Put Your Hand to the Plow

That is exactly what our high school students did earlier this semester. The high school science teacher got the idea to use the land that will eventually become our 50 meter swimming pool and turn it into a rice paddy. While we wait for the money to build the pool, she figured we might as well be good stewards of the land God has given us and so in the meantime use the land to grow rice. She consulted with a local rice farmer who she had watched plant his crop on the other side of our school. He was so excited and told her everything she needed to know about rice farming. As a field trip of sorts the entire high school spent the morning plowing the field and planting rice. They had a blast! They got dirty, worked hard, laughed, and loved the memories they made with each other.

Here are the small rice stalks ready to be replanted into the field.

Jessee enjoys the baby rice before it gets uprooted to be planted
where it can grow into a rice crop.

Mud fight! They also enjoyed flinging the fertilizer at each other.

One of the high school students found a fish in the mud.
The elementary classes came out to watch throughout the morning.

Once the mud fights were over and the fertilizer scattered, Wesley was in charge
of making the grid for the rice planters to follow when they put the stalks in.

Everyone had a job and was busy throughout the morning.

The rice is supposed to be planted in neat rows, equally spaced apart.
The students didn't quite meet the farmer's standards on that one.

The kids kept getting stuck in the mud!
They would try to walk but couldn't move and would end up falling in.

They got so muddy in the process!

Despite getting very muddy, they were still smiling in the end.

I love this picture because you can see our school building in the background. We are so
blessed with a beautiful, huge new building and with lots of land and room to grow.
This day was just another reminder of how blessed we are as a school.

Stayed tuned for pictures of what the rice looks like now :)