While working on the family farm in Nakhon Phanom this past April I put in more than my fair share of sweat equity getting the fields ready for the upcoming rice season. Most of the family fields are located just behind the house so we didn’t have far to go with our tractor loads of dung we had mucked from the stables.

One thing kept bothering me though, a tree right in the middle of the family fields. You don’t see many large trees still standing in the rice fields but now and again you’ll see one lone tree defying the odds. At first I thought I had it all figured out, with the sun as strong as it was and me sweating my ass off and looking for any patch of shade I could find that could be the only answer. Then I realized that couldn’t be the answer. There were small huts and thatch roofed decks spotted around the fields for just that purpose.

My last day on the farm was all about relaxing and hanging out with the family and I spent a good part of that day sitting under that tree enjoying it’s shade. Pookie and her Aunt joined me, although they didn’t seem to understand the relaxing part because they were digging in the dirt around the tree. Next think I know they are pulling up what could only be described as hard black balls and throwing them into a straw hat. I swear to Buddha I thought they were collecting some sort of dung.

Before I knew it I was digging around in the dirt and finding similar hard black balls and wondering just what the hell I was up to. Before long we had a hat full and were heading back to the house to relax in the shade there and eye up our curious find. Pookie disappeared into the house only to appear a few minutes later with a very wicked looking knife and a very determined look on he face.

After I realized she wasn’t coming for me but the hard black balls I settled down and watched as she started to split them in half with her wicked knife and feed me the treasure buried inside. As soon as I saw the first ball split open all my questions were answered. They were almonds and that big ass tree was an almond tree. I had missed the blooming of the tree earlier in the year and the harvest of it’s nuts. The nuts fall off the tree at will sometimes and bury themselves in the dirt. So now and again a treat can be had on a hot spring day.

I had never seen an almond in it’s shell before and the only almond trees I have ever seen were very small and ornate looking. The nut grows as the tree blooms and looks very similar to a small green peach. When the peach like shell hardens and turns a deep brown or black the almonds are ready to harvest.

I have to say relaxing under the tree was nice but relaxing under the house while being hand fed the fruits of that tree was priceless. And some of us relaxed more than others.

While working on the family farm in Nakhon Phanom this past April I put in more than my fair share of sweat equity getting the fields ready for the upcoming rice season. Most of the family fields are located just behind the house so we didn’t have far to go with our tractor loads of dung we had mucked from the stables.

One thing kept bothering me though, a tree right in the middle of the family fields. You don’t see many large trees still standing in the rice fields but now and again you’ll see one lone tree defying the odds. At first I thought I had it all figured out, with the sun as strong as it was and me sweating my ass off and looking for any patch of shade I could find that could be the only answer. Then I realized that couldn’t be the answer. There were small huts and thatch roofed decks spotted around the fields for just that purpose.

My last day on the farm was all about relaxing and hanging out with the family and I spent a good part of that day sitting under that tree enjoying it’s shade. Pookie and her Aunt joined me, although they didn’t seem to understand the relaxing part because they were digging in the dirt around the tree. Next think I know they are pulling up what could only be described as hard black balls and throwing them into a straw hat. I swear to Buddha I thought they were collecting some sort of dung.

Before I knew it I was digging around in the dirt and finding similar hard black balls and wondering just what the hell I was up to. Before long we had a hat full and were heading back to the house to relax in the shade there and eye up our curious find. Pookie disappeared into the house only to appear a few minutes later with a very wicked looking knife and a very determined look on he face.

After I realized she wasn’t coming for me but the hard black balls I settled down and watched as she started to split them in half with her wicked knife and feed me the treasure buried inside. As soon as I saw the first ball split open all my questions were answered. They were almonds and that big ass tree was an almond tree. I had missed the blooming of the tree earlier in the year and the harvest of it’s nuts. The nuts fall off the tree at will sometimes and bury themselves in the dirt. So now and again a treat can be had on a hot spring day.

I had never seen an almond in it’s shell before and the only almond trees I have ever seen were very small and ornate looking. The nut grows as the tree blooms and looks very similar to a small green peach. When the peach like shell hardens and turns a deep brown or black the almonds are ready to harvest.

I have to say relaxing under the tree was nice but relaxing under the house while being hand fed the fruits of that tree was priceless. And some of us relaxed more than others.