This morning I woke up to the sound of.... well I wasn't sure what it was at first. In the state of confusion I'm usually in right when I wake up, I couldn't tell if it was POURING rain on our tin roof, or firecrackers going off (Yes when it rains hard, the sound can be confused to firecrackers, don't be jealous:). It was neither. It was the sugar cane field being burned to get ready to harvest.
There have been sugar cane fields burning around here for the past few weeks (or a couple months maybe) and I have been wondering when Reddy (our landlord/neighbor) would burn his. Since we live right next to it I was looking forward to witnessing it! A few days ago we were going past our house on the boat and saw the field burning. I was so bummed because I wanted to be there, up close and personal. And I wanted to see it burn at night... I thought it would be more dramatic that way and make for a better photo op. Turns out they only burned half of it. Lucky me!
So I woke up grabbed my camera and headed out to get a few shots of the guys hard at work. It's pretty amazing that they clear the whole entire field by hand! No machinery is used to cut the cane. Its just a bunch of guys with their cane knives. The only machinery used is for transporting the stuff!
Hard at work:
Oops! I've been spotted!
Here's Reddy taking some juice to the workers:
Taking a break:
Off to quench the thirst of more hard working men:
Some burnt sugar cane:
And of course Mochi was happy to be out tromping through the remains of the cane :)
And this is just outside our house and I thought it was pretty :)
Thanks for stopping by!
I know this doesn't show you much about what we've been up to but there's more to come :)
6 comments:
Thanks for the peek at life in Fiji. I used to love to watch the potato harvest, as it unfolded in the yard of the farmer across the road from us. I loved harvest time - his wife dreaded it.
BTW, didn't all that smoke bother your allergies?
WOW! what an adventure you are having!! looks so beautiful.
so, why do they burn it BEFORE harvest? very interesting! does it smell sweet when it burns? obviously i know nothing about sugar cane harvesting! i do enjoy sugar, though!
cool photos! Yeah, why do they burn the sugar cane?
Wow- that's amazing. We sure are lazy here in the U.S. sometimes! Reminds me of when Ian would tell me about his mission in Honduras and the men there would "mow" their lawns by hand with machetes- no mowers!
We saw them harvesting on Kauai once upon a time. They burn to remove all the leaves, so they don't have to ship that and it gets rid of some of the vermin.(rat's etc.) After burning, giant (jaws) picked up the kanes and put them on big trucks to carry to the sugar factory or ships, bound for the mainland. Of course some make it in small pieces of kanes to your super market. It smells burnt! But it is fun to watch!
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