Rice Harvest

It is rice harvesting season, and last week ARI harvested its six rice paddies. We ended up with 8.6 tons of rice.

The ARI harvesting began on Sunday, and by Thursday five of the paddies had been harvested by machine. These are clever machines that suck rice plants in the front, thresh the grains, and leave the straw.

Friday the entire ARI community joined to harvest the final paddy by hand. In true ARI it fashion was a party, literally. We sang a song written for the occasion while marching to the paddy in front of a special banner.

Once there we found a muddy field. Not surprising given that rice grows where it is too wet for other crops.

The process is to take a small sickle and cut the rice. Then it is gathered into bundles and tied with twine. (Scott and Chrys spent several hours in the prior days cutting twine to length.) The photos at the top show Chrys and Scott holding harvested bundles.

Then the bundles are fed into the same clever machine that threshes the rice.

Finally the rice grain is stored in metal tanks and the straw is stored for later use as bedding for lambs. Nothing is wasted at ARI.

We had spent a lot of time cleaning the storage tanks and the storage room to prepare for the harvest.

We eat rice for each meal, so a successful harvest truly is a cause for celebration.