Doug scoured the Luang Prabang write-ups in www.travelfish.org and a few other sites for ideas of unique things we could do during our days in the area. When we read about Living Land farm and their sticky rice farming tour, we were hooked!
Availability This Afternoon?
We called and booked for an afternoon tour that same day, opting in for lunch. We were picked up at our hotel and made the 20 minutes drive out to the farm, just on the outskirts of Luang Prabang proper. The setting was absolutely stunning!
There were a few other tables of guests eating lunch when we arrived. Funny enough, one was a Belgian couple that had been on our bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, who we'd seen several times since. We later learned that they had all been on the morning tour. We lucked out and were the only ones in the afternoon tour. Jackpot!
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and our first time trying traditional Lao river weed, aka seaweed with toasted sesame seeds and garlic. Yum!
Time to Work & Learn
After lunch our smiley tour guide, Khamla, introduced himself and gave us a run-down of Living Land farm. Khamla has worked at the farm for about 6 years. Prior to that he was a monk for a number of years, but opted to leave the monkhood when he turned 16 years old. He explained that Living Land is a community farm consisting of about 8 families who still grow & harvest sticky rice the traditional way. Profits from the farm help send local families' kids to school and pay medical bills. Introductions aside, it was time to get to work!
But First
Before we set out into the fields, Khamla showed us a few hand-made "instruments" for catching birds & mice. A bit larger than the contraptions we're used to buying to trap mice in the USA :) Any poor soul that made it into these traps did not make it out alive and was certain to show up on their dinner plates. Eek! We actually saw one of the same bird traps out in the rice terraces during a hike in Vietnam (a week later).
14 Steps
Charming Khamla guided us through the 14 (!) steps of making sticky rice. We didn't just stand back and listen, though; this was a hands-on, legs-in-the-mud, try-every-step-ourselves kind of learning day! To this day, we still can't believe none of us fell into the knee-high mud! We all had a blast trying our hand at everything from hopping up & down on a wooden plank to activate the mortar & pestle - to thrashing dry rice with our mega arm muscles - to plowing the soil with Susan the water buffalo - to singing traditional Lao folk songs (we need to practice!) while transplanting seedlings - to winnowing (fanning) the rice to blow away the bad grains. The girls were "all in" and did not skip a beat. After the initial shock wore off, the girls didn't even mind being up to their thighs (our knees) in mud & water was exciting. What an amazing, memorable afternoon!
Plowing the soil with Susan the Water Buffalo:
Transplanting the seedlings:
Learning a traditional Lao farmer song while we transplant seedlings. We start out strong, but end up embarrassingly weak! No recording deals in our future :)
Trashing the rice:
Husking rice with mortar & pestle. Check out how coordinated Khamla is with this gigantic mortar & pestle machine:
Sifting the rice to separate the husk from the rice:
Almost ready to eat!
Fresh Eyes
We came away from the afternoon with a newfound appreciation for the cultivation of rice. It's extremely hard, tedious work. We'll never look at a grain of rice the same way again! We also came to appreciate the Lao fastidious use of every single component of the rice; nothing is put aside as waste. For example, hollow (unhealthy) grains & rice straw are used to feed animals, rice straw is used to make brooms, (in other farm staples) bamboo stalks are used to make baskets/furniture, etc. This efficiency and respect for all component pieces reminded us of our day at a farm outside Cairo, Egypt.
We're Official
At the end of our afternoon, Khamla awarded us certificates. We had successfully completing our training in sticky rice farming! Reading between the lines, I'm pretty sure Khamla said we're ready to do the 14 steps on our own (wink, wink). So if we don't figure out what to do with our lives after this trip, we may become sticky rice farmers :) Stay tuned.
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The 14 Steps In All Their Glory!
For those curious souls out there, here are the 14 steps to making sticky rice:
SELECT GOOD GRAINS/best seeds: If they sink in salty water they are good, healthy seeds; hollow grains do not float, are not good for planting & are used to feed animals)
GERMINATE seeds into seedling: Sprinkle seeds on top of mud paddies and water 2x/day for 21-28 days
PLOW the soil with a water buffalo or "gas buffalo" (plow machine), turning over the mud
TRANSPLANT the seedlings: Make flat rice patties & transplant them. Sing a few Lao folk songs in the process :)
TAKE CARE of the rice: Remove crabs & snails (eat those!) from terraced patties, drain out all water, let dry 5-10 days, then put water back in & weed regularly. ~3 months later it's ready to harvest. One good grain will net hundreds of grains.
HARVEST the dry rice: Use sickles to cut off the dry rice, tie into bundles
THRASH the dry rice: Basically whack the bundles of dry rice against a hard surface & the grains fly off the straw. Feed rice straw to animals or use to make a broom.
WINNOW the rice: Use a fan to blow away bad grains, can store good grains 4-5 years
PACK & CARRY HOME: Each group in Lao (Hmong vs Kamu vs Lau) have different ways to carry the rice home (i.e. on their back, hanging from a pole, etc.)
HUSK rice: Use mortar & pestle, hop on it with your whole body to activate the process
SIFT out the rice: Winnow to separate the husk from the rice. The rice can now be taken to the kitchen to cook.
SOAK rice: Overnight for sticky rice
COOK rice
EAT & enjoy rice (with your hands)!
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