'How do you make rice?'

The landscape we saw in Northern Thailand is dominated by rice paddies, the main crop Thai people have been cultivating for thousands of years. We saw this beautiful mountain on our drive to the village of Chai Thong. The bright green patch in the foreground is rice seedlings that will be picked, bundled, and then replanted by hand in a flooded paddy where the stalks will have more room to grow to maturity. Rice grains grow on the top of the stalk similar to how wheat grows in the Midwest.

At the end of the school year, Mr. Moua and Mr. Raney joined Mrs. Van Houten and Mrs. Printz's second-grade class for a lesson on Thailand and Laos. The students asked many good questions of Mr. Moua. Here are a few examples: "Why did you escape from Laos to Thailand?" "How fast is the Mekong River?" "How does it feel going back to Thailand?" "How do you make rice?"

With Kou and Nu as our guides, we were lucky to not only learn about how rice is grown, but we even got the chance to plant rice in the mountain with Hmong farmers and in the lowlands with Thai farmers. It's long and backbreaking work, but the farmers talked and laughed and seemed to enjoy themselves as they quickly planted their fields and paddies. Many people are working in the fields in June and July to plant rice for the rainy season that is just beginning. The rice we planted will be harvested some time between November and January.

Nu joined the Hmong farmers and showed us how to use the bamboo to make a proper hole. It's a quick jabbing motion with a twist at the end so the sides of the hole don't cave in and fill the hole. It's difficult to see, but the bamboo pole has a metal cone on its base to shape the hole.

We've read and heard about the Hmong people who farm high in the mountains in Southeast Asia. This picture gives you an idea of the height and slope of the fields. Sometimes we'd drive by corn fields that were so steep, they looked like walls. On the steep fields all the work is done by hand, so workers carry seeds, tools, and whatever they harvest in baskets on their backs.

The line of men with their bamboo poles works just ahead of the women who quickly drop the rice seeds into the holes.

Nu stopped so we could buy some ice cream, and we met this Hmong woman as she came down from working in a field near the top of the mountain. She pointed to show us where she had been working.

The ice-cream man put a ball of rice inside a slice of white bread, topped that with small scoops of ice cream, and then drizzled sweetened condensed milk on top. Super tasty!

Here's the contents of her basket at the end of the day.

In this short video, you can see the men working in a line with bamboo poles. They quickly poke lines of holes ahead of the women who follow behind and drop in rice seeds. They were happy to let us try our hand at planting rice on the mountainside. Nu said that the rice they use to plant on the mountain can also be used in paddies, but the rice they plant in the paddies would not grow on the mountain.

We often saw farmers resting in covered platforms like this one just up from the banks of the Mekong River. They dot the mountain fields and are found in the lowland paddies, too. Notice how the cornfield slopes up the side of the mountain.

Nu stopped so we could take some pictures of the farmers planting rice seedlings. The teams of farmers moved quickly and efficiently as they worked in lines from one paddy to the next. One man threw bundled seedlings ahead of the planters so they could keep up a steady pace.

In this short video, the woman in the foreground immediately came over to us and showed us how to properly stick the seedlings into the mud. This gives you an idea of how the seedlings are spread out in the paddy. You can hear Nu talking with the farmers. According to Kou, at one point Nu says, "Whoever is a single lady, please raise your hand."

Joel watched as the Thai farmer showed him how to use his thumb to set the seedling in the mud, not too shallow so it floats up and not too deep.

Mrs. Van Houten can't wait to teach her students at Longfellow Elementary about how to make rice now that she's had firsthand experience!

Our team agreed that Kristen was the fastest learner when it came to planting rice.

This is what the rice we planted will look like when it's ready to harvest. Thank you to our friend, Lee Pao Xiong, for the picture.

This picture was taken from the front porch of Nu's house. The small house-like structure built on stilts is his family's granary where they store their supply of rice for the year. As we drove through Hmong villages, we could see the small granaries built near many houses.

When we arrived at Chai Thong school, it was lunch time. We had a great time helping the teachers serve lunch, interacting with the children, and watching how they fill the slop bucket and clean their own dishes.

When we arrived to Chai Thong School, the younger students had just started eating lunch. Each child brings rice from home in plastic bags, plastic containers, or small metal buckets.

After the younger students finish washing their dishes and run off for recess, the older students stand in line outside the cafeteria with their rice brought from home. The tall girl in the middle pointing her shoe toward the camera is Nu's daughter. She was very happy to see her father.