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This report is from Kyaw Soe - owner of Arcadia Travels in Rangoon

09 July 2008

14th report

We came back from Kun-gyan-gon on 04 July. The next day the Ayar Min rice seeds were sown by the
expert farmer with the help of the enthusiastic land owner boy. The boy came into the attention of the
expert farmer to give everything he knows. They sowed the seeds on those lands plowed and fed with
bio fertilizer. Two different plots were prepared. One is about 0.5 acre and other is about 0.75 acre.
They have to prepare with small irrigated canals created by pulling of a trunk of a banana tree. The purpose is to get rid of water on the farm while seeds are germinating and protecting seeds from drowning so that it can freely germinate without delay. The fired rice husk we purchased in Kun-gyangon
the day before in Kun-gyan-gon was also mixed with the clay which makes easy for plucking the seedlings for transplanting process.

We were in contact with them on the phone. I was typing my recent report at home at that time. In that evening we received a call that they have successfully done sowing all seeds. The rice expert invited us for talks during dinner while I was filling gas in my car in that evening. So we went there to the appointed restaurant and we have exchanged our individual experiences of our trip and discussed for
the next day.

In the morning of 6 July I tried to dig into some of my collections of nursery rhymes and get a simple one
out. That one is printed out in small papers and I intend to teach the kids in school. On the way to the meeting point at rice expert's house I bought two durians and two different kinds of mangos to throw two sparrows with one stone. One purpose is to offer these fruits to the monk who had been there for over a month without a good fruit dessert and the other is to plant those seeds. When we have gathered all gear for the trip in my car, rice expert's car and the hired truck we headed for the next spot to pick up some 200 plants at a nursery owned by a friend of the forestry expert. We loaded altogether 200 plants including Kayay (star-flower), Gant-gaw (saffron cobra) and Sein-ta-lone mango plants.

Afterwards we were on the way to Kun-gyan-gon. The rice expert has to go pick up his friend the fertilizer expert on the way. I dropped by at Kaw-hmu which is half hour drive before we reach Kungyan-gon to pick up some of Audrey's relatives who are farmers. Two farmers came along to see our farm and learn the technique. Around 3 p.m. all of us were there except the light truck carrying young
plants. All cannot be fit into the boat. So we left earlier and send the boat back to Kun-gyan-gon later.

On the way there are some other farmers from the nearby villages who hitch-hiked our boat have brought their rice seed given by the government. The local name of that rice is IR. We were given some of the seeds by one farmer when asked. The rice expert took out a small meter gauge on which I see the prints IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) for testing the moisture of the rice. On the side of that
gadget there is a small slice of glass which contains a circular cup. Some 10 seeds of rice were placed onto that small cup to slide the glass slice into the gadget. Then he twisted the squeezer to grind the seeds which is in contact with the pointer run with the battery. It shows at the far right end showing the rice is wet. The expert chewed the rice seed and felt the seed is soft. As explained the rice comes from some other areas of Mandalay where they are harvesting summer paddy. It is highly possible that the farmers who were pressured to give in certain amount of rice seed for the Nargis cyclone victims by the government throw in recently harvested rice as seeds for germination. The expert said those will not germinate at all. How tragic it is for those farmers with high hopes to grow rice on their farms.

They have to go out there and submit with their family registration of their house with village name and the
essential recommendation from the village authority for his ownership of the land. They had to come
out since early morning for these useless rice seeds. Such time and effort they have to put in. For the
government they just try to have the figure which shows how much amount of rice seed are distributed
to how many areas suffered by the cyclone. If those seed can be germinated is not their problem. Next
year they will face the real food shortage problem as a result of all these careless mistakes.

