Since it was transplanted the third week in July, 'my' rice has been growing nicely, fed with a continuous running water supply as well as some fertilizer that was applied once. 'My' rice is Jasmine (Mali) rice which is harvested at 120 days. (There are two other kinds of rice being grown here - type 21 and Gor Khor - both of which are harvested at 90 days, do not grow as tall and are harder grains than Jasmine - so I am told!)
At twelve weeks from being transplanted the rice was shoulder high with no visible grains yet - but so beautiful. Many of you know I have never been here in Thailand at this time of year so to witness the beautiful shades of green was really special.
Two weeks later the rice grains are fully sprouted.
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| The rice is young and green (and I am not.) |
But has disaster struck??! There has been some heavy wind and rain which looks like it caused significant damage but I am told that since the rice grains are already sprouted, it is not as bad as it looks and the rice will continue to develop even when blown over like this. It just makes harvesting it a little more challenging.
Harvest in 'my' fields should begin the third week in November but here's a sneak peak as some of the 90 day variety has already begun to be harvested. The weekend before last I had some good friends from Bangkok visit with their kids so we all got a little taste of what's to come. (These are the fields in Naplajat village. You can see the rice is not nearly as tall at the Jasmine rice.)
Duncan
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