Rain Season 2016

The rain season this year was surprising and memorable for us. I remember seeing a long-term weather forecast from the Thai government meteorological department saying that the rains would be somewhat more plentiful than usual this season and also a bit later in coming. This would be due to the diminishing El Nino event in the Pacific and a developing La Nina later on. Everything turned out exactly as predicted! Still, we never imagined such an abundance of water filling our ponds to the brim and then to over-flowing. Here's how it happened:

Flooded fields and the outlet channel

Because of some fairly heavy rainfall late in the growing season, neighboring farmers found their rice paddies filling up with an excess of water just when the crops were reaching maturity. In accord with long tradition, they opened channels in their dykes to drain the water into the next (lower) field even if it belonged to someone else. Thus, a chain reaction happened in which all the excess water for a few km. around made it's way to our land which is the lowest in the area.

We watched as our ponds filled and then overflowed. I had to quickly dig a deep ditch from one pond to the other to guide the flood to the old drainage channel which farmers long ago had built as an outlet for times such as this. The system worked perfectly; the flood was contained at a reasonable level and then it slowly began to drain.

Harvesting rice

By the time the crop was ready to be cut we could get into the muddy field. The photo at the right is misleading. I only helped a little bit.

On a couple of occasions we provided the midday meal for our neighbor and her friends who were doing the work. From the lunchtime conversations we gathered that they thought the harvest seemed rather poor. The grains were small. One lady thought this was because we had failed to apply synthetic fertilizer. They estimated that the yield would be only about 10 bags and that half of that would go to us just for the use of the land.

Eventually Ael was able to make it clear that we didn't want much rice at all. We were just happy to see the land used well and to learn through observation.

We weren't able to be there on the day that the small threshing machine arrived to separate the grain from the straw. It turned out that the yield was much better than expected; 26 bags!  In the end we received six bags and the farmers shared 20 bags of valuable "Riceberry" among themselves most of which will be saved to be planted next year. It was the most positive outcome we could imagine.

Best of all, this experience was a convincing demonstration of the success of organic methods.

Our organic whole grain "Riceberry"

The finished cooked rice is really delicious. It has a lovely aroma reminiscent of blackberries and vanilla. The dark bran is high in anti-oxidants and other nutrients.

Papaya, The Dependable Volunteer

Here in Northeast Thailand, we so commonly see Papaya plants growing around peoples' houses that it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that papaya, Carica papaya, isn't native to Southeast Asia at all. It actually originated in tropical South/Central America and now it is grown throughout the tropical parts of the world. Here in Isaan, papaya has become an important element in the cuisine.

Somtam Lady

Roadside food shops both in the city and in rural villages feature the universally popular spicy papaya salad called "somtam" which is made with shredded unripe papaya along with a variety of other  ingredients including loads of fiery chilis (more on somtam below).
It's usually eaten with grilled fish or chicken and sticky rice. The shopkeeper on the left is mixing and bruising the salad ingredients in a large mortar and a heavy pestle.

Ael with ripening papaya

 The Papaya plant may be described as "tree-like", but I wouldn't call it a proper tree. The trunk or stem is large and tall, not really woody but rather fibrous and hollow. The leaves are large with a deeply notched palmate shape and grow directly out of the main trunk as do the flowers and fruit. Papaya plants are shallow rooted so they have a habit of flopping over in times of strong wind or heavy rain.

The fruit is large and abundant with a thin, dark green skin which changes to yellow and orange shades as the fruit ripens.
Ripe flesh is soft, smooth and moderately sweet with a beautiful bright orange color. The seeds are medium sized, hard and brown to black in color. We keep only the pure black ones to plant because they (I am told) are more likely to produce plants with both male and female flowers so the resulting plant will be self-pollinating.

We find that papaya plants grow very naturally wherever the seeds are dropped. We haven't had much success trying to start them in pots or to move them to a better location.

The particularly tall plant beside the house in the photo on the left is a good example. It was a volunteer which had grown from a seed remaining in composted kitchen waste.  I'm climbing up a long bamboo ladder to pick some of the fruit. This big plant lived for several years and gave us an abundance of fruit each year.

Papaya fruit is a rich source of valuable proteolytic enzymes, such as papain, chymopapain, caricain and glycyl endopeptidase, that can greatly aid in the digestive process. This is especially true of meals that contain meat or other concentrated forms of protein.


 


Papaya fruit (Carica papaya), Fresh,
Nutritive Value per 100 g.(Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)

Principle      Nutrient Value   % of RDA   

Energy           39K cal          2%
Carbohydrates      9.81 g         7.5%
Protein            0.61 g          1%
Total Fat          0.14 g         0.5%
Cholesterol         0 mg           0%
Dietary Fiber      1.80 g          4.5%
Vitamins
Folates              38 µg        9.5%
Niacin             0.338 mg       2%
Pantothenic acid   0.218 mg       4%
Pyridoxine         0.019 mg       1.5%
Riboflavin         0.032 mg       2.5%
Thiamin            0.027 mg       2%
Vitamin A           1094 IU       36%
Vitamin C           61.8 mg      103%
Vitamin E           0.73 mg        5%
Vitamin K            2.6 µg        2%
Electrolytes
Sodium                 3 mg        0%
Potassium            257 mg        5%
Minerals
Calcium               24 mg      2.5%
Iron                0.10 mg      1%
Magnesium             10 mg      2.5%
Phosphorus             5 mg      1%
Zinc                0.07 mg      0.5%
Phyto-nutrients
Carotene-ß           276 µg --
Crypto-xanthin-ß     761 µg --
Lutein-zeaxanthin     75 µg --

 

Here is a plate of fresh ingredients ready to go into the popular Thai papaya salad called somtam. The main heap in the middle is shredded unripe papaya with small chilis on top. On the right: small tomatoes and below, going clock-wise: hog plum, lime, and over on the left: garlic.
Three ingredients not shown are:
Pla ra; a flavoring made from small fish fermented in brine with rice bran. It goes into the somtam as a dark strong-smelling liquid.
Fish sauce; a clear brown salty liquid from a bottle.
Monosodium glutamate (which we don't recommend)
and (optional): sour tamarind, coconut sugar, peanuts, chopped green beans.

And here is the finished som-tam.

Arroy! (delicious!)