Land of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan hand made wooden kitchen items (mortar and pestle).

Rice terraces at Watapaluwa village near Kandy, central Sri Lanka.

At rice harvest time in Sri Lanka everyone helps out. The white egrets hang about for food on the edges of the work area.

After threshing by machine Sri Lankan farmers still use the traditional hand winnowing methods to remove chaff and stalks that the machine missed. The seeds are tossed up by hand using a scoop and are allowed to drop in the breeze (natural air current). The seeds drop down and the lighter chaff is blown to one side by the breeze.

Portable threshing machine at work on a small Sri Lankan farm. The seeds are blown out at the front and the chaff and stalks at the side.

A portable threshing machine is taken round the farms at harvest time to separate the rice seeds from the chaff and stalks.

A curious Sri Lankan cow.

Egrets watching the rice harvest in Watapaluwa village, central Sri Lanka, eager to gobble up the insects that get disturbed by the harvesting.

In most parts of Sri Lanka, rice is still harvested by cutting with a hand scythe. Egrets watch, gobbling up the insects that become available.