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First Aired - 04/17/2011 03:30PM
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This week on We Dig Plants we're taken head first into a big sack of rice-related readings as Carmen and Alice break down the most delicious of all tall grasses. Learn how rice got here, how we first grew it abroad and at home, and what varieties grow well where. Rice to meet you!
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Rice from 6,000 BC to 1700 AD (11:10)
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Alice Marcus Krieg, Carmen DeVito, Groundworks Inc, Rice, Rice was brought to the states in 1685 by a ship, the ship was damaged by storm and exchanged rice seeds for repairs at port, by the 18th century rice became a major export croup in South Carolina due to slavery, what else is going to grow in the swamp?, tobacco and indigo, wind fan, grinding, winnowing, mortars, rice is like wheat or millet, rice grows wild in South East Asia, people first farmed rice in Thailand around 6,000 BC, Rice was spread around quite a bit by Alexander the Great, by 800 AD people in East Africa were growing rice, Chinese farmers first invented the rice paddy, paddies save water and help kill weeds, Louisiana and Mississippi are very tied to rice, rice was a major crop for colonists by 1700; especially Carolina Gold Rice, rice moved westward to cheaper land, mechanization lowered rice harvesting costs, Chinese immigrants' influx brought more rice to the states, .,Harvesting Methods (14:42)
Tags:
Carmen grew up eating Carolina rice, where does rice grow best for today's market?, the plant itself can grow up to 15 feet in deep water, rice is very obviously a grass, 90% of the rice grown in the US is consumed in the US, some Asian countries continue to produce rice by hand, mules and oxen cannot be used in traditional means of growing rice as they would sink into the soft soil, human hands were therefore needed, regulating water through the fields, planting by hand means dropping a seed into a hole made in soil with a toe then tamped down with foot, Carolina Gold was usually flooded 3 times, the sprout flow the stretch flow (for insects) and the harvest flow (to support the stalks), growing rice by hand is back breaking work, Middleton Place is a plantation in Charleston, winnowing, Native American or Wild Rice, Native American's harvesting methods were often sacred, harvesting by canoe, rice as commodity,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
