Harvest Time here in Korea

Okay folks...I know it's been a while but sometimes I hate updating this without a picture to apply something to. So here I am with picture in hand as I write this out...It is harvest time here in Korea and that means the rice patties are coming down. I know that while I was in the states and even saw movies that had people out in the patties working it was mainly at planting time...now it is harvest time...What really happens. Well what you are looking at on the left is the starting point of a field. They will cut what you see by hand and place them nearby so that the machine will be able to get in there and get a start at the rest of the field. The machines that harvest are small and there is just enough room for another farmer to stand on the machine and by hand keep bags moving to catch all of the rice. Rice is typically like grain in that the part that is harvested is at the top like what corn looks like before it drops down to start growing into ears.


The picture to the right is of all of the bags that the farmers have caught in big 50 pound bags. They lay them all out in long lines until they have a chance to empty the bags sort of like you see towards the left of this picture. This is all done right there in the middle of the field. This field happens to be right there in the front of our school. They will drop them off of the harvest machine. Another little single engine weird looking machine will go around and pick up the bags which have been dropped around the field. They will bring them to this point and lay them all out so that they can do the next step.







This is the next step in the process. They will open all of the bags and spill out all of the rice. The rows look like they are made by a rake or some other machine...right??? No, they are actually made when the farmers put on their rubber boots and drag their feet as they walk through the rice. Nice, huh? Gives you something to think about when you eat that next helping of Minute Rice... :)












This is a close up picture of the rice sitting on the black tarp. What they do is dry out the rice which will make it easier to crazy when it goes to the plant. This is a great way. They let the sun dry everything out. After it gets to the dried out stage, they bring in a big machine that picks all the rice up and puts all of the rows into one huge bag.




One more funny picture and then I'm gone:


Peace out...later on