In Japan, it's rice-planting season right now. When you walk around a rural area, you can see rice fields being planted everywhere. While waiting for a local bus, I also spotted the scene. It was fascinating to watch a rice-planting machine place the seedlings so precisely.
I live in a rural area and there are many rice fields around my house. Most of the field have already been filled with water, so in the evening you can listen to beautiful chorus of frogs.
I've heard the weather this year might become more unpredictable because of a super El Niño. It could make hot weather much hotter, while cold weather even colder. I've already started worrying about my vegetable garden.
I hope the rice plants will grow well, and there won't be a rice shortage this year.
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Beautiful post! I love rice paddies. I'm originally from Louisiana, where rice paddies serve a double function: they produce rice, which is so important to the local cuisine, and also make an excellent breeding ground for crawfish, which are a seasonal favorite in the state. Lots of southern farmers intentionally rotate rice and crawfish crops. After the rice is harvested, the fields are flooded. The leftover rice provides a continuous food source and excellent shelter for the crawfish to thrive and breed. In return, the crawfish deposit waste that acts as natural fertilizer, enriching the soil for the next rice planting season.
I visited Louisiana once with my Bolivian friend, and we took a plantation tour. The bus driver was so kind that he gave us a grave yard tour as well for free. It was so much fun, but I didn't know that there were rice paddies there. Thank you for the information. I used to go to Alabama and Kentucky and loved seeing cotton fields, but I've never seen rice paddies either.
I didn't know that rice is used for crawfish. I know they are very popular in Louisiana. I haven't tried it yet. Do your rice paddies look like ours?
Yes they do. I've only ever seen them with full-grown rice. They're beautiful, watery places — especially at dusk.
They must be so pretty! I hope I'll see them someday.