We finally got to the plot by the creek and disembark for checking. The expert farmer was there put all
his effort to nurture the seeds which are sprouting out. He said the first seven days from sowing is the
most important time. They have to make sure there is no water flooded on the farm. If there is rain the
water should be canalled out during the day soon after the rain stopped. The spacing of sowing the
seeds is also important without jamming much in one space so that the seed can grow out easily
without others very close by with enough nutrients from the soil. After wards we moved on to the
village and disembarked at Kya-khat jetty. Everyone has to carry what we have brought. This time I
brought the books and stationary I had stocked last month because I had a chat with a school teacher
last time. He lives in the same village of our camp but he teaches in the different village half hour walk
away called Inn-gut village. He said they need books in the school for 150 kids altogether. There is no
water way to access after we landed at Kyat-khat. One way is to our camp and opposite way is to that
village. I met him while I was carrying all stuff to our camp. So I handed him the list of what I brought
and he brought the some villagers to carry those. 3 books per student will make 450 and they will have
90 more. So I asked them to distribute the rest to 3rd and 4th graders who need more books. They were
very happy.

The forest expert brought some education posters for greening the environment. We pinned those on
the bamboo wall of our tent and village kids love to read those. The rice expert met two farmers who are Audrey's relative and they were in Q&A section about the technique. At 6 p.m. I had to hire a village taxi scooter for them to get back to Kun-gyan-gon on the muddy road from where they would catch a
fish truck heading on the way to Yangon every evening. Then the boat which picked up 200 plants arrived and villagers came out with baskets to carry those young plants. The monk had already some villagers built a bamboo green house in the morning to place those to protect from animals from foraging. After planting some of those in the backyard of the school near the green house we will build a fence for the school plantation.

Back in the camp the farmer was in the salination process of new seeds we brought which is the kind they grow in the area called Bay-gyar or Paw-san-yin which is big in the market and one of the most expensive rice in Yangon. That was donated by a relative of the rice expert and those are good ones sent
by that relative from the capital of the delta called Pathein. The former which was sown already is long
and slander while this one is short and plump with stripes on the husk which is true to is local name Baygyar
(meaning side stripes). After shower in the village well and the dinner I talked to two girls (six
graders) who came and helped us prepare dinner table. I told them to learn hard for life which seems
will be a very long period but 10 years time from now on is just a moment in life when one looks back.
All they need to do is learn everything now for some 5 years to pass 10 grade and another 5 years to
finish studying in the university and land a job. I told them about my experiences as I have explained
how I got through days with hardships along with our mother as a vendor. After some 45 minute of talk
I thought it is enough for them to listen to my story and turn my self in. On that night it rained lightly
after midnight and became heavier at 3 p.m. with wind which we unanimously agreed at the speed of 45
or 50 mph. The wife of rice expert was really scared and we had to try to phone to the meteorology and
hydrology department for weather focus. The one who is on night duty said this is just the strong
monsoon wind not the storm. It happened for half hour and blew again around 5 a.m. At this time it was
pretty fast for about 15 minutes and gone. All of us sighed and thought this is a real good morning when
the sun comes out. At 8 a.m. my friend, I and the expert farmer took the boat to the farm to check our
seedlings. It is so exciting to view the tiny white sprouts on the farms. The small canals are made at
every 3 feet space. One of those 3'x100' spaces of land with seedlings can cover 1 acre of land to
transplant. A hired farmer was asked to drag the banana log on the small irrigation canals again for
good flow of water which sits on seedlings because of the rain last night. Then another vacant plot
plowed yesterday was fed with bio-fertilizer for sowing the rice we dipped yesterday morning. Those
seed s will be spread out on bamboo mats and moisturized this evening. If the sprouts are out as
expected those can be sowed tomorrow morning on this land. Two plots with seedlings are now with
soft silt with water flowing on side irrigation which is redirected into the plot not in use sitting next to it.
The expert farmer asked his assistant and other share croppers to scatter the burnt rice husk on the
seedlings. While I was going here and there on the farm in the silt sometimes knee deep a leeched
attached my left foot and I never could have guess since when. I dared not touch it because of it giggly
wiggly body I shouted for help. A farmer came near me and put a burnt rice husk on top which makes it
easy to pull its elusive body with the help of coerce rice husk. What a day for me!

