Coconuts are awesome.
The fruit is a nutrient-packed wonder, its water can be an emergency replacement for plasma in the blood, the trees are an absolute icon of the tropics, and the best guess we have for how coconuts became so ubiquitous in the world is that they migrated by themselves over centuries. They literally fell into the sea, sailed to a new land on ocean currents, and set up shop where they landed.
We love coconuts, and the place we call home is covered in coconut trees. They’re hardy, they grow straight and fast, and they give us the best fruit ever. What’s not to love?
Even when the trees stop producing the goods, they’re still useful. Our full-time production team that lives in The Fields have recently discovered a use for the mature trees that no longer nourish the soil they stand in or drop the fruit we want: timber.
Coconut timber (known commercially as cocowood) is lightweight, relatively hard, and can be milled into exceptionally straight, long boards. It comes in varying densities, and can produce some unique decorative grain patterns. Despite being one of the world’s most common—and important—tree species, cocowood is still not a popular commercial timber because it doesn’t have the hardwood appeal of the sorts of species that are favoured in construction and carpentry. In short, cocowood isn’t the builders’ favorite, even though it can be produced more sustainably than most rainforest timbers. In a circular plantation like we have in The Fields, it’s easy to ensure that felling doesn’t negatively impact the ecosystem, and that every tree taken down is replaced by more than were originally there. To keep it really circular, our coconut trees are felled, milled, and put to use onsite. We even cure the cut boards in our own coconut husk-fuelled kiln. The boards are then used to create future-proof hardwood flooring and structural reinforcements for our structures for Wonderfruit.
Look out for some extra luxurious flooring in the structures you love. Next time we gather, cocowood will be at the party.
