Harvested Happy Hill (Fukuoka rice) and Dries it in the Sun

November is the time when Happy Hill in my rice paddy is harvested.

Happy Hill is a a rice breed made by Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese farmer and philosopher famous for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. This is the fifth year since I started to grow this special kind of rice.

I've been practicing a different kind of farming method than the way taken by most of nowadays farmers. So in the first year when I started my way of rice farming, neighbors who come across my rice paddy kind of ridiculed and criticized my way. Some of them suggested helping me with their machines, but I declined because I didn't want to rely on heavy machines which could destroy the natural harmony in my rice paddy. They must have had frustration as they couldn't give a helping hand to a complete beginner. I sympathize with them, but I had to say no. I needed to try a way which I believed would be much better for natural environment and for people who grow and eat the harvest.

It is said that rice grown in a dry field is subject to injury by continuous cropping, but my Happy Hill, which grow in a dry field with little water which seeps from a neighboring rice paddy, has grown healthily for five consecutive years. I suppose this could be possible by making them grow with a variety weeds ――I only scythe them sometimes and don't till the land or pull them completely. This way seems to keep the diversity of plants and creatures in the paddy.

It's a fun time to harvest rice in the mild and sunny weather.

In Japan nowadays it is rare  to dry harvested rice in the sun ――although some farmers seem to keep practicing this conventional method mainly for their home consumption as they know this makes rice more richly flavored.