Rice is Nice (1)

Rice is the foundation of most people's diet in this area, and I am fairly certain in most of the Philippines.  In the last posting, I began with a similar statement about FISH.  There's not a contradiction, as these two ingredients certainly make up a large portion of the volume, and the calorie content, of the traditional eating-habit here.The largest-volume item is rice; followed by cooked greens and vegetables (carrots, squash, potato, eggplant), fish, local fruits (papaya,banana,coconut, pineapple, mango and many not heard of in the USA), and on "special" occasions chicken, pork or beef.  There are a fair number of possible ingredients, but it is the rice which "holds it all together."
   As I begin to write this on a Monday, it appears that a large portion of our activities this week will be concerned with producing rice on TWO field locations which we are currently trying to farm.  Today, a group of 17 "hired hands" is gathering and transplanting seedling rice in the field-area we recently acquired use of, as it is now strong enough to allow for this - a "routine" task which distributes the rice evenly and efficiently in the field, as simple  "seed-scattering" could not do.  Bernadette and one niece have spent most of the morning preparing the large meal for the crew, which was taken to them around Noon.  And on Wednesday we are scheduled to cut and thresh the rice from our farm property which was planted in mid-July.
   The plowing and planting I wrote of in "Filipino Pharm," which  was posted about four issues back at the end of July. Here, I hope to describe the rest of the rice-process from harvesting and threshing through drying and machine-polishing.

Just after morning break time, the workers are heading back into the

fields; the bundling, moving, and transplanting of the seedlings to cover

the field evenly is pretty much the same as described in my earlier posting.

The difference between locations is that this "flat-land" field is a much

larger space, and receives enough water through the year so that it

can produce three rice crops.  The "Farm" can produce one crop of rice,

and then another crop of vegetables, etc. which don't require flooding.

"Meanwhile, back at the house . . ." the kitchen crew prepares the

lunch meal.  A large iron re-bar "trivet" makes it possible to put

fire under pots which are 3- to 4- gallon or larger.

During the workers' afternoon break, Bernadette tried her hand at
planting some seedlings for a few minutes.  She said she used to do
it for pay, but  the last time was 1973 or 1974.  Each seedling
is about 12- inches long, and has about a dozen grasslike blades.
The purpose of the transplanting is to distribute the rice plants evenly
on about 6- to 8- inch spread pattern, where they will grow strongly
and produce the maximum amount of grain.  We had an excess of
"scatter seeded" transplants, even though the portion of the field
they grew was quite small - scatter seeding places them too closely.
This crop should now mature in 90 days - about Jan. 20, 2014.
 
The mark of a rice field worker is gray-brown "knee socks."  They
wash off pretty easily.

Brief refresher: Use the archive-list (if you have an extra minute) at the upper-right of the page, to take a quick look at  the "Pharm" posting from the end of July.

  This photo is about 2 or 3 weeks  after the transplanting which I
featured in "Pharm," and the rice is growing and filling in nicely.  The
Passion-fruit in the foreground are tennis- ball sized.
 
The same place 3 weeks later; the water bottle is a 12 ounce, so the
rice is about 24- inches.  For another 6 to 8 weeks it will grow thicker
and set its grain heads, until this week, late in October - HARVEST!

This is not a pharmacy - - more like a "farmacy." We would like to grow

"all natural heritage type" rice,but it will take us a while to "wiggle over" in

that direction.  Almost EVERYTHING grown here is some type of high-

performance hybrid, which requires fairly intense and specific chemical

feeding (fertilizer) and insect-protection.  This short shelf in the a local

Ag- supply store is just a little sample of what may be needed to farm.

The crop looked pretty good on harvest morning.  The leaf in the
center of this photo was 3/4 inch wide, to give you an idea of sizes.
The 6- to 8- inch seed heads are considered "good" if they have
upwards of 200 grains; two that we counted were 267 and 300+.

The harvesters are each given an area of field to cut, and work their

way across in arm's-length swaths.  The rice knife is like a smallish

sickle, about 9-inches, slightly larger than a dinner plate. 

 Each  armload is cut a few inches below the seedheads, and laid in a
row to be easy to pick up and move the the threshing area.

