The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them. — Paul Hawken.
It is already mid-October.
Farmers are counting the remaining days before the rice harvest.
For several decades the rice production practices have drastically changed, coming from extremely manual to the use of modern machinery.
Aside from my formal education in agriculture during my high school days, I also had a few experiences in the field such as tractoring the fields, planting rice, weeding, and sundrying of rice grains. It was never easy.
During the time of my great grandparents, the rice varieties they grow have only one cropping season each year. From preparation of seeds for germination until eating boiled rice, everything is made sure that nothing is wasted.
The older methods require more manual labor such as 'pipsi' or the threshing the rice grains with the feet and 'baju' or the manual milling of rice using a life-size mortar and pestle.
With these difficult methods, wasting a grain is a sin, even receiving a day-long reprimand for any food waste.
Start of the Harvest Season
In the Philippines, there is no summer, but in our region we have two dry seasons. One is around May and the other is around October to November.
Though there are no strict dates as our region receives an evenly distributed rainfa throughout the year. Those are just lucky months that coincide with the harvest time and giving enough days to sun-dry the rice before milling.
A few days ago, rice harvest has began, but with the limited number of labor, each owner must schedule the best time to harvest with the seasonal laborers.
Luckily, all do not ripen at the same time even if planted at almost the same period. The dryer the field the faster it matures and ripens, but would guarantee a high yield. Some simulate synchronous ripening of vast fields by controlling how they irrigate the rice fields they own.
Although there are owners who make most of the modern machinery, most still rely on the seasonal labor and mechanical threshing.
Collecting Rice Straws and Rice Hull
Rice fields after hsrvesting and threshing.
The rice harvest season can last up to a month. Most farm owners just let the rice straws and hulls rot outside the fields while some still burn it to avoid volunteer rice during the next planting season.
Since there is an abundance of rice straws during the rice harvest seasons, I always try to collect rice straws for mulching at the orchard. It took me more than two hours to go back and forth from the rice fields and back into the orchard.
Partial completion of the mulching on the banana grove.
The plan is to fully cover the food forest and the permaculture garden with rice straw. The best thing is that it heats up as it ferments and rots down, suppressing the weed growth.
I started mulching at the bananas, coffee tree seedlings and the lemongrass patch. Then I continued mulching the bases of the guava seedlings.
Mulching the pathways between the raised beds.
It was getting dark already, so I wasn't able to complete mulching the paths between the raised beds. Mulching the path suppresses the weeds that try to grow inwards, leaving the raised beds free from weeds.
Embracing Sustainable Methods at the Farm
Even if the rice harvest at the farm is still due next week, we already have new plans for embracing sustainable practices to lessen costs while also healing the soil at the farm.
Sun-drying mun beans to remove the seeds easily from the pods.
Though my dad is super practical and sometimes conventional, my mom on the otherhand isn't too difficult to persuade into practical sustainability. She now welcome sustainability as a first priority over conventional methods.
The plan is to scatter the rice straws after harvest back into the fields to decay into organic matter and immediately use the fields to grow mungs beans in between the rice cropping season.
Based on our research, the whole rice fields only needs 8 kilograms of mung beans and can be broadcasted into the moist fields to sprout. It will only take two months from sowing to harvest with a week worth of harvest.
Daily harvest of mung beans used as a cover crop.
With one hectare of mung beans, it can potentially yield more than 800 kilograms while fixing nitrogenous compounds, enough to save up to half of the fertilizer requirements of the next rice cropping season and compounding the carbon and nitrogen stored in the soil.
All of these are still plans, but I am already excited.
How about you, what sustainability methods are you exploring now? Share in the comments section below! ;)
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About Me
@oniemaniego is a software developer, but outside work, he experiments in the kitchen, writes poetry and fiction, paints his heart out, or toils under the hot sun.
 | Onie Maniego / Loy Bukid was born in rural Leyte. He often visits his family orchards during the summers and weekends, which greatly influenced his works. |
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