School Days: Reaping and Sowing

Taking care of a rice plant was part of Little Brother's fifth grade homework over the summer vacation, too. After planting it at school (see post for June 15th,) he brought it home on July 12th (see that post). Here is a recent picture of his rice plant. It has produced rice!




Yesterday while I was out and about, I came across two fields with long sheets of black plastic stretched across rows. Round holes were cut in the plastic. In each hole as far as I could see, there were pink pellets strewn. I wondered what the pink things were.


Later Little Brother came in and announced that his class had planted daikon, Japanese radish, in fields near their school. "Yeah, and the seeds are pink!" I was nowhere near the fields he planted, but I got the answer to my question. He said he made a hole with his finger and put three seeds in it and covered them with soil.


Here is a picture of a daikon. I took it last year. The daikon was sitting on a table to be sold for 150 yen. The price was lowered to 100 yen. There is a blue tin money box on the scale next to it. Whoever wants to buy it will put the coin in the tin box. It is an "On Your Honor" system at this vegetable stand.