How To Grow Rice!

Rice is a great food to grow for survival situations! Rice stores for long periods of time compared to most garden grown items which must be consumed as they mature. This is super important because little if any food can be grown during the long winter months. If you learn how to grow rice and master it and have a good crop you are assured that starvation will not likely be an issue you will have to face.

To grow rice you have to recreate the flooded rice paddy which is unlike any of your typical garden plants you are most familiar with growing. Luckily rice is pretty easy to grow and even those without a green thumb should be able to grow a good crop as the steps and challenges are more cut and dried.

First you have to get some rice that is still viable and your regular white rice is not going to cut it. White rice is rice that has been processed and therefore is useless for growing from seed. You will need some long-grain brown rice.

Next you will need some containers like buckets to grow the rice in. Any sort of bucket or kiddy pool that doesn't have holes will do.

Place good soil in the bucket at least 6 inches (15cm) deep. More is ok if you have room for the water which will be higher or if you need to raise the soil level high enough to prevent too much shading from sides of the container if it is very deep sided. Now fill the containers with water until the water is about 2 inches above the soil.

Now toss in a handful of brown rice. It should sink to the bottom.

You will have to periodically add water as it evaporates to maintain the water level. When the rice plants are about 5 inches (13cm) tall, increase the water level to about 4 inches of water and maintain it there. But as the rice grows you can allow the water level to slowly drop over time by adding water periodically but at a rate that isn't as fast as it is evaporating.

The rice will mature in about 4 months but that can vary with weather and soil differences. You will know the rice is mature when the stalks turn from green to a golden brown color. You will want the water level to drop so that by the time you are ready to harvest the rice is no longer in standing water.

To harvest, simply cut your stalks and let them dry in a warm place, wrapped in a newspaper or something similar for at least a couple of weeks.

Now you will need to oven roast your rice at about 170 degrees (very roughly) for about an hour. After roasting remove the hulls and you are done!

Store the rice in sealed containers to prevent bugs and rodents from destroying all your time and effort. Multiple containers is preferred so you don't have all your eggs in one basket so to speak. And remember to save some rice for next year's seed.

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