Welcome to Perth Farang..... (e-mail us here with anything including problems with viewing content or using the Forum)29/09/2015

If you have connections in Rural Thailand then you will know this Rice season had a pretty poor start. Drought conditions made it hard for many to judge when to sow the crop. Many who sowed early risked insufficient water to keep the early shoots alive while those who planted late risked problems getting germination happening. Well, it seems most of the crops have managed to scrape through in much of the Yasothan area where my people are based. My wife only did a single sowing this year instead of the double she normally does. For those who don't know what that means - the initial seeding occurs then once it shoots and reaches a juvenile height it is pulled up and replanted at even spacing so the field is uniform density. Where necessary plants are brought in from another surplus field to increase the density and yield of the field. Well, The crop ended up very strong and grew to an unusual height. Eye level with my wife. We had a couple of thunderstorms in the last week that dropped little rain but did produce gusty winds causing many many crops to bend or lay down. Not a lot you can do if the crop is still green. You have to wait for it to become yellow before you can harvest the grain. Well, all came good as a week of hot weather hasted the color change and everybody is harvesting feverishly at the moment. We had the contractor on the farm Saturday. There were storm clouds threatening all day but he managed to get the last load off 30 minutes before a big downpour. See below for a few photos of harvest.