THE RICE IS IN

Yesterday we planted all the fields. June 1. Last year we planted on May 18, but this year the rain has been more sporadic. We planted with Mae, brother number three, and two cousins: a small group. But the planting went well, somehow easier than last year even though we had fewer people. Maybe it was just me, getting more accustomed to the process. I have learned to toss the rice farther and with more force, so I can cover more ground faster. This year no one even came over to give me lessons on technique.

It was funny, though, starting out. I started right beside the old barn, right in the place where the cobra lived last year. The area is bare now, but still I looked around carefully as I tossed the rice. It's amazing how much the farm transforms from dry season to wet season and back again to dry season. Soon the fields will be deep in water and there will be fish and shrimps, crabs and
water snakes.

Pea was hugely happy to be planting. She loves the farm from deep inside her soul. And so does Mae. They're just happy to sit there in the quiet, a breeze blowing, clouds racing across the sky. They've known that farm all their lives. They've planted the fields and harvested the fields all their lives. It's their place on earth.

Yesterday we even had an extra bonus: we're in the height of red ant egg season! We came home with a bounty of red ant eggs, riding the motorbike tired but cool with a breeze. In the air there was a wonderfully familiar smell of tender rice seedlings coming up in fields all around. It's a smell that's hard to describe: sweet, almost like jasmine rice cooking in the kitchen, but more
delicate.