Rice paddies in Georgia..
Posted on 06 August 2008
I had told Ginger from http://nyenoona.wordpress.com/ that I will post some pictures of my aunt’s rice field and I had been lagging so finally, I took the time to drive down to my old house and snap some pictures of the rice paddies.
These rice paddies are actually shared by umm… well it was used to be shared by 3 aunts, my mom and my great aunt. But now, it is only shared by 2 aunts and my great aunt. We sold our house there and moved farther away, so my mom stopped with the rice paddies. One of my aunts was diagnose with cancer and stop, now she’s gone from the world thus only 2 aunts and a great aunt are left to work the field.
This rice field had been here for at least 6-7 years, but was recently expanded about 3-4 years ago. Before it was expanded it was only a dry rice field which the rice paddies only gets water during the days when it rains in this case the field workers (my mom, dad, aunts and uncles) has to work harder to keep the rice alive. They must make sure that all the weeds are killed by being pulled or using a Hmong shovel (sorry don’t know the American name for it) which the workers must spend more hours and days working the field.
After working the field couple years they had decided to expand the rice paddies and also turn it into a wet rice field. Wet rice paddies are much easier to tame and less work are to be done. When expanding this rice field my parents and aunts and uncles must turn them into paddies and also must dig a small little stream to every paddy so that they will receive water from the stream just up ahead. Each paddy is at different height level so that they can get water. I was “forced” to help them expand the land, and believe me expanding the land was hard work. Once the land was expanded and the land is also divided into paddies my parents built a dam at the stream so that they can get most of the water and yet the stream won’t run dry.
As I had said earlier, the wet rice paddies were much easier to tame and less work to be done. One purpose for the wet rice paddies is that weed will not grow in this case, there is no reason to work the fields and the rice are sure to stay alive even if we have no rain.
The sun was burning HOT and I was too lazy to go walk farther towards the other end of the field so here are pictures from the end of the field I was at. Next time when it is not as hot, I’ll try to go to the other side of the field to snap more pictures. I’ll take better pictures next time. I was in a rush when I went to take these pictures.
These rice paddies are not anywhere close to harvest. Unlike the ones from Ginger’s blog, these have not yet started to have rice pods. I am guessing maybe around mid August will these rice fields start having pods. And By October this rice field will be ready for harvest.
This is the funky Dam we had built for the wet rice paddies.
This was the only string of rice pods I saw
5 responses to Rice paddies in Georgia..
The weather is about the same as here, so I’m guessing that they started planting their rice paddy later than the rice paddy here. This paddy, I believed they started planting theirs in late April or early May, and originally he told me that it would be ready for harvest on August 20, but it’s ready for harvest now, so hot summer sun helps speed things up tremendously. Your Aunts’ rice paddies look very healthy; it’s a wise choice to turn it into a wet-rice paddy.
My dad told me that when we were living in Thailand, they have had ‘na loy’ loosely translated as floating rice paddy where the water would come up to the tip of the rice plants, and the rice pods would reach slightly above the water. I was too young to pay any attention but he said that it looks pretty. Thanks for posting this.
[...] been posting about her neighbor’s rice field and last year and I had also done some posting on my aunt’s rice field as well. But this year, it’s a whole new year. I had finally taken the time to go to my aunt’s [...]
leej twg cov nplej? very nice pictures. thank you for sharing Ze.
haha, thov txim tsis tau read before asking queston. again i love the picture, kho siab heev to see a field of rice again
TOng. lol i’ve been really behind with my blog and replying back to them. These nplej belongs to my aunts and them, but this year they are not farming nplej so I guesss I won’t be posting about it. Pity it is. I love the smell of the nplej when the pods are starting to get ready and also when I help them gather it.