Rice Harvest

Just before Christmas we made a quick trip out to visit our friends Bodge and Ya.
It's always fun to catch up with what is happening on the farm.
The peanuts have been harvested and are now drying.

The rice has been cut. A rain and wind storm blew through just before the harvest bending the rice over, so a lot of it was cut by hand instead of using the machine.

 Finally the rice was harvested and drying on the tarps. Now to get it dry while the sun is shining.
There was rain in the forecast, but the rice did get dried and bagged in time.

Now they can relax and enjoy their holiday time.

The rice harvest

Sook (our Karen hill tribe 'daughter'),took us on a recent trip up to her village-Ban Kuen Pae. Everyone there were busy with the rice harvest. We wandered out into the fields and were given a few lessons.

 

Here Sook gives shucking the rice a go. First the sticks and string are wrapped around the sheath of rice, then the whole thing is beaten onto the tarps and hopefully the rice falls out and the empty sheaths can be discarded.

 

 

Then Steve got into the act. I think the regular workers thought it was a bit too funny to see these amateurs at work.

 

 

The whole valley was filled with families working on the rice harvest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is to mill the rice. This machine was set up under one of the houses.

 

 

There is a large Royal Project on the go there. One of the things they are growing are hydrangeas that are then sold down in ChiangMai.

 

 

Here I am frolicking amongst the flowers.

 



 

There were also a lot of cabbages being grown.

 

 

The rice wasn't the only thing getting harvested.

 

 

 Sooks  real mother welcoming us back home after our tour of the fields.