Rice Growing - From field preparation to transplanting.

This blog post is really just to show and describe the rice growing process without too much 'commentary' about my experience and observation from me. I'm saving that for a future post. 

In some places in Thailand, farmers can do two rice growing seasons. In Maehongson, it's usually limited to one cycle that coincides with the rainy season. Each farmer begins preparation of their fields based on their specific location, weather patterns and when their is enough water in the rivers that feed the 'nam hong' (water canal) that brings the water to flood the paddy fields. (Hill rice is also grown here - as it's name implies on hills (often slash and burned) and this requires no flooding. That's not the rice I'm doing.) 

I arrived in Maehongson and specifically back in the village of Patyng (where my parents lived for eight years) the second week of June in preparation for working in the fields. The plan was that I would help our former landlord's family in their fields. Golf is the 30 year old son of our former landlord and I would be helping him. 

Golf's great grand parents used to own the entire plot of fields seen below. At some  point two sections were sold off. The lighter green fields are split between Golf's family and a cousin.

Rice growing begins with the initial seed bed preparation. The rice is soaked over night and then scattered where it sprouts and grows for four to six weeks. The rice was already sprouting by the time I arrived in early June.

While the seedlings are growing, the rest of the fields are usually flooded, plowed and harrowed into liquified mud ready for the rice to be transplanted in. Before mechanized times, water buffalo and oxen were used only to be replaced by large oversize roto tillers. Both options are long, hard, exhausting work which can take up to two weeks.

Astute followers of photos that have been posted here or on facebook may have noticed a picture with a tractor in the background...let's just say times they are a changing. I kept asking when plowing would begin and I didn't really get a straight answer. All of a sudden after I had been 'waiting' for several weeks, a guy on a tractor appeared and for the princely sum of 800 baht ($25) an hour the fields were completely plowed in about four hours. Done. And I wondered, ok, well clearly that alters my plans a little as I thought I would be able to do a little plowing! I certainly don't begrudge this decision though. Who wouldn't choose to spend that money to save so much time and physical energy?

This is the first time Aunty Yui(and perhaps anyone in this village) has rented a tractor to do this - and honestly it's surprising it hadn't happened before. At the time I thought that everyone with the right sized fields would quickly switch to doing it this way - but as it turned out, I'm not sure that they will do it this way again. The tractor simply didn't plow the soil deep enough. Perhaps if that can be adjusted they will use the tractor again but if not, it's back to the hard laborious work of using the 'roto- tiller.' 

The tractor was a novel sight - many people quickly appeared to observe.

Aunty Yui - overseeing the tractor. 

And just like that the fields were plowed!

Normally if doing it the old way, the fields would have been flooded prior to the plowing. Using the large tractor, the fields were plowed and then the water was allowed to flow into the fields and flood them. But for about a week there were some issues with not enough water coming through the nam hong to adequately submerge everything, allowing all the grass and weeds to rot. 

Eventually the water was flowing sufficiently

I knew I would still have the opportunity to work with the roto tiller as the fields  can't be harrowed using the tractor. But I really wanted to do some actual field preparation and plowing. I eventually found it in the fields of Uncle Yurn where I spent time helping to cut the long grass and weeks and eventually a day plowing. I wrote on facebook that 'Uncle Yurn doesn’t really look like Mick Jagger but there’s something very Jaggerish about him when he screams past me in his motorcycle with side car or when he’s dressed to do field work - maybe it’s his sun glasses or maybe just his attitude. It’s like he doesn’t care what anyone thinks! Anyway, he has been gracious enough to take me under his wing so to speak when other options have fallen through - though he’s also fully used me to work - which I wanted- no babying here. He makes it look easy - plowing with grace and ease, perhaps like Jagger dances. I on the other hand initially was plowing like a water buffalo doing ballet. Fortunately by the third or fourth field I had a better hang of it and was letting the ‘beast’ do the work. And Uncle Yurn trusted me enough to go off and do other things. But my hands are blistered, cut and mangled, my shoulder sockets feel like they have been torn apart and I can barely walk. All in all a good day! Fortunately Uncle Yurn’s wife is the village masseuse - I will be visiting her tomorrow! No picks of me plowing - Jagger doesn’t take pics, he’s in them. But the proof is my dirty self!'

Snake evidence but no snake sighted...

And then it was back to Aunty Yui's fields where we spent three solid days harrowing and ensuring the fields were prepped for the rice seedlings to be transplanted into. Much of the work was done by a hard working hired help named Oo.  He had a great eye for making sure the mud and water was perfectly level. We developed a routine where I did the first round on each field breaking up the furrows and then he would come apply the finishing touch which I could never pull off. (You can see in the following photos and videos how the tractor really did not plow deep enough. Our legs should have been much deeper in the mud!)

It's amazing how quickly the fields are teeming with tadpoles, frogs, crabs, snails and even fish (and the occasional snake!) The crabs and especially the snails do the most damage to the rice as it grows  and so some sort of chemical is put in the water to kill the snail eggs.

Pretty pink snail eggs. 

And finally the fields were ready...

Meanwhile the rice seedlings had continued to grow and were finally ready to be carefully pulled up and transplanted. I was not allowed to do this as it takes great skill and no one wanted me damaging the future crop. And you will notice it's the men that do this part (in addition to the field preparation.)

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Trimmed rice seedlings waiting to be transplanted the next day

Finally the last step before the rice gets to really get growing...the transplanting! It is perhaps the hardest back breaking job and it's done by the women. Traditionally family and friends would have all shared the labor but as fewer people work the fields migrant workers are hired to get the job done. I also did not push to do this as the lines and spacing would not have been consistent. Seven women managed to get half the fields done the first day of transplanting. On the second day, they were down one woman and you could tell they were already so tired from the day before. Then another woman was feeling faint and had to go home. The remaining five continued on but it took two days altogether to cover the same land area that they had covered in one day. It's such hard work. You hope for a cloudy cool day but whether baking sun or cloudy, they cover themselves up to protect themselves completely. 

The fields in the bottom of the photo were several weeks behind schedule. 

And the final result...The rice will now grow for the next 120 days. Water will be shut off to the fields around the 100 day mark to allow the rice to dry out in preparation for harvest.

Aunty Yui's fields

Uncle Yurn's fields

More commentary and thoughts about my experience coming in future posts...

Duncan