Mango Madness and Planting Rice

MANGO MADNESS has begun - it's mango season in Torti, Panama !!

A nice plate of mangoes for today

Hey Kids, What time is it ??

If you answered “Howdy Doody Time”, then your head is totally stuck in the 50’s.

If , however, you correctly answered “Mango Madness Time”, then you clearly are in tune with what’s happening in Torti , Panama right now and you

And more for tomorrow

have your towel completely together.

Let the madness begin and never end !!

Planting Rice

This is a photo of a rice field getting ready for planting. Perhaps boring from your perspective. But, put yourself in the position of the rice farmer for a moment and it is anything BUT boring. This is the ultimate gamble – the cosmic game of “Chicken” with Mother Nature. Trying to guess exactly when to plant is a mighty important challenge. Plant too early and a rain could germinate the seeds, followed by a few bone dry days and those sprouts are all dead. You just lost your entire crop. Wait too long after several days of constant rain – you tractor will get sucked so deep into the mud that it will sit out there until the dry season. And your crop never got planted. You may try and find an army of Venezuelans or Colombians (Panama’s immigrant work force) to hand seed. Maybe.

With your whole season riding on when to sow that rice seed, the photo is not boring at all. It’s all about perspective.

Now that we’re on the subject of rice……  Pretty dull stuff that rice. Not much use for it in the US. Food for poor people. Like collards and okra. Easy to make, though. The pre-cooked kind is ready in 10 minutes. Good Old Uncle Ben even has a 2 minute microwave version, with spices and everything.

But, let’s ponder for just a moment all the history that went into this very popular, albeit somewhat boring grain. Imagine the first people to find a wild rice plant or two out in the wild. Maybe they chew on a seed or two – tough and dry and hard on the teeth. What ever gave them the idea to take it home and heat it or cook it in water (what did they use for a pot?) or grind it and make an edible paste? I guess if you’re hungry and have plenty of time, you try a few things. I give those guys and gals lots of credit for figuring out all this food stuff and cultivating it and making it ever more productive and edible. The vast cornucopia and plethora of food that we enjoy comes from the hard work and perseverance of a whole lot of folks that came before us.