Rice-planting

This is the picture of rice-planting.

Many farmers are transplanting rice seedlings into the fields around my house.

It rains little this year, so farmers are worrying about the shortage of water that is
indispensable for rice-planting.
They are waiting for rain now.

But I can hear the sound of many frogs living in the fields filled with water.
It reminds me of hot and wet rainy season.

Rice field now

Farmers are plowing and irrigating the fields before transplanting rice seedlings using a machine now.
In a few days, they can plant rice seedlings.

After two weeks

Sprouts of rice plant are growing day by day.
About two weeks after the paddies were scattered , they grew like these pictures.

They are long enough to be planted, but there is no water in the rice-field now.
So we can't plant them yet.

Preparation for rice planting

Farmers are busy preparing for the rice planting.

They cut the weeds on the footpaths around the field and burn them after drying.

After nine days

　Sprouts of rice plant are like this.
They are about four centimeters now.
My husband uncovered the white vinyl cloth and covered this net lest the sparrows shoud come to eat them.

Taking this picture, my neighbor who are also growing rice plant came to see these sprouts.
She asked us to give her some as many of hers withered because of shortage of water.
Perhaps ours will be too enough, so we will be able to give her some.

Growing rice needs much care!!

After six days

Six days after the paddies were scattered, we can see about five millimeters sprout of rice plant.

Sprout of rice plant

Sprout of rice plant
We arranged these boxes to the ground.

Now we must water them twice a day.



The sun light is so strong that we cover the boxes for a while.

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Farmers are cuitivating rice fields using a farm tractor now.

They are busy preparing for the rice- planting.
The fields are cultivated a few times.

Beginning of rice farming

We scattered paddies on these black boxes filled with soil for agriculture using this machine today.

There were about ninety boxes.
Turning the handle of this machine, we can scatter paddies very easily.
So we finished the work for about two hours.

After three or four days, tiny buds of rice plant will come out.

Rice field today

The rice-planting season is coming soon.

Farmers are cultivating their rice field with a tractor now.

And most of the fields around my house have been already cultivated like this picture.

Rice field

Now rice fields are like this.

In winter the rice fields are taking a rest though many years ago farmers grows wheat or rushes during winter.

But farmers cultivate them using the tractor a few times in this season.

Rice field

Rice fields these days are like this.

Until next early summer, they don't plant anything.

Farmers cultivate the soil using a tractor a few times during winter.

Now new leaves are growing among the cut roots!

Scenery in fall

These are rice plant after harvesting.

Nowadays the greater part of rice plants is cut into pieces and scatterd on the rice field.
But some are kept and dried to feed cows.

So the dairy farmers are now busy in making hay.

Harvest

After drying 'unhulled rice or paddy' with a drying machine, we put them
into these bags.


These are unhulled rice or paddies.

Harvesting rice

In this district, they began havesting rice.

My husband also began harvesting.

After harvesting, we dry rice with a drying machine.
And next we remove the hull of rice with another machine.
They are the unpolished rice, so we poliosh futhermore.

At last we can eat after boiling them