Rice!

It's a typical sight here to see beautiful terraces of rice, the production of which is very important to this country's economy and food supply.  80% of the population of Nepal is involved in agriculture and I've read that around 2000 varieties of rice are grown here!  All around us we see the rice terraces, and also, incidentally, a lot of corn. 

Right in our back yard there are some rice fields.  We've been able to watch the rice grow before our eyes just in the last few months.  Here is what we saw when we first got here in July:

By mid-July, we could see the rice growing with the good rains we were having. 

If you enlarge this picture, you can check out this fellow's "raincoat."

  By the beginning of August, the rice was noticeably higher.

By the way, the corn was growing well too.

Mid-August's rice plants were as tall as the people's legs:

How they work like that for hours is beyond me.  I get a back ache just watching them!

One day some cows wandered over and found enough to eat to stay around for a few hours!

By early September, the rice plants were waist high.

And yesterday, mid-September, I took these pictures of these ladies standing in the fields:

(You might have to enlarge to see them!)

(Regular shot)

(Zoom)

I wonder how high it will go!  I'll let you know!