Director’s Report:
On Tuesday (Oct.1), on a beautiful autumn day with the sky high in the sky, all community members at ARI worked together to harvest rice.
It has been about 4 months since the rice was planted in early June. After surviving a
record-breaking heat wave, and receiving much love and care from the farm staff, the
Participants, and the volunteers, all the rice plants were harvested.
The total area of ARI’s rice fields is about 1.8 hectares. Already 90% of the rice has been harvested by machine, and only about one-tenth of the total area has been harvested by hand. In the past, a larger area of rice was harvested by hand, and the rice was also hung up on a rake, but the total area harvested by hand has decreased as the total area of rice paddies has increased. In recent years, however, a small ceremony led by the Participants has been held before the rice harvesting begins. This year, I gave a short speech, cut a tape of flowers woven into a rope, and then put the sickle into the first rice plant. This was followed by a lively Filipino “rice harvesting dance”.
After about three hours of work that day, all the rice harvesting was completed for the year.
The total yield was about 8 tons.
With a grateful heart, we will enjoy this precious rice for a year with the members who worked hard this year and the members of the next year who are yet to be discovered.
