This is my brother-in-law Joseph’s swamp padi field.  It is kept free of weeds during the monsoon season by flood-water channeled into the field from the nearby stream.  If the rains are not heavy enough, then manual weeding is “back-breaking” work.  Swamp padi can be grown each year for 3-4 years before a “fallow” year is necessary

Here my Sister-in law Catherine has grown hill padi on the foothills of the mountain.  Hill padi outgrows the weeds better, but still needs manual weeding.  It does not like as much water as swamp padi. Two fallow years are needed in every 3 years for hill padi. It is also commonly grown with other food plants like Jerri , which is Sarawak’s “Pearl Barley”, also called  Job’s Tears Coix lacryma-jobi,  seen in the foreground), pepper (Piper nigra) in the middle distance, and Durian (Durio graveolens) on the well-drained mountain slopes. 

What do the kampong children do when Mum & Dad are weeding padi?  They run away of course – who wants to weed padi in the baking hot sun?  The forest is much cooler, more mysterious and always holds out the promise of “finding something”. 

What do they “find”? A swimming pool of course – what better way to spend a hot day!