Farmer Girl

          There s a sense of smell that I never seem to forget and it doesn't matter how old I get, that smell still remain fresh at the tip of my nostril.   It had take root deep into my memory gland.  I still can see in my mind the big green field that flourish with rice in different colors according to it season.  I can see water all around the field with fishes swim in it.   The smell of rice in the fields surrounding us.   I saw kids taken their water buffalo to the pond for a bath.   Men and women are walking to the field early in the morning and return home late that evening.  The beautiful crimson colors of the sunset reflected on to the rice field and give that beautiful golden and orange touch to the grain of rice.  Birds are flying back to their nest; soon darkness began to cover the land.  The only light we have is from the moon and the stars above the sky.  There is no electricity any where can be find, then I began to see through the crack of the huts and the houses the little spark of candle light, or lamp lighting up in every home.  Light bugs are flying around in the dark.  Every door and windows are shut. 

   When evening fall, we all took a cold shower in the front of the opening patio.  The water that we used for shower is store in two big clay jars water storage which we called, oung, it about 3 ft tall.  There is no bathroom in the house, only bamboo jungle at day time and shovel and the earth at night time.   The floor of the house is made out of wood and there are many gaps and hole in it.  We can see almost every moving things under the house.  It’s very creepy in the middle of the night.   All of the floor in our house and many home were made like that, I guess the builder of the house could not find the matching wood, that is why there are so many gaps in the floor.  Big enough that I can slip my whole hand through it….LOL…. 

     Actually, this is what poor people can afford, but it is a home for us and it is a lot better than a hut that we used to lived in before it burn down, in which the roof and the wall are made out of shack.   Hut or house, we still place a pot or pale  in certain areas of the house when it rain, and pour it  into the oung when it full.  The water is used for many purpose.   We also have two extra huge 6ft high clay jars  which used for storage rain water when it flow down from the roof.  This is our drinking water.  Rain water has sweet taste to it.  My grandma would let the first rain clean the roof for while before she let it drain down into oung.

    Here I have a sample pictures that you can see and understand what I'm talking about.

                                                    This is oungs for storage water 

                                         

Oung comes in different sizes  depend on the size that you desire. The large one is  used to storage rain water for drinking

Every houses would have smaller oung next to the stair or step, this is used for cleaning  their foot before  go up the house. Oung are now used for many different purpose; to grow water plants decorative to the house..and so on....

     Everyday we have to fill our oung with water; by pitch up water with pales at the creek or pond.  We are lucky that we lived next to a river that ran across the property.  The river is 5-6  miles Long, it is not wide, but long and it is not too deep at the area where we live.  We use to swim in there all the time, my friends and I of course.  There will be a story that I will share about this river…For our drinking water is; rain water, and in a drought season, we would have to walk longgggg way to pitch water for the well. If I remember it correctly I believed that we have to walk almost 2 hours go and 2 hours back.  Some time if we meet up with people who has cow with pulling wagon, they would let us put our water pales on their wagon.  We farmer people, always help one another, and we share rice when we see our neighbor have nothing to eat, even thought we have to cut back eating certain amount of rice on our plate.  Grandma would always share and give our rice to the needed.  My uncle and aunt would get mad at her, but grandma would always   say, "That's ok child, give and it will be given back to you."  She is not greedy, her heart is big and riches than many people I know this day.  Even though there is not much rice left for us to eat, but we survive for God always provide, our rice container never went dry.    I thanks God for my wonderful grandma, and God rest her soul, for she have such a hard life all her life.

     Before I used to wonder, how can I still remember many-many of these memory, I were very very young.  Now I knew... Somehow I’m always appreciated of what I have, I believed that this is a gift that God places in my heart.  I appreciated of every little thing that I have and I treasure it in my memory and in the dept of my heart.   I never regretted of what I don’t have and I never jealous of what other people have, ever since I was small.  Another word, I don’t care what everyone else have, but I happy of what I have, but yet I’m not a lazy person.  I work for what I need with my own two hands and I don't depend and wait for other people to do it for me.  Many of my need always concerns you, my sons and daughter, never for my own desire. 

     My sister and I we always found the nature things that God created for us to play with.  We never have a doll or nice cloth or even nice shoes on our feet and most of the time we are bare footed.  My sister would take some kind of water lily pad and made into little doll for me to play, or otherwise she will draw me  a cut out paper doll then she design  a pretty cloth for it.  Oh!  How I treasure her drawing.  She is a nature artist.  We made all kinds of animals, people, fruits, …etc.  out of dirt clay that we dig it out.  We play cooking with dirt, white ashes and mixed it with water.  

      As you should know by now that we lived with my grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncle, while mom, which is your grandma Lott, had to go find work in the city to sent back home some money to feed all of us  I  remember  the hard work that my grandma did, working in the rice field for less than $4.00/month.    Can you imagine living on budget of less than $4.00 / month?  The main source of food we get is rice.  We brought rice, salt and sugar with the money we have, no meats or any other stuff on the side.   Yes, we work in the rice field, but the field do not belong to us.  Mom brought land for grandma before in order for us to cultivate and plant rice in our own field, but grandma lost it to people who take advantage of her because she cannot read and write…sadly how cruel people can be, cheating on the poor.   Every day we ate rice with wild vegetable in the field, fishes sometime grandpa caught, frog from the rice field, chicken snake that the people in our village  killed and they divided into same amount and past out to every house in the village, different bugs, and rice rat in certain season…it taste pretty good if you ask me, but you properly say “ ewe”.  It doesn't have any wild smell to it, because it eat only rice.  Now you cannot find any more of rice rat.  The field is polluted with all kind of chemical.  Some time grandpa didn't catch anything, grandma would go and get those green algae that growth in the pond, and she will clean it very good and make it into soup.  It still taste like grass, but we ate it anyway without complain.  There are 5-6 people living in our house, imagine sometime with 1 fish we all share, but we never complain.  I noticed that everyday grandma would eat only rice with hot sauce and vegetable, she will let us share the fish or the egg.  There are times that we have nothing to eat, grandma would get coconut, and there are a lot of it grow everywhere, She will scrape the coconut meat out and mixed it with rice and add sugar and a dash of salt to it, hmm!hmm!  It’s taste very good, like a dessert, and it kept us full for that day.

So this add one more to what I learn from all of life experiences;  I eat to live but not live to eat.  I’m not a picky person and I don’t have much of desire or craving for this food or that food.  I eat of what I have. I don’t complain about other people cooking, either good or bad, but instead I appreciate their share of what they cook.  I not a fat food liker.  My specialties, of course, are rice, egg, fish, tofu and vegetables….how inexpensive it is.  But as for my husband and sons, they are meat eater and for Wadee, is like mom like daughter.  She love fry tofu, stir-fry vegetable and fry eggs.  She said that one day she will become vegetarian when she get older.  That is great, as long as you know to eat 5 colors beans in order for you to get the right protein for your body.  

Wadee favorite food is stir fly vegetable with tofu, Ned loves lasagne, meat loaf and thai chicken with coconut soup. Boue loves noodle soup. 

The whole family love noodle soup that call Kotail, I will post this recipe up for you kids to learn how to cook when we away... 

Father, we thank you for all of the delicious foods that You bless us everyday.  There are never any day that goes by that I don't appreciated Your blessing in our life, with all my grateful heart to You.  

Thank You Lord in Jesus name I pray...With Love