By lunch-time, the harvesting is done and each reaper has moved his

cut rice to the threshing area; each worker's pile is separate, and the

amount each one cut will be used to figure out the "shares" he gets

.The arrival of the thresher is not unlike the Ark of the Covenant - it
is carried by poles, on shoulders.  Before the cover is put in place,
the working parts are displayed.  Rice stalks are pushed in on the far-
right side;  the long "comb teeth" rotating will grab and force them through
the "grills" below, also moving them to the left.  Just above the pulley, there
are flat paddles rotating which throw the lightweight stalks up and out the
discharge chute, lower left.  Grain and husks drop out the bottom.

To the right, and down from, the pulley in the previous photo, this

full- width housing holds a three-paddle blower which spins rapidly

providing a lot of "wind" to blow stalks and chaff out of the machine.

The 12- horsepower heavy diesel engine arrives in the same manner

as the machine's cabinet.  It will be installed in about 5 minutes.  The

heavy fly-wheel visible is about like a 50- pound barbell weight; its

spinning momentum helps the engine to crush its way through the stalks.

(MENTAL NOTE: I have some ideas of using a 16- inch pulley to

cast a cement flywheel, to help power pedal- or- treadle machines like

grain mills, scroll saws, meat grinders, etc.)

Set up and running, the crew rapidly pushes stalks through the "works."

The blur in the upper right corner is stalks being thrown 30-  to 50-

feet beyond the machine.

Heavier grains fall directly below the machine.  Grain with excessive
straw and husk is blown further away, under where the hoe is. Some
difference in color is noticeable - more greenish grain has more chaff in it.

It takes a hoe-man, a basket-man and two baggers to keep up with
the flow of the best, heaviest grain.
 
 (Not shown:) On the fringes of the threshing mat the "cull" rice (lighter-weight husk-
laden grains) was picked up (gleaned) by several people. They and their families will
put this in water, skimming off whatever doesn't settle to the bottom; the heavier
grains that settle will be dried and processed.  Much effort produces at least a little
rice for them to eat.

After the threshing and bagging came a part of the process I wasn't expecting -

so I learned something new!  The thresher crew had also brought a 4- horsepower

large-blade fan and this "tipi" style platform and sieve.  Only the best grain threshed

was passed up to the platform to be dumped through the sieve and winnowed one

more time.  This assures that the final raw rice grain - called "palay" -  has

the highest possible percentage of actual usable rice in it.

This shows the fan blowing most of the remaining "chaff" from the rice

which will be stored and dried for final polishing.  At the edge of the

winnowing mat there was more gleaning, and later when the mat was

rolled up the area was thoroughly picked over. It makes sense that
THIS rice would have higher quality "culls" than the earlier threshed rice.

ANY conventional farm tractor is a surprise to see around here.  This one

was used to bring all the threshing equipment out to us.  The driver named

the manufacturer - three initials that I didn't "get" - but explained that the

maker is Isuzu.  Except for minor details it is very similar to the 1960s

Massey Ferguson I had the last several years in Kentucky.

The driver made a very nice reverse-three-point turnaround, and off
they went.  When we left a short time later we found the crew setting
up to thresh again about 300 m.  down the road from us.

I'll save the drying and polishing of the rice for some other time.  I've cut a few photos from the above and condensed what I wrote, and I'm hoping that it is still clear and understandable.  As things turned out, "nice-looking seed-heads" isn't the determining factor for a crop of rice (fourth photo after "refresher", above).  They also need to have solid, mature grain kernels in them.  Despite our efforts, a combination of insect damage and immature kernels caused our net harvest to be one-third to one-half less than it might have been.  So this time the rice cropping process was an educational experience, and we learned several things which may come in handy to know as we continue small- farming.  We "wholesaled" the freshly harvested palay rice the following day, as the amount of labor and time to sun-dry it and the cost of having it machine-polished didn't seem worthwhile to us, for this time around.  Another time, a different crop, maybe different results.

The next issue may have views of some other occupations I've seen nearby.  I've also found a few "misplaced" photos of some aspects of earlier topics, which I'll post from time to time.

Meantime, we hope you all have a great weekend!

Tim and Bernadette Larson,  Philippines

Boats and Fish

Fish is an essential, staple food for most people who live in our area.  It is the most readily available "meat" for most people, because either they can get it for themselves or it is about one-half the cost of chicken, which is the next- cheapest.  In our household I have not yet seen a day when fish wasn't part of at least two meals.
The population of the Philippines is mostly distributed in areas of the best available resources - water and food being primary needs; this is no different from any other place in the world which I have observed.  So, no surprise:  a glance at the map of Panay Island shows most of the place-names lining the perimeter of the land, with various other settlements located along rivers which flow from the interior of the island.  (I recommend looking at Google Maps.)  Small-scale fishing - one or two people in a canoe, several canoes cooperating, or cooperative raft-fishing seems to feed a majority of the folks here.  I've been making photos as I walk near the sea every day, and am finally getting around to show you some of what I've seen.  (The preferred word locally seems to be "boat," not "canoe" so I'll start saving keystrokes now.)

