and how they get the silk from the worms. First, the silkworms are born in a circular wooden pan, on a bed of mulberry leaves. This is all they eat, so of course, they only poo ground up mulberry leaves. The leaves are said to be great for your stomach, and for people who have diabetes, so people make a tea out of the silkworms poo. It's called silkworm poo tea (no joke, it was on the menu!), and if you think that's gross, (well, maybe just a little gross!), it's actually just mulberry leave tea. Well, you learn something new everyday! Anyway, the silkworms grow up, until they reach about 2-3 inches in length, and then they make their cocoons. People have to spin the silk from the cocoons before the moths (once silkworms) come out. But it doesn't really matter, because even if they die, they'll end up dying shortly after anyway. They're total life cycle is about 45 days only. The moths lay new eggs, and die. The life cycle starts over again. 30 or 40 cocoons can make up to 900 m of silk! I thought it was really cool to see how they make silk, and the silkworm poo tea thing is...interesting! Well, that's all for today!