Planting rice is not easy, that's what our traditional folk song says and I guess it's true. But it failed to mention that drying rice grain is also a laborious job too, well that's what I have experienced today. Ha ha ha... In rural areas like our humble town Maasin, some people do not go directly to grocery stores and buy rice for their meals. Instead, they dry rice grains and have it milled. This happens especially in the case of those who have rice farms. Like in the case of my Aunt.
Rice milling here in our town is semi-traditional. I call it "semi" since we are already using milling machine (which is nontraditional) through mobile milling trucks, the locals call it here as "traveling" or "kuliglig" (which you can contact anytime through texting --- the power of modern technology), as opposed to the "bayo" or the crushing process. But we still dry the rice while they are still in their hulls or husks with the use of the sun's heat which is a traditional method. What we do is that we spread the grains over the amacan or bamboo mat and leave it there for 3 to 5 hours under the sun's scorching heat. After that, the grains are then ready to be milled.
I volunteered to do the drying today since it's my day off. I didn't know what had gotten into me at that moment but I raised up my hand anyway when my aunt asked for a volunteer. The good and reliable nephew that is me. Ha ha ha... One thing that surprised me about the task was the discovery that I could lift one sack of unmilled rice. And I lifted a total of four sacks! How's that? Feeling Superman! Ha ha ha... The only thing I hate about rice drying is my allergy with rice hulls. My skin, especially in the area of my forearms, gets itchy and red upon contact with the hulls. I took a bath right after I spread the rice in the amacan and right after I placed them back in the sacks after drying. I then contacted the traveling and in just a few minutes, bingo! One sack and a half of milled white rice.
The lesson I learned about this experience is that eating the rice you labored upon is quite appetizing. Each grain in your plate seems like a precious stone that must not be wasted down to the trash bin. It makes you eat with gusto and it makes you forget about your one-cup-of-rice-only diet. More rice please!
Rice milling here in our town is semi-traditional. I call it "semi" since we are already using milling machine (which is nontraditional) through mobile milling trucks, the locals call it here as "traveling" or "kuliglig" (which you can contact anytime through texting --- the power of modern technology), as opposed to the "bayo" or the crushing process. But we still dry the rice while they are still in their hulls or husks with the use of the sun's heat which is a traditional method. What we do is that we spread the grains over the amacan or bamboo mat and leave it there for 3 to 5 hours under the sun's scorching heat. After that, the grains are then ready to be milled.
I volunteered to do the drying today since it's my day off. I didn't know what had gotten into me at that moment but I raised up my hand anyway when my aunt asked for a volunteer. The good and reliable nephew that is me. Ha ha ha... One thing that surprised me about the task was the discovery that I could lift one sack of unmilled rice. And I lifted a total of four sacks! How's that? Feeling Superman! Ha ha ha... The only thing I hate about rice drying is my allergy with rice hulls. My skin, especially in the area of my forearms, gets itchy and red upon contact with the hulls. I took a bath right after I spread the rice in the amacan and right after I placed them back in the sacks after drying. I then contacted the traveling and in just a few minutes, bingo! One sack and a half of milled white rice.
The lesson I learned about this experience is that eating the rice you labored upon is quite appetizing. Each grain in your plate seems like a precious stone that must not be wasted down to the trash bin. It makes you eat with gusto and it makes you forget about your one-cup-of-rice-only diet. More rice please!
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