 The boats in this area seem to be mostly two general sizes.  The

smaller one here is about 12 feet long and 16 inches deep;  the 

larger one is about 16 feet long and 22 inches deep.  These sizes

are approximate; each boat is a hand-built individual.  Every one made

here has the "swan-neck" at each end.  Out-rigger float frames are
aluminum electrical conduit and floats are bamboo sections. The
blue color is a "factory stock" paint here and is seen everywhere.

Boats line the beach here, just above the "hump" of the high-tide

line - there are few gaps in the lineup for as far as you can see.

Here, one boat has just returned from early morning fishing;

they often go out at 2 or 3 o'clock a.m.   Long shadows

pointing west suggest this  may be 7 a.m. or so.

 I don't know the particulars of the fish business.  I imagine that a fisher
will feed his family first, and then will have certain regular agreements with
others who either buy to eat or to re-sell. 

This seems to be a fair morning's catch, though I have seen anything

from "zero" to several times this amount come in a single boat.

 It's pretty common to see newly-cut slabs of wood laid out to season

after a tree has been cut.  Some of this wood will almost certainly be

boat-wood.  As there's lots of it in this picture, there will be some

left for other projects.  Trees are nearly always chainsaw-cut into

2-inch or 3-inch slabs here, which can later be cut into lumber or

into "blanks" for projects.  (see early posting "Hel-Lowes - -)

These blanks were nearby the slabs in the previous photo.  No

question that they are boat keel-boards.  Sometime in the past

boats were carved from single logs, but that's way past. It

would be wasteful and a lot of work, plus the result would be

a heavier and probably more awkward boat.

 I was walking one day and noticed this operation-in-progress.  The

"S" shaped slab is being cut lengthwise and will become swan-neck

pieces for boats.  Using a naturally shaped section of wood keeps

a strong lengthwise grain in the finished piece.

Here, frame members are put into place in slots carved into a finished

keel (mortise- and- tenon joints).  This project looks like a re-build

rather than a new construction.

 Detail photo of the carefully cut joint which secures the swan-neck.

The colored substance is marine epoxy, which is used here in all sorts of

building projects.  It is a mix of two types of putty - much like "bondo"

used in auto body repairs - and it cures into a very strong bond.

Here the project is nearly complete.  The plywood skin reinforces

a light-weight frame and creates a strong and lightweight finished

product.  This type of construction is called "monocoque" or

"aircraft" construction - used for many years making cars, too.

(Clarification - the type of design,  though not  the same materials,

is generally used in aviation and  small-vehicle structures.)

I think that the paint-coating is also an epoxy base, which means

that it acts as a glue/ sealant and further strengthens everything.

Lots of the boats have names.  Some are numbered in series, as

units of small fleets.  Here, the Spanish grammar is a little weak.

 While I was walking one morning a couple of knots just looked

interesting to me so I made photos.  I used half-hitches like these

pretty often when I was tying loads with rope.

I don't know what this one would be called.  It looks neat but a little

more complicated than the "square knot" I would typically use to

join two ropes so they won't slip.  Each rope makes a loop around

the other one, but there's an extra "X" twist in between loops.

 This parade of boats was part of the Malabor Festival earlier this

year.  There were various types of relay and paddle races.

A large could of diesel exhaust signaled the beginning of the motor

boat race.  More than half of the larger canoes seem to be motorized,

 typically with a 12-horsepower industrial diesel engine.  Quite a few

boats also use auto-battery powered floodlights  to attract fish at night.

These two specialized racing boats were not a part of the race

that day.  A conventional motor boat appears to move about

10 to 15 miles per hour.  One of these was being tested one 

morning and its speed was easily near 40.  Note the highly

modified planes on the bottom of the nearer (inverted) boat.

 

Some fishers organize cooperatives to build and use rafts for net

fishing.  Participants have shares of the resulting catch.  This

15 x 30 foot raft is secured about 100 m. from shore, and often

has about twenty people working, with boats utilized to

deploy the nets.

The raft pulled up against the shore, reveals a little bit about its

construction; it appears to be three layers of bamboo poles,

each layer crosswise of the others, with one extra "rail" on top.

