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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Rice is In

Twenty-three weeks from seed sowing to harvest and the rice is safely in the house . Now to thresh, winnow and remove the hull (which is probably going to be the most difficult part of the exercise). I am so looking forward to the one meal we will have from this crop.
My homegrown rice
638 grams of lovely grains and something a little different from a backyard garden. The experiment has been interesting and after a few moments thought, I have decided to branch out further with our grain growing. Next to be planted will be oats, rye and spelt. The advantage of living on a small farm is that there is plenty of room to grow our own food without the pressures of relying on the farm for our livelihood.


Not a bad place to work


The weather today is just perfect. Sunny, a slight breeze but a little cool. I wanted to go for a bike ride but my tyre was flat so I decided to work in the garden instead. It really is the best place to be right now. Good things to harvest and still things to plant too. I planted garlic and broadbeans this morning and I really feel like heading back out.


There is still some patience to be exercised. My luffa plant got off to a slow start because of the cool and wet spring and early summer season. It has however decided to put out a solitary fruit. Although it is slightly obscene looking I hope it can hang on long enough to ripen so we have a new sponge and some seeds too.


While I seem to be energised, I will head back to 'work'.


Tracy

9 comments:

africanaussie said...

that rice looks delicious, I look forward to the verdict once you have cooked it up. I thought my luffa was finished for the season and it has suddenly taken off again with lots of new fruit. Who knows - maybe all the rain got it confused. I can send you some seeds if you dont get any from this one.

Hazel said...

I wanna grow a luffa. Where do you get the seeds?

Lisa said...

Wow, Tracy - good for you, is all I can think of to say! :)

Damo said...

Great stuff a rice harvest, I can safely say you are the first person I know that has grown rice!

Anonymous said...

WOW! You grow your own RICE... It looks great. Love all your garden photos. Definately a nice place to "work"

Bec - Farmers Wife said...

Thanks for the inspiration. Makes me want to get into the garden, just have to wait for it to stop raining first LOL

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see the finished rice. It's just so neat!

Janice said...

I can't wait to hear how your rice tastes. Did you know that those decorative Japanese balls with the lovely designs in threads are traditionally made with a bag of rice husks as the base. My Japanese friend from school made me one years ago, which I hang on my Christmas tree each year.

rosie said...

Hi Tracy,
How will you thrash your rice now you have harvested it? We grow oats but in big paddocks! Love to know how it all goes....