Rice Cultivation Rice plantation is still crucial for the majority of the villagers here. In the past, the rice planting took place once a year because it entirely depended only on the rain water. But nowadays, the farmers can do planting twice a year thanks to the irrigation system: one is an in-season planting (Na Pee in Thai) and the other is an off-season planting (Na Pang in Thai). The rice planting is both for selling and for feeding their families. Rice Planting Methods: There are now two methods of planting rice. For the in-season planting, the farmers practice rice transplanting (Na Dam in Thai of which they use the rice saplings for planting) as their ancestors did in the past. But for the off-season planting that depends on the irrigated water, the farmers apply rice broadcasting (Na Waan), which means that they plant the seeds directly in the earth. The in-season planting begins in July or August, and the harvest will be taken place in December. The off-season planting starts around February, and harvesting season comes around July. Rice Plantation Procedure: 1) Ploughing: The ploughing will be done twice before getting the rice planted. The first ploughing is to cut and turn over the earth very roughly. This is to dry the earth in the sun to get rid of weeds and some insects that cause harm to the rice. By tradition, the ploughing starts at the beginning of a rainy season which is around April or May. After being turned over, the earth will be left in the sun for two weeks before the second ploughing takes place. The second ploughing is to cut and turn over the earth already cut from the first ploughing very neatly. 2) Planting: For the off-season planting, the farmers will broadcast the paddy grains directly on the earth surface, followed by ploughing the earth to cover the grains planted. But for the in-season planting, the farmers need to get rid of weeds and grasses in the field before transplanting the rice sprouts into the earth. 3)Harvesting: When the ear of rice turns yellow at its tip, it signals that a harvesting season is approaching. If the grain breaks easily into half after being bitten, it is then the right time for the grains to be harvested. In the past, the farmers commonly used sickles for harvesting. But today, a harvest motor car replaces the sickles, especially for the broadcast rice field which is too difficult to harvest the grains manually as the rice scatters in disarray. 4) Threshing: In the past, there were two methods of rice threshing. The first one is placing bunches of paddies on the threshing ground and let the cattle step on these bunches until the paddies fell off. The other is just simply hitting the hard-surfaced ground with the bunches, keep doing it until the paddies fell off. Normally, the threshed grains will be kept in granaries (rice storage or Yung Khao) until needed. When storing the paddies in the granary, farmers will also hold a ritual to make sure that the rice will be protected well. According to Thai belief, there must be the paddies left in the storage all year round as it symbolize prosperity. 5) Husking: In the past, the farmers simply husked rice by pounding it in wooden mortars. In so doing, the grains will be separated from paddies. But today, a traditional way of rice husking in almost every region of the country has been replace by a ricemill. However, the traditional practice can still be seen at this village as we will see very soon. 6) Polishing: In those days, the farmers did not do rice polishing. As a result, the unpolished rice (or the brown rice) contains a variety of vitamins crucially needed such as, B complex. When the rice polishing was introduced into Thailand, the polished rice has grained more and more popularity among
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 05:18:25 +0000
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