Flooding fields

I have an abundance of scenery photos...  I wanted to show how the rice fields get flooded around here but before I get the photos uploaded, the farmers are now getting ready to plant the fields!

Near the fields there are little shacks that have pumps inside to bring underground water to fields.  Actually when we first moved into the neighborhood 20 years ago, the whole neighborhood still got its drinking water from a well that was pumped to the homes.  We have since gone on city water, but anyway, the underground water is very good.  The farmer will come early in the morning and turn on a pump and and gradually the field will flood over.  It takes about a day for this whole field to be completely flooded.

The tractors leave pretty patterns in the fields which are visible only between the start of the flooding and before the field fills.

Between the fields are little waterways that at other times of the year are waterless, but in the early spring will direct water from this field to that.  A board or something will be placed in the slot there to direct the water to another field when the first is flooded.

Choco enjoys taking a cool drink of water in the morning where the day before no water was at all.

Next come the tractors.  I don't know why all rice field tractors are orange but I have yet to see another colored tractor.  Though I really know nothing about the process I have heard that the step of plowing through the flooded field stirs up the mud which then settles into layers that keep the water from seeping down into the earth.

 Two farmers busy in their separate fields.

I love the way the flooded fields reflect the nearby scenery.

It is not all machinery though.  After this farmer plowed through his field with the tractor he got down into the muddy water himself with his rake and spent a long time leveling the soil to his liking.

So there we have a flooded field.  By this weekend there will be rice sprouts planted and we will no longer have the mirror effect.  So pretty!!