ü`Harvest Time is Now!ü` | Reporter: Yuta Kikuchi
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 üúThe combine works the golden yellow rice paddies. |
The seedlings my family and I planted in May grew up into strong healthy rice plants. We use a machine called a combine to harvest the rice. The combine we have at our house is called a triple slit combine and can cut 3 rows of rice at once. The rice plant is separated into unhulled rice and stalks inside the machine. The unhulled rice is stored inside a tank while the stalks are cut up and ejected out to the field. When the tank in the combine becomes filled with unhulled rice a buzzer sounds to warn us. We then transfer the contents to a larger tank on a light truck. When this tank becomes full we put the rice in a dryer located in our house which can handle the rice from about 5 or 6 paddies. The rice is dried overnight and then put through a hulling machine. This is done to separate the white rice grain from the hull surrounding it. After all this it finally turns into the familiar rice that we all know. The combine is a large machine that isn╒t really built for small work so mom and grandmother have to cut the rice in the corners of the rice paddies by hand. This work is called "sumakko kari" (corner cutting). Today we have large machines to help us but in the past everything was done by hand. It was very hard work. I hope that the new rice we harvested reaches everyone's homes. |
 üúThe unhulled rice reaped by the combine is dried in a dryer. After putting the rice through a hulling machine it finally turns into the familiar grain that we all know. |
| When the green rice paddies turn golden yellow its the season for harvesting rice! After surviving the heat of summer and the strong winds of typhoons, the rice is finally ready for harvest. After all the hard work, the tasty rice reaches our homes at last! Let us know if there is anything you want to know about rice! |  |