17 November 2008 - Work, Work, Work

Work, Work, Work
Monday, 17 November 2008

The fields are alive with the sounds of ... work.

It is a very busy time in the fields of Isaan.

As I thought about what to write about in this edition of my blog, I considered topics such as "Passion", "Tolerance", "Fate", as well as "Like, Fear, Respect". But since one of the main purposes of this blog is to share life experiences outside of the United States, I decided, for today, to share my latest visit to Tahsang Village.

We first drove ot past Kumphawapi to visit Duang's pregnant daughter. All along the way out to her house, we passed fields where rice was being harvested. The harvesting is typically done by 3 to 5 people by hand. As you approach the paddy you will notice a couple of motorbikes, or a farm truck(?) parked alongside the road. The trucks are very unique vehicles. They are mostly wood built upon a metal chassis. The trucks do not have doors. They have a small, about the size of a bushel basket, diesel engine in the front. When the engine is running it makes a "TUK, TUK, TUK" sound. The trucks do not go very fast but are indestructible. They are open aired without a windshield. When they are new they are painted with very colorful designs. Pressed metal decorations are also attached along the wagon sides.

Farming in Isaan is an anonymous activity. There is not much individuality exhibited in the day to day rhythm of cultivating a poor land. Most of the people wear bright yellow wide brimmed straw hats. As these hats age they become a dull brown due to sun, sweat and dust. Some people start with a white hat but it more quickly becomes brown.

Beneath the wide brimmed hats the next component of the ensemble is a face covering. It is in the face covering that some individuality is exhibited. Some people wear a black balaclava or dark ski mask. Others use the pakema (long piece of brightly colored plaid cotton cloth) to cover up their face. There are other people who truly exercise their fashion freedom by using a tee shirt to cover up their face other than their eyes. The tee shirts come in all sorts of bright colors and designs. There is no predominate color or motive to the selected tee shirts.

Long sleeved cotton shirts, typically dark colors, are worn beneath a dark colored jacket or sweat shirt. Men wear pants or denim pants. Women wear either pants or long skirts that have intricate pattern designs. The colors are usually dark.

To protect their hands from the coarse stalks, they wear black knitted cotton gloves with the finger tips cut off for better feel.

The workers wear rubber boots or flip flop sandals on their feet.

The end result is that everyone looks pretty much alike out in the fields. Very seldom do you see more than just someone's eyes to differentiate the workers.

The people perform their back breaking labor from early morning to just before sunset. Sunset now is around 5:30 PM. A lunch break is taken around 1:00 PM. In some fields small wooden raised platforms with a thatched roof are available for rest breaks and lunch. Where these are not available, sahts (woven reed mats) are placed under the shade of a tree for lunch and rests. Often small children accompany their parents or grandparents out into the fields. They amuse themselves as best they can around the rest stations.

After our visit with Duang's daughter we drove out to Tahsang Village. After paying our respects to the family, we drove out into the fields to locate the various uncles, aunts, and cousins working the land.

We drove through and over dry dusty land next to rice, cassava, and sugar cane. Our first stop was where an aunt and uncle where planting cassava called "man falang" here in Isaan. I had previously written about a villager in Tahsang Village chopping up long sticks of cassava to sell to a distributer who then sells the short stubs for planting. Cassava is used to make tapioca and nowadays is a strong contributor to making ethanol for alternative fuels used for vehicles. The cassava is a shrub that grows to about 5 feet high. Beneath the shrub is a tuber somewhat like a sugar beet or large sweet potato. It is the tuber that is processed to make tapioca.

Because it is a hearty shrub, cassava is cultivated year round. Next to the field that was being planted today was a one month old crop. After one month in the ground the 6 inch long bare twigs have germinated into 12 inch long shrubs.

Duang's aunt and uncle had already spread the twigs along the furrows of the prepared former sugar cane field. The soil was bone dry. The earth in Isaan is very poor. It is composed of moistly clay. Clay is devoid of organic matter that provides nutrients to crops and helps maintain moisture in the soil. Clay have a very high percentage of particles called fines. Fines are not "fine" for farming. They compact and do not allow for good aeration of the crop roots and does not allow for the draining of water. These are reasons for why rice is grown in Isaan using the submerged cultivation technique - the heavy monsoon rains do not drain off the ground well. Most other crops would drown whereas rice can survive in the standing water.
Rainfall has diminished in the past month so the ground has dried up. Because of the fines associated with the clay and the lack of organic matter is the soil, there is dust everywhere. The dry clay is powdery lacking the necessary constituents to bind it together.

