May 23 2010: Yippee! Spring is here! I know this for sure, as rice planting got underway this past week. My friend Carol has a rice field 20 feet from her house. On Monday was the start of the prep work for this field.
A little further down the road (on what Andi refers to as "Quiet Road") there are a number of Rice paddies. Some were flooded early in the week. Once flooded, then they are....well, I don't know what you call putting your tractor in the muck, plowing, I guess. The fellow in the tractor was the landowners son. The landowner is quiet the fellow. I've seen him in passing before. I'll give a traditional Japanese greeting and he responds with a semi toothless grin and a big "HOWDY!" I think it is the only English word he knows.
(Just a note, my walking buddy Carol, speaks Japanese...this is how I sound so knowledgeable this week. I nodded my head a lot. In reality, I can understand a tad bit now, just can't speak all that well)
The tractor below is another option used in the plowing of the fields. The paddle wheel attachments seem to make it ideal, as I know I've seen this tractor in the carrot fields as well.
Water running in the trenches. A sure sign that planting is on the way.
There were lots of foggy mornings this past week. Just happened to catch the reflections on this walk.
Carol called me Friday morning to tell me to hurry over after the school bus had come. She knows the landowners daughter (I think that's the relation) so felt comfortable asking if we could take pictures. That's the landowners son (not the same one as above, this is a different field) on the planting tractor.
My friend Jenell has said the tractor reminds her of something from out of a Dr. Seuss book. I think it could be. The rice plantings slide off the back through a mechanism (see video below) He carries extras on the shelves up by the handlebars to reload for the trip back across the field. Really it looks like a modified ATV, with very narrow tires and it just putters right along.
Note the shelves are now empty...as he reloaded for the way back.
The back end of the tractor.
Below: on the left side of the picture, that green is the rice in flats getting ready to be transferred to the tractor. They use a giant tray (the length of the flat, to lift the seedlings and slide them on to the tractor slides.
Below: We think he was the over-seer. He was of no relation to the landowner or the son, but seemed to be in charge. He would rake smooth the area the tractor had driven in on it's reload trip. Keeping it ready to be planted on the final lap.
Below: The landowners wife. Shane and I have often found that it is the women who are out doing the hard labor. In the winter it is often the women out shoveling the driveways. It is often women who are out in the fields doing the weeding and upkeep of the crops.
Water running in the trenches. A sure sign that planting is on the way.
There were lots of foggy mornings this past week. Just happened to catch the reflections on this walk.
Carol called me Friday morning to tell me to hurry over after the school bus had come. She knows the landowners daughter (I think that's the relation) so felt comfortable asking if we could take pictures. That's the landowners son (not the same one as above, this is a different field) on the planting tractor.
My friend Jenell has said the tractor reminds her of something from out of a Dr. Seuss book. I think it could be. The rice plantings slide off the back through a mechanism (see video below) He carries extras on the shelves up by the handlebars to reload for the trip back across the field. Really it looks like a modified ATV, with very narrow tires and it just putters right along.
Note the shelves are now empty...as he reloaded for the way back.
The back end of the tractor.
Below: on the left side of the picture, that green is the rice in flats getting ready to be transferred to the tractor. They use a giant tray (the length of the flat, to lift the seedlings and slide them on to the tractor slides.
Below: We think he was the over-seer. He was of no relation to the landowner or the son, but seemed to be in charge. He would rake smooth the area the tractor had driven in on it's reload trip. Keeping it ready to be planted on the final lap.
Below: The landowners wife. Shane and I have often found that it is the women who are out doing the hard labor. In the winter it is often the women out shoveling the driveways. It is often women who are out in the fields doing the weeding and upkeep of the crops.
Here she is individually planting any rice seedlings that had been dropped on the ground during the transfer process. Also making sure the rows come out even. Nothing wasted....each one that was dropped was tenderly planted.
Note that she is covered from head to toe. Some of this is to prevent bugs. But the women traditionally dress very well covered. This is to keep the skin as white as possible. It is not often that you see a Japanese woman with tan skin. They feel porcelain skin is the ideal look. So even if you are a hardworking woman...you take care of your skin. I wonder if they have lower skin cancer rates here?
Below: The landowner. The over-seer said that he used to work quiet hard, but now has a bad back. Given how much hard work they do in their fields, it is easy to see why.
On my errands today there was nothing but flurries of activities around various rice paddies as the planting was finished up. Now to stay on my toes and catch the harvest.
Be patient with the video, it starts a little blurry, but clears up and you can see the little mechanisms that plant each individual seedling.
On my errands today there was nothing but flurries of activities around various rice paddies as the planting was finished up. Now to stay on my toes and catch the harvest. Now that things are green, I need to venture out on other walks and bike rides. Of course the key to that is if they weather could stay sunny, and the wind quit blowing for just a little while.
Be patient with the video, it starts a little blurry, but clears up and you can see the little mechanisms that plant each individual seedling.
