I used to watch the Chinese girl LizzieQ, on YouTube... all the things she did (ok, maybe someone else did much of it, but, the technuques she showed were still correct.)

She once bought silk worms, raised them, spun the cocoonsilk, then painted and dyed the fabric, so she could make a dressing gown (!)

Bamboo is such a usefil product when it griws so huge. I have bamboo in the back yard as a windbreak, and cut canes as supports for my plants.