rain after seeding

Today and yesterday we have had some rain, so the seeds aren't going to get dried out.

wheat planted

Yesterday I got the fields all ready and the wheat all planted. The field was mostly covered in grass, unfortunately not rice stubble as was planned, so I had to cut the grass and move it off the field. My children and I broadcast the seed by hand and then covered it with the grass that we had moved off to the margins of the field.

We planted "Ayahikari" variety wheat, with 30 kilograms of seed for all four fields with the following amounts for each field, moving downhill. 7.8 kilos, 9.5, 9.5, and 3.2.

The most significant threat to the crop will come from wild pigs who may gobble up the seed before it sprouts. Fungus and other disease may be a problem, but nothing really compared to the pig issue.

cut and stack grass

Spent 3 hours in the rice fields today, cutting grass and stacking it. Found that since the grass is all laying one direction you can roll it into a pile neatly at the end of the field. Works great.

Tomorrow some of the guys are coming around with the Biodynamic preparations. I think they will use "500," which is a concoction of cow manure that has been placed in a cow horn and left by the bank of a river over the winter. There is so little of the substance used that if there is any effect, it is the positive ministrations applied to the field rather any results any of the substances may have.

wheat plant

wheat plant
Originally uploaded by touzanka

We are getting around to planting wheat. We broadcast the wheat sead and cut the weeds on top of them. The weed cover was so thick that we moved most of it off to the sides. This was probably a mistake, and will first cut and remove weeds, broadcast the seed, and then cover the seed with enough grass to discourage birds.