The nets are either just-before or just-after repair work.

At intervals the nets are spread on- shore for repairs and this gives an

opportunity to examine how they're made.  A row of floats on one

side keeps it at the top of the water.  A row of weights on the other

side sinks it, and the net will hang like a curtain in the water.  Various

places have heavier lines reinforcing panels of net, and there are

ropes attached at intervals to control the shape of the net as

it hangs in the water, and to retrieve it when it's full.  This net

I "paced," counting my walking strides, at 25 x 150 yards.

For several weeks I keep seeing "PINK" boats to the north, about

one km. beyond where I usually walk.  I finally walked up there

one day and found this "set" of fishing boats, in primer-paint (there

was a really old WWII comedy movie about a pink submarine . . .).

These boats are one western-looking vessel about 50 feet long,

and one "giant canoe" looking vessel about 30 feet long.  They go

out together and the canoe is used to help deploy nets for the

larger vessel.  There is one other "set" like this in the area,

which has recently moved its mooring about 7 km. away.

That's all that I've gathered about how fishing is done locally.  I hear complaints from time to time that large foreign fishing trawlers regularly fish in Philippine waters, causing much depletion of the fish population (making it a lot harder on small-fishers to find enough fish) - and that the Philippine government does not have resources to protect its waters.  The fisher (and the farmer) folks here are poor  -  -  their livelihood depends on whatever they can wring out of the resources around them, by a lot of hard effort and risk.   Fishing particularly is a risky and seemingly near-desperate way to make a living, as the catch is not dependable and it can be dangerous to be on the ocean in a small boat.  A few months ago there were two nights in the same week, when some small boat which went out was not seen again.  But as most people do everywhere, these hard-working folk seem to take their lives "in stride."  The present generation has better education and opportunities to do other things, but many choose to remain in the life-situation which is their family's heritage. 

I'm working my way down a "scratch list" that I've made of possible topics that I've noticed and made some photos of.  There are still several that "I can't believe I haven't done anything with, before now."  And the list still grows from time to time - - we'll see what comes up in the next couple of weeks.

Meantime, have a wonderful and blessed Sunday - - never forget to count your blessings!

Tim and Bernadette Larson,   Philippines

Projects Previously Projected + One That Sneaked Up

It seems to take all kinds of little projects to get a house from being just a "shell" to being somewhat "civilized" and convenient.  It's been a couple months since I wrote about making drawers and shelves in various places here, and sure enough I'm still making small-scale items out of 1/4- inch plywood.  Also, there were some refinements needed in our water-storage system; and, we had quite a few various containers of paint left- over from the initial inside paint-job and various other things we have completed.  As we have continued unpacking our shipped- boxes, there has been a con-stant need for getting the "new" items organized and available to integrate into our life here.

Several postings ago I wrote about building a water reservoir system

using food-products plastic drums atop a 16- foot high structure. The

limited services of the local water-system made this necessary.  But in
actual use, we soon found that it would be handy to know the water-

level remaining, without having to climb up the tower and look each 

time.  After running out of water a couple times, I got around to

doing something about the situation.

 I spent several sessions tinkering with a styrofoam-block for a float,

various rocks (cleaned first) for weights, pulleys, and thin rope,   The

plan was for a weighted float to operate an indicator which could be

seen easily from ground- level. After adjusting tracking, weights, and

rope- lengths several times, suddenly everything started working.  

 A string passes downward from pulley #5, 15 feet, through a hole

drilled in the "mezzanine" concrete deck, to operate this thermometer-

style gauge.  The gauge itself is a piece of blue plastic pipe which

telescopes into the next-larger size pipe (painted brown).  It has only

gotten "stuck" one time in over a month.  I have a young "artist"

planning to come and paint lettering on the gauge-board and on

the "moon-house" door. The water level is easy to "read" now.

For those interested in "how things work," this rough sketch
shows the layout of components in the water- level- gauge.

One day we re-mixed a number of small paint leftovers to get a
few pastel shades for the outside of the house.  Color-matched
paint is not available here yet, and most paint stores have limited
selection; "stock" colors often don't match the color chips.  So
we have learned to use darker stock-colors mixed with white, to
arrive at (or, close to) colors we want.  The saw-horse table out
in front took a long time to get rid of as it was the base for my
table-saw and I used it for as many debris-producing operations
as possible, to keep dust and other mess outside.

