A Sign of the Times.....

In my neighborhood (mubaan), behind my home, there is a small rice field. throughout the year of living here, we have watched the activity that happens in the field. Because it is flooded with water, I get a cool breeze in my bedroom window at night And I get to listen to frogs and all sorts of birds who come to this field.
Rice Harvest is a very labor intensive operation. Over the Nov 30th weekend TEN workers gathered to harvest the crop. they worked all day long, singing and chatting, while bent over and cutting the rice stalks by hand.

Once they cut the stalks, they gathered the stalks into bundles and piled them in mounds where the rice sat for several days in the dry sunshine.

It was a very curious site.... mounds formed in a circle, just sitting there deserted..drying in the sunshine.

And then back came the workers. they all stood in the center of the circle of mounds. they would grab a bundle, raise it over their head and beat it on the ground over and over again, knocking the rice kernels off of the head of the stalk. All day long they beat the rice stalks. the kernels lay on the ground in the center of the circle of mounds. Next they raked the rice out in the center of the mounds and once again the field was empty of people for a day or so, while the rice dried in the sun. then the workers pushed handcarts into the field, using plastic buckets, they loaded the rice into the pushcarts, and pushed the carts out to their motorcycles where one person drove while the other person SAT on the handle of the pushcart... and off they drove.

Early in the morning, about a week later, I woke up to the smell of smoke, and discovered that the mounds of rice stalks were now being burned, in oder to ready the field for the next planting.

All across the city, small fields were burned over the next few days, and then the fields were flooded in preparation for the next planting.

Toward the end of December, there they were, more than ten workers, once again singing and chatting and laughing while they worked all day long bent over, poking fresh rice shoots into the muddy field.

they would stop from time to time and rest in the shade and eat a meal together. the chatting, singing, and laughing never stopped.

What percision to watch this age old farming style take place right in my backyard. This style of farming employs whole families and it was clear that they were comfortable and used to this hard work and this lifestyle of shared labor.

And here was the beautiful field left behind with uniform rows of small green rice plants. and the rice was left to grow for January, February, March....

Early this morning I awoke to a strange sound..... a rumbling of machinery. I looked at my window, and there it was... a Rice Combine. Now I haven't seen ANY machinery in the fields since my arrival about 2 years ago..... so what a surprise!!

But sure enough, there it was. Three men were taking turns driving it and riding on it. As it rolled up and down the small field, cutting the rice, removing the kernels into a hopper basket, and spreading out the chopped up stalks behind the machine.

The noise was loud and unusual. No chatting, no singing, no laughing. Just three men working a machine in the early morning hours. Maybe it is because we are in the MELTING hot summer season and just to be outside is way too hot. Maybe this helps save the workers from long hot hard work. OR maybe it is just a sign of the times..... the modern era has caught up with our city and now instead of 10 or more workers being employed, three specialized workers are here with a machine that probably costs money to rent............ who knows........... I just know that I have seen a real change happen today, right in my backyard.




The rice combine working in my back yard.

Well there you have it...... probably more than you ever wanted to know about rice hahahaha.

blessings,

Pam