Plowing the Paddy Field

Hi Greensters!

Plowing the paddies field

Long time no see. It’s been a while since I wrote an article. This is Shirley by the way. So I wanted to talked about my experience going the the paddy field to plant rice and plow it too.

Recently, I went to a camp in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia. There, I did lots of different kinds of activities and one of them was going into the paddy field. So after we went trekking, we went to the paddy field. As soon as I went in, I felt like that I was stepping on poo (*sorry to say that *). It felt really mushy and I had to be careful in order not to fall into it.

I started by planting rice, it was actually quite easy since that I already experienced planting rice a few years back in Bali. But, I’ve never tried plowing the field. The only thing that we had to do was to sit on a wood and control the way which the cow is going to. The area that I was going to sit in was quite small so there was a slight chance that I was going to fall into the water. I had to sit in a certain position so that my back didn’t hurt. But overall it was a pretty nice experience though I was reluctant to do it at first.

Rice is the major source of food for most people in Indonesia, as well as Asian countries. The plants need plenty of water and sunlight. The island I live (Bali island) is famous with Subak irrigation system in its paddy fields. Indonesia has many rain falls. So, the paddy fields can be harvested 3 to 4 times in a year. The scientific name for rice is Oryza Sativa or Asian rice.

So, let's go green and preserve paddies fields. We don't want to be unable to find any paddies fields in the next 20 years, do we?

Thanks for reading.

Best Regards,

Shirley
Vice-President of Green Team Indonesia