Cambodia silk farm

Samatoa invite you to visit their cambodia silk farm,

in Phnom Srok (2 hours from Siem Reap, Angkor).

Silk is a by-product of silkworms gorging on the leaves of mulberry trees. They spin cocoons which are then harvested and boiled. The threads for weaving are drawn from the resulting floss. But while sericulture is similar world-wide, there are major regional differences. In Cambodia, "yellow" silkworms evolved to match the tropical climate, while in the more temperate regions of China and Japan, higher-producing "white" silkworms are the insects of choice.

There are about a million known species of insects, and entomologists estimate that many millions more have not yet been identified, but of all these species, only one has been domesticated by man: Bombyx mori, the silk moth.

After nearly 5,000 years of selective breeding, silk moths have lost the ability to fly and cannot survive without humans.

Many of us wouldn't survive without the moths either -- many, many people around the world depend on the cambodia silk moth for their livelihood, from peasant farmers who grow the mulberry leaves the silkworms eat and poor rural women who rear the moths and produce the precious cocoons, to the fashion boutiques in the world capitals that sell the luxury cambodia silk garments and fabrics.

By the time a silkworm starts weaving its cocoon it weighs 10,000 times more than when it hatched from its egg as a tiny creature less than two millimeters long, all from eating mulberry leaves.

Any other insect that attacked such a useful, multi-purpose plant as a mulberry like that would be a farmer's deadly enemy, the target of poison sprays and biological controls like killer wasps or bacterial diseases. But we treasure the cambodia silk moth, and it rewards us well -- today's silk industry is worth about $2 billion a year worldwide.

Annual world production is estimated at about 100,000 tons, more than 600 billion cocoons. A single cocoon contains anything between 0.5 and 1.5 kilometers of thread.

When the worm cocoons have completely developed, they are harvested and boiled. Ten kilograms of cocoons will produce one kilogram of cambodia silk.

There are two stages of carding which produce two distinct qualities of thread: fine silk and raw silk. The cocoons are boiled and the fibers are removed (or carded) in two stages. The outer cocoon is fine silk and the inner cocoon is raw silk.

In Cambodia, nothing goes to waste. After the silk is removed from the cocoons, the silkworms are eaten as a nutritious snack, providing much needed protein and fat. Many cultures all over the world have been eating insects for centuries, and while this may be distasteful to many Westerners, many Cambodians enjoy the taste and the health benefits of silkworms.

Women spinning thread to make it smooth before weaving.

 Again, the ingenuity of Cambodia silk makers shines through as the spinning machines are often made from recycled bicycle wheels.

After carding, the thread is dyed using natural products such as flowers, leaves, and barks. Ever creative, Cambodians have even found a way to produce lovely brown and red dyes using rusty nails and other metal refuse!

The dyed threads are dried in the sun.

The technology behind the textiles has changed very little over hundreds of years. The weavers themselves make the looms; rickety wooden frames tangled in webs of silk and cotton.

In addition to being remarkably beautiful, Cambodia silk is sturdy, soft, colorfast, and machine washable using the gentle cycle. It is used in a wide variety of products, from scarves and clothing to household goods and textiles.

The Cambodia silk artists take great pride in their products and hope to continue the fine tradition of silk making for many years to come.

To visit the angkor silk farm of Phnom Srok,

Contact us by email (contact@samatoa.com) .

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