My first trip to Rotchana’s village up in the Isaan area of Thailand was back in July. The rice season was in full swing and everywhere you looked there were green fields of rice.

We headed back to the village this past week and it was quite a different look. The green fields are all now dry as a bone and everything is a golden brown. Rice production ended back in November so the fields have been left alone waiting for the next season to kick in around June. Some of the farmers burn off the remaining crop, while others leave it there to die off on it’s own. Also, many of the villagers have cattle that they take out into the fields each day to dine.