Most of my family works as rice farmers. Since I was little, I was taught how to plant rice traditionally, because back before the year 2000, people in my village used to plow the fields with cows or buffaloes.

Right now I work as an affiliate, but sometimes I still help my family take care of the farm, and I’ve been doing that since I was a teenager.

The challenge is during a long dry season. Sometimes we have no choice but to go to the rice fields at night to check if the newly planted rice is getting enough water. During the dry season, as farmers we have to take turns channeling water from one field to another. My favorite part is when we harvest traditionally. Other farmers come to help, and then we eat together. Sometimes there are 5-10 people helping, and they only take the leftover rice plants to use as feed for their livestock.

I eat rice for lunch now, but when I was little we often ate corn rice. I think Indonesia is the only country that has nasi jagung or rice made from corn.