We came back with the monk after we have made the demarcation with some flags around our farm. It
was almost 11:30 and we needed to offer lunch to the monk before noon. We got back to the camp just
in time for the monk to gulp all rice and curry and mango dessert in 10 minute time. What a hectic lunch
for the monk. He really is amazingly strong to all the work at this camp; manage the assignment of tillers,
distribution of diesel and so many other things. After our lunch I went over to the school and spotted
the forestry expert in the class room with 9 and 10 graders telling them how important trees are for
humans. I went around and school kids are playing at school break. I got into a classroom of some 30
kids. They requested me to play football with me after school at 3 p.m. I said I will if I were free. I
started organizing some of the active kids if they want to sing a song along with me. They said yes. So I
sang "Eensy Weensy Spider" and they liked it. It drew the attention of other kids in the class. Soon the
lunch break is over and everyone got back into the class. With the permission of the school teachers I
started writing the Burmese pronunciation of the whole rhyme with some slashes at some points to
pause.
The kids learned pretty fast because they could read Burmese. They are third graders. They liked my explanation and gesture which I learned from some of my clients. Then I gave them the paper I prepared out in English. All of them like the nice looking Comic Sans fonts. They really feel privileged to have one. Thank God I have enough papers for all thirty students. Then I started asking to look for the word called rain. By checking the Burmese pronunciation on the board and their paper they tried to guess where that word might be. Some boys do know the word rain in English. The pointed it out on the paper and I told them "you are very good". The other kids wanted me to say it to them too. So they tried hard to spot the word. Afterwards I told them all the meaning of rain in Burmese. It really helps learn English. I finally told them to sing in the evening and before they sleep. They said they will. The singing
of those kids will always be heard in my mind's ears whenever I think of it again.

When I got back to the tent the fertilizer expert had started the lecture on fertilizers with slides
prepared by the rice expert in his laptop. During the talk the farmers are reminded to remember the ratio they have to use for mixing like 1:3:5 to prepare instant EM liquid. 1 carnation can of EM concentrate liquid, 3 carnation can full of sugar sludge liquid (by product after molasses are
produced)and 5 gallons of water should be mix to sprinkle over the weed or any plants and trash without plastic and metals for making bio fertilizer. The rice expert show slides he copied from a website about a Korean who is successful at creating natural farming around the world. (If you are interested please search on any search engine "Janong Natural Farming Research".) Then farmers are permitted to mix the instant EM liquid themselves. They were also asked questions to know how well they got the lecture. 5 farmers who could answers questions quickly were rewarded with one radio each. Then the fertilizer making was practice in the yard of our tent in the square pit prepared and dug out in the morning. It is about 4x6 feet and 6 ft deep. All weed the rice expert and his wife and villagers cleaned up around the camp are rought into the pit, some bran powders and instant EM liquid sprinkled on top as the first layer. Then some weeds and plants, some burnt rice husk, some cow dung and instant EM liquid sprinkled on top as the second layer.

Third layer is weed, grass, bran and instant EM sprinkled then covered with burnt rice husk on top. The pit was full and covered with bamboo mats and tarps to protect from rain. It can be left for at least one month and ready to use as bio fertilizer on any plants they grow. The other type is to mix rice husk, dried cow dung, burnt rice husk, bran and instant EM liquid together and leave it for three days to multiple effective micro organisms which destroy which can be toxic to the plants. EM also produces Lactic Acid and Amino Acid for plants. Bran
mixed with instant EM liquid can be fed to the cattle as the nourishment and purgative as well. EM smells just like wine and somewhat similar tastes between sour wine and tamarind juice. After all these
were done with the villager’s cooperation it’s time to pack everything nd leave for Kya-khat jetty to go back. On the way to the jetty I got the idea to take a group picture of all of us with the villagers which
will be a good reminder of this great moment in our short life.

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