To keep rice seedlings from shriveling in the arid San Joaquin Valley, a farmer must flood them two or three times a week with water pumped up from deep below the surface of the earth.
Then she must wage war against strangling weeds, cut each stalk individually and thresh it by hand.
If rice is so cheap and plentiful, why bother?
Over the next 20 years, as Lisa M. Hamilton recounts in “The Hungry Season,” Ia’s 10 rows of seedlings grow into a kingdom of nine acres.
Her farm will become a refuge for older Hmong women who whisper and sing to one another as they harvest rice stalks by hand, working their way up parallel rows of grain.
Persons:
Lisa M, Hamilton, ”
Organizations:
Hamilton, U.S . State Department
Locations:
Fresno, Calif, Laos, Thai, California, shriveling, San Joaquin Valley