rice farming

Welcomed back by the land

We’ve mostly been trying to get things back in hand after the monsoons, which were overwhelming, and then trying to harvest the rice and get in the winter farming crops in time. The whole village is doing the same, but with a calm and collected attitude. We are such amateurs in comparison! Here’s our rice:Continue reading “Welcomed back by the land”

Coming out the other side

The floods have receded, leaving us to survey the damage. There is less than we feared. The water entered the land through a few main points. We think we can close most of them up so that much of the land isn’t affected next time. The one part of the land which is very lowContinue reading “Coming out the other side”

One in 1200

That’s how many villages in UP are affected by the floods. News like this always seemed distant when we lived in the city. We are the last village before Mirzapur, which is the worst hit. It’s been raining everywhere (except in Banaras), and I suppose we were just too busy too notice. The rice cropsContinue reading “One in 1200”

Planting rice!

We have started the ‘ropai’: transferring the rice seedlings from the nursery bed to the rice field. The first field we prepared didn’t work, because the soil was too sandy and the water kept draining out. RIce needs standing water. So, we got another field ready: cutting the grass and ploughing, and finally began theContinue reading “Planting rice!”

Bamboo, bridges, and snakes

It’s been a couple of weeks since our last update, because of some unexpected events. But we are back. We’ve had over ten days of sunshine, which meant extremely hot, humid, unpleasant weather, but also that we have been busy. First of all, we decided that we need to get across the nala, rain orContinue reading “Bamboo, bridges, and snakes”

One day in the season of rain

Our work continues in the gaps between the thunderstorms. Below: preparing the nursery for rice last week and the rice emerging; children inspecting mushrooms and earthworms while Rumi snoozes in the brief moments of sunshine. Semal plants emerge after a long hibernation and the seed office is inspected by the dogs as new seeds areContinue reading “One day in the season of rain”