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Planting Rice in Cornish Flat

Some basics about growing rice: paddy rice grows in standing water. The type of rice I grew comes from the northern, colder part of Japan and is a variety called Hayayuki. Takeshi and Linda started the rice season in early April, soaking rice grains in 50 degree water for seven days, changing the water every day or two. Then they planted the grains in flats filled with potting soil. For two weeks they treated them as one would any vegetable seedling, then they kept a little standing water covering the soil surface.

Rice is not cold hardy, but the Akaogis planted their rice in paddies on May 7 last year. They have a series of rice paddies that are fed with warm water they pre-heat in a pool that is lined with a rubber liner. The sun warms the black material, heats the water, and they drain it by gravity into the paddies as needed.

So how did I grow mine? They said I should plant it in a five-gallon pail with ordinary garden soil, leaving an inch and a half of space at the top. I decided to add a little bagged organic fertilizer 1/4 cup along with 1-2 quarts of composted cow manure.

Since I only had one plant, I babied it as I am wont to do with rare or special plants. I filled my bucket of soil with water as hot as I could get from the tap, which warmed my cold spring soil. As it absorbed the water I added more. Finally when it would absorb no more water I placed it in the afternoon sun right next to the front door of the house.

I carefully planted the rice plant into the soil, settled it in with my fingers, and added a little more water so that it would think it was sitting in an Asian rice paddy. I kept an eye on the plant, and as it grew I added water to keep the lower part of the stem in water.

I planted my rice seedling on May 12, but we often have frost until the first week of June, which is why I placed the bucket where I did. The stone foundation there absorbs the heat of the sun and radiates it back out. Even so, on cold nights I carried the bucket inside. Finally I brought the bucket down to my vegetable garden where it would get sun all day.

Rice does something that farmers call "tillering." That means that a plant sends up more shoots from the same roots, forming a clump. This is highly desirable when planting grains, as it multiplies the number of grains that you get from each plant. By the end of the summer I had more than 50 stalks with seeds on them.

About 90% of all rice in the world is harvested by hand, so I went with the time-honored technique. Not all the grains were ripe, but when 70% of the leaves had turned a golden yellow-brown I harvested -- with much ceremony and a pair of ordinary kitchen shears. I allowed the grain to dry for 2-3 weeks, then used my hands to pull the grains (which were still covered with their hulls) off the stems. I stored them in a closed container until now, when I decided that I was hungry for home-grown organic rice.

Threshing, or removing the outer hull, is generally done by machine. Not having one, I just spread out the rice I had on the kitchen counter. I used my grandmother's wooden rolling pin, rolling it back and forth over the rice. I could hear crunching, but still much of the rice had hulls. I then put it in a stone mortar, and gently worked it over with a pestle. Then I spread out the rice and debris, and used my breath to blow away the chaff from the rice. I was left with a little under a quarter cup of home-grown rice.

Takeshi and Linda will be doing a rice-growing workshop March 17 in the community room of Brooks Library in Brattleboro, VT at 7pm. As part of a grant they will be distributing 250 free packets of rice seed though the Northeast Organic Farmer's Association of Vermont. When the seed is ready for distribution you will be able to order it from the NOFA web site, http://www.nofavt.org.

To learn more about growing rice go to http://www.nofavt.org/resources/nofa-notes and click on "Summer 2008" for an article about the Akaogi rice farm. Other sites on rice production include http://ricelab.plbr.cornell.edu/new/ or http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/uccerice/main.htm.

I will never become a rice farmer, but enjoyed seeing what goes into growing one the of the world's major food crops. You might like to try it, too.

Henry Homeyer is the author of 3 gardening books. You may reach him at P. O. Box 364, or henry.homeyer@comcast.net; his web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com