I'm still here

How does one develop a cold right in the middle of summer? Like a bed-ridden, sore throat, sinus-stuffy, head throbbing cold? I guess living in China does this to you. So that is my excuse for my blogging absence lately. And spending long days in the countryside.

The countryside is good. The rice is growing. The rain continues to fall each afternoon. Some farmers are concerned that there is too much rain this year but most are OK with it. Many of the farmers I have been talking to have contracted their rice production to private companies so they get the same amount of money no matter what their yield. Families are happy with the vegetables their private gardens are beginning to produce. Aside from many of the basic cooking ingredients (oil, spices, etc.) many households are self-sufficient in what they eat at this time of year. Although some try to be fancy when they have guests come by purchasing extra meat, most of the food they eat here comes from their own gardens. Northeast farmers have a lot of space in their yards for private gardens surrounding their homes in addition to the fields they use for mass grain production.

Back in Harbin, early harvests of corn and garlic are lining street corners at this time of year. Rice stores are trying to sell their remaining bags of rice from last season to make room for the rice this season to arrive in October.

I have tickets purchased! I leave for Beijing on August 17 for two months of information gathering, talking about northeast rice, and a lot of writing. I'll be staying with my friend Melissa who is also finishing her dissertation research in Beijing. We are hoping we can use the constant presence of one other to motivate ourselves to be productive. I fly back to the US on October 22. And I can't wait!!!