Farming: Think before you eat

                                                      An average day with my host family
                                                                 By Matthew Busconi
                                                                        2/2/203 B.C.
                       
    My day starts very early.  At around 6:00.  The sky is still very dark.  I force myself out of bed.  After a long day of work, I wake up aching every day.  I wash up a little and head over to the kitchen for a little something to eat before the long day.  My host family the Chang's is just getting up to.  But Kanya my host mother is always up and ready with a pot of rice and a side of eggs cooking on the stove.  Along with a cup of tea.  A long day starts with a great breakfast.  Host mother is middle aged around 45 and has the heart of a queen.  Always has a smile on her face wearing her light dress.  I love her cooking.  I am always the first to eat.  I eat like a mad man.  All of my food is gone in about 5 minutes.  The sun is not yet giving off its deadly beams of heat.  It is cool outside.  Just as I am finishing host father comes down for breakfast.  Like host mother, Chao my host father is middle aged around 46, a very hard working man if you ask me.  He likes to wear a straw hat to shade himself when he works.  As he receives his morning meal I head out to the field by myself.

The family consists of 5 people my host mother Kanya, my host father Chao, my host brothers Khio, and Chilo who are both 15.  And my host sister Jan- Li who is 13.  Jan-Li helped host mother at home with the cooking and cleaning while myself, host father, Khio, and Chilo work in the field.

My host are peasants but do well.  They work as farmers.  Many people enjoy their crops and come to buy them at Farmer Chang’s.  The Chang’s family market.  On the farm we grow rice, soybeans, corn, potatoes, and tobacco.  We also have 2 dozen chickens that produce a lot of eggs everyday.  We plant at the start of every month and harvest in 2 months.  We bring down our dairy products every day.

It is harvesting season on the farm.  I grab my sickle and wave it around slicing all the rice in my way.  The farm is big, so I am only responsible for 3 rows, and sometimes 4 rows depending on how fast I am going.  The sun is starting to wake up and it is getting real hot real fast.  My host father has just started his harvesting.  Khio and Chilo are walking out to the field.  By lunchtime which is at about 2:30 I am dripping with sweat.  I have finish two rows of harvesting crops.  Kanya and Jan-Li have cooked us a vegetable stir fry.  It was mainly composed of soybeans and corn with a little bit of rice.  It was delicious.  I finished eating in about 10 minutes.  I grabbed a freshly cleaned towel and wiped all the sweat from my body.  I threw the towel over my shoulder and headed back out to the field.  The faster you do your chores the faster you get to go inside.

It wasn’t till around 7:00 until I finished my 4 rows.  I was going so fast today that I decided to do 4 rows instead of 3.  I was the first one in.  Host father, Khio and Chilo were halfway done with their fourth row.  They finished around 7:45.  I like to head out early and finish early so I can get more time to relax.  I am usually the first one in everyday.  After we all dry ourselves off  we have dinner.  Our dinner is pork with a side of rice and corn.  Before we eat we pray to Buda.  The Chang’s follow Buddhism and aren’t as religious as other families but always say prayers before eating dinner.  As soon as the prayers end we all dive in.  It was delicious as usual.  Dinner ends at around 8:30.  After another long day of work I head over to my bead and fall into a deep sleep only to continue to do the same thing that I did today, tomorrow.