Several weeks of tinkering, and I had made an overhead-arm "arbor,"
with a box which allows the big Skil-saw to hang with its blade just-
touching a table below.  I adapted construction-scaffold into the table
which is portable enough - - -

so I only have it outside when I'm actually using it.  The acacia-tree
stump which I'm using for chain saw testing will soon go away, too.

Here's how the "front door" area on the right side of the house is
looking now.  The concrete-block pile has nowhere to go until we
do the "outside kitchen project" in a few months.  The wall of
the bamboo house, featured in early blogs, is to the right.

Just inside the door, our small sitting room has shaped up nicely.
We will be building more bookshelves soon.  The fabric curtain
opposite the shelves covers a clear-plastic-strips curtain we made,
which helps isolate this part of the house from the workshop area,
and makes keeping out dust a lot easier.

Bernadette found this table, left side of previous photo, which
sets off the area very nicely.  It is locally made.

Meantime a small-scale project takes shape on the work-table.  Flat
pieces of 1/4- inch plywood are glued like the one standing up - it
has "tabs" sticking out on both sides from smaller pieces glued on
 its back side.  This creates slots or joints (like dadoes or rabbets,
which wood-workers cut with routers or table-saws).  In a couple
minutes, three pieces similar to the "tabbed" piece will have been
glued and fastened around the edges of the side-piece with the
shoe tacks, which are already in place. This creates the basic box,
which gets flipped over immediately for the other side to be put on.

 This project was magazine boxes like libraries use to shelve collected
periodicals.  These can be bought at WalMart in the USA; I haven't
found any for sale, here.  (My awl, on the table, is made from a 5- inch
nail with a handle carved from scrap wood.  Couldn't find one, here).

Some paint improves their appearance.  The shoe-tacks used for
gluing were removed and their holes filled.We have quite a few "how-to"
 magazines, and these (total 7) will make it possible to organize them.

I've made several  "feed- trough" lights.  They use a small florescent
fixture like the ones used for counter-top lighting in kitchens.  An

inexpensive 10-watt tube will light a 4 x 6 foot area quite nicely.

Brief "side trip:" I didn't mention motorcycles in the previous "Vehicles" blog, but they are everywhere here.  I have ONLY seen one-cylinder bikes here; the largest I have seen is 155cc.  I suspect that there is an import tariff or some other law involved in this artificial-seeming limit, but I haven't found anyone to ask about it yet. 

I hadn't gotten any photo of "five-on-a-bike" previously, but it's
not unusual here. Usually they're moving and I can't get the
camera up in time.  This time I was walking, and they only
moved a few seconds later.

The project that "sneaked up:"  A rice-harvest cycle began last week, and Bernadette has had several requests for "collateral loans" on rice-fields.  It is common immediately after harvest for owners with "other fish to fry" to take loans on the fields, and use the cash elsewhere. The best of these we managed to "cover" and this gives us the use of that field until the loan is paid, and we have "first option" if the field is sold. The man who has managed this field (and others around it) has continued his agreement with us, and so we are suddenly farming on quite a larger scale than before.

It's up to us to provide seed, fertilizer, and sprays, and the harvest will be divided in shares.  This is 3- crop per-year rice land.

 Just a few days after harvest, the field is flooded and a contract-crew
begins  turning-under the stubble.  This part is about 1/4 of our field-
length, and we have three terraces, the other two a bit wider.

First section done, the machines are jumped over the terrace-dam - -

and they take off on the next section.  These terraces are 12" - 14" high.

 He leans really HARD to keep from tearing out the dam to his right.

Close up of the paddle- plus- triangular- claws which turns the

stubble under.  It looked like they were doing two "passes" over

each section of field.

 Break time and lunch meals were prepared at the house and taken

1/4 mile to the workers in a WalMart bag and a Lowe's bag.

Cold water and juice in 1.5 liter soda pop bottles, coffee water in

a Thermos . . .

Fish with vegetable stew in a plastic ice cream container, rice in

a former lard bucket.  A few things are NOT so different, here;

In KY our containers would have been margarine and probably

a 5- quart ice cream bucket.

We're real interested to see how the rice land will work out for us.

Ideally, it will become a local income stream that will  help us to accomplish some other projects.  Only time will tell if we've made a good choice.  

I keep meaning to do a posting about boats and fishing.  Fishing is a major occupation here, and many workers go back and forth between farming and fishing.  I can't say for sure what will be my next topic - we're getting closer to rice-harvest on our OWN farm now, so that's another possibility.

We will keep you posted!

Have a great weekend!

Tim and Bernadette Larson,  Philippines