When harvesting, don’t forget:
- Waterproof boots / submergible sandals / a towel to dry your feet.
- Glasses / protective eyewear.
- Gloves to protect hands from thorny brambles or roses.
- Cutters or secateurs.
- String & scissors or knife for tying bundles.
- Be sure to tie ‘eunuch-reeds’ (flowerless stems) in a separate bundle BEFORE trimming the flowers off other stems. Theophrastus writes: ‘Some maintain that the best reed-couples [zeúgē] are produced from these stems, though few work out right during the process of manufacture’.
- Drop a Google pin on your phone and save it to a list; perhaps take some photos of the site.
For more on harvesting and curing cane for aulos red making, see Journal of Music Archaeology 2. Theophrastus’ passage on ‘eunuch-reeds’ is discussed on page 18.
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