Whereas the previous day the sugar cane was being laid at the bottom of the furrows, today the short cassava twigs were stuck into the top of the raised earth between the furrows on 18 to 24 inch centers. This was all done by hand - stoop labor in the heat, strong sun, and wind.

At the end of this field, that was previously a sugar cane field that had been harvested, burned off and then plowed, was a very large area of sugar cane ready for harvest. The cane was about 8 feet high and bone dry. It was very much like a corn field in late October back in New England. The cane was in rows with no more than 18 inches between the rows - very congested and daunting. I have read stories about snakes liking sugar cane fields so I kept an eye out. In addition to the dry sugar cane there were some small vines growing up and around some of the stalks. In the little areas where there was some light, native grasses had grown. The entire field was one great big mass of vegetation and thankfully no animals.

Another uncle was harvesting the sugar cane - by hand. He harvested the cane row by row. We had to traverse the areas where he had already cut the crane. This was difficult. The ground was littered with cut dry stalks of sugar cane, remnants of furrows, and a heavy mat of dry grasses. We eventually got to him without twisting an ankle or falling down but with a great deal of sweat.

Duang's uncle harvested the cane by grabbing a stalk with his right hand and used a heavy machete in his left hand to sever the stalk about 6 inches above the ground with a single blow. Without dropping the cut stalk, he trimmed the leaves off of the cane with sweeping motions of the machete. The roughly finished stalk was laid flat on the ground. After awhile, he would back track and bundle the stalks into bundles of 3 to 4 stalks. He used some of the removed leaves to tie the stalks together. This will facilitate loading them onto the farm wagon at a later time. I got heavily involved in photographing his work from all different angles to take advantage of available perspectives as well sunlight positions. In no time at all I was sweating and tired. Even though the day was not as hot as we had experienced a month ago, the sun, humidity, temperature, and congestion of the sugar cane exacted a toil quickly - on me. Duang exhibited more common sense and just squatted down in the shade of the standing cane and waited for me to wear myself out. Her uncle, despite his age, just kept on working. The life of a farmer in Isaan is a difficult struggle. I would not deny them their glass or more of Lao Kao (moonshine) that gives them a little respite from the burdens of their work.

After leaving the sugar cane fields we drove along a dirt path towards some people harvesting rice. I pulled along the side of the path and parked the truck. They were at first a little suspicious but Duang explained to them that I wanted to photograph them. As usually happens here in Isaan, an animated conversation took place and everyone ended up acting as if they were old friends. The people got a kick out of my enthusiasm in taking pictures of them doing their work. It makes for good photographs.

On our way back to Udonthani we passed the "fishing camp" outside of Kumphawapi. I have written about these before. These are the bamboo platforms that once were high above the land. With the monsoon rains, these platforms are now close to the surface of the flooded land. I have wanted to photograph the people fishing from these platforms but never had the opportunity before. Today as the driver, I could stop where and when I wanted to. I saw that one of the platforms was occupied. I pulled over and grabbed my camera gear. Duang quickly followed and explained to the fisherwomen across the water what we were up to. Once again a long and animated conversation commenced. The people of Isaan are very curious and friendly.

The woman was sitting on a small wooden platform about 3 feet above the water. She was fishing the muddy water next to a small concrete bridge for the main road to Kumphawapi. In this area there were about 14 other small fishing platforms but unoccupied at this late afternoon time. The ground around the platforms showed and smelled evidence of visits by water buffalo.

Above the platform was an A-frame made out of bamboo poles. Suspended from the A-frame was a block and tackle. Attached to the rigging tackle was a large "X" made out of bamboo. A large square net about 8 feet by 8 feet was attached to the "X". The woman while seated raised and lowered the net into the water using the rigging. If fish were in the raised net she used a long handled net to capture them and transfer them to a container.

The fish were small. The largest that I saw was about 4 or 5 inches long.

After taking my fill of photos there we continued on way back home.

We arrived home tired, hungry and very satisfied with the day that we had enjoyed together. Family visits, playing with Duang's 9 month old cousin, farm lunch with Duang's sister, rice harvesting, cassava planting, sugar cane harvesting, and fishing - a full and complete day here in Isaan.