Rice seedlings just after they were planted in June. A single seedling is transplanted at an even spacing of 25cm x25cm and at just 2 weeks after the seed is planted in a seedling bed. This is a few of the basic principles of planting rice in a method called the System of Rice Intensification aka SRI. With SRI you also water the rice and keep the ground moist but not flooded and it also requires more weeding, since it is not flooded and the water can't keep the weeds down.

With this method Farmers around the world are increasing their yields substantially. Scientist are still debating whether it is the actual method or just that the farmers are taking better care of their rice as to the reason for the increase in yield.

This is the same paddy as it is growing. We have two replications of 8 different varieties planted here.

The rice as it is ready to harvest.

Just before harvest.

Me in the partially harvested paddy. We had to harvest each replication of each variety separate and only the inside of each block leaving the guard rows for later, so we can evaluate how well each of the varieties produced.

OK so I am finally updating my blog again.

This is an example of building a raised bed & transplanting sweet potatoes.

Michelle helped me build and plant this bed in August.

We started with this weedy broken down bed and set strings at the proper width for the bed and then placed the dirt outside the string back on top of the bed.

Then you spread the dirt, pack it down and the you end up with this beautiful bed.

To plant the sweet potato we took cuttings from the terminal ends of the sweet potato vines and stuck them in the ground.

Last but not least we put down new paper and mulch to keep the weeds down.

Here are our cuttings a couple of weeks later. Now they have filled the bed and are spilling over into the beds on either side of them.