Family news

I really shouldn't joke about green initiatives in the third world.

my Son in law is involved in organic rice growing, and this year we are working with the gov't to see if we can grow good crops using local hybrids with less flooding (less greenhouse gas release but not using as much pesticide as other dry grow methods).

We also bought an electric rice drier last year after we lost one third of our crop because of the typhoon (we didn't "lose" it: but a lot of it was damaged and hand to be sold for animal food because of the low quality).
Here, the usual way is to lay the rice out on the streets or a large plastic tarp for the sun to dry it. When it floods and rains, the drying is delayed, so the rice quality goes down. We could afford to get the rice mill to dry it, but with the flooding last year, it was delayed and so the quality was too low for us to sell as our own brand of organic rice. So we bought our own small rice drier.

But what about the other farmers, who aren't under our contract?

So we are asking for a gov't grant for a "solar rice drier" that will allow them a cheaper way to dry their rice. Chano and Joy are busy working out the details, and we don't know if we'll get the grant, but it will be done for the corporation, not the family, and the family has to deed some land to the corporation (rent free) where the drier will be put up.

We have two fields on a hill that can't be irrigated (i.e. only one crop of rice a year) so we will put it there. It will be high enough not to be flooded out, even if the irrigation dam overflows and fails.

I may have gotten the details a bit wrong: I was city born and bred, and although I always worked in rural areas, didn't usually farm or ranch myself.
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More family news:

Ruby is at a school/church campout for three days (postponed from two weeks ago due to the Manila floods).
They will pick her up tomorrow.
Joy's sister might need eye surgery, so they are going to Asia Eye clinic to talk to the doctors and probably schedule the tests and surgery today.

So we are here all  alone....with three staff, seven watchdogs, and four cats (the missing cat is still missing)...and of course three parakeets and a couple dozen koi fish in our pond.