sv evi

Rice is Life!

This is a quote from Sai, our Hmong guide at the Living Land Farm Rice Experience, outside of Luang Prabang, Laos. We got to learn about the 13 steps involved in a grain of rice’ journey from seed to bowl using traditional Lao farming methods. It was interactive, and so amazing. It was one of our collective favorite experiences.

I remember my Gung Gung telling us when we visited our ancestral home in the Chin village in Guangdong Province, China where he was born that rice farming was back-breaking work. I remember thinking that if he hadn’t immigrated, I (or some version of me) would be a rice farmer. Mind-boggling. And so special to learn more about rice farming because of our family history.

Sai is testing which seeds are good: the ones that sink in salty water

Jade made a raised platform of mud in the paddy, then planted her rice seeds by dropping them

Luz has a bunch of seedlings that we each got to plant

Jade took a turn plowing the paddy with the water buffalo; nowadays most farmers have a machine to plow

I tried to plow with Luz, but gave up after a few steps. The water buffalo walks quite quickly, the plow is heavy, and the mud is deep!

Snail eggs! The rice paddy has to be drained once a month and sit dry for 5 days. Then the snails come to the top and can be killed.

Ma harvesting rice. She moved so deftly with that sickle! She only noticed the blood dripping on her shin afterwards.

The kids are modeling the different ways of carrying the rice harvest, according to the three main ethnic groups in Laos. Jade is modeling the Lao way, Luz the Hmong way, and Tomu the Khmu way.

Winnowing the rice: separating the lighter husks from the edible grain

These are all snacks made from rice that we got to eat at the end of the experience.

Later that night we ate at Khaiphaen, which is a vocational training restaurant named after the popular Laotian crispy river weed snack. The restaurant trains former street youth to become chefs and servers. Each person’s shirt said Trainee or Trainer on the back. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere fancier than our usual. We ordered the sticky rice, and thought about all the work it takes to grow it!