05 MAR Sat – A Day at The Farm House

05Mar Sat - The farmer I visited in Antu owns the farmhouse and the small plot of about ¼ acres that it sits on. Land ownership is a sign of wealth but the farmer thinks she is poor.

There is water that runs through a pipe into the farmhouse but no indoor plumbing. About once a day water flows through the pipe and out of a facet into a large ceramic pot that sits on the floor in the kitchen. This water is used for cooking and washing but not for drinking. Drinking water is purchased and delivered from a mountain stream. It is not treated or filtered water.

Electricity is used for the TV, stereo music, and charging mobile phones. There is one light bulb in each room that hangs from the ceiling with exposed plastic covered wiring running across the ceiling and then down the wall with a switch to turn the light on and off. The house was built before electricity was available. The walls are brick and nearly 2 feet thick so running the wires inside the wall would be very difficult. Conduit is not used.

Outside of the house in the front is a stack of straw about 10 feet long, 6 feet high, and 2 feet deep. Also, there is a stack of wood about the same size. The straw is used for kindling to start a fire and the wood for burning. Wood burning fire is used for cooking in the kitchen and heating the two living rooms. In the kitchen is a very large wok about 2 1/2 feet across in diameter. Water from the ceramic pot on the kitchen floor is transferred to the Wok. The water is the Wok is heated as needed for cooking and washing. There is another cooking space above the fire and an electric cooking stove for another Wok for cooking. The back door and front door are opened during cooking to release the smoke from the wood fire.

One of the living areas is heated with wood fire. There is a raised platform of concrete in each of the two living areas. At the end of the raise platform and underneath is a wood fire that provides heat for this room. The raised platform is nearly as large of the room. This platform is used for living, eating, and sleeping. Sometimes it is used as an extension for the kitchen for food preparation. When the food is ready to eat a small round table with short legs is placed on the platform and all the guests and the host sit on the floor around this table to eat.

The walls of the house are very thick, nearly two feet. There are two vertical rows of brick with a space in between. The brick on the inside and outside is covered with a smooth layer of concrete and painted. The windows are covered with plastic sheeting on the inside and the outside. The house felt very well insulated from the freezing cold of the outside. There was a chill in the hallway that was not heated but the heated room was toasty warm.

The toilet is outside. It is Asian style which is very simple to make - simply dig a hole in the ground and place a board on both sides for your feet when squatting. Then squat. When finished take a shovel and cover with a dirt and straw mixture. Periodically someone has to clean out the hole which is not a very pleasant job, I am sure. Fortunately the apartment where I am staying has indoor plumbing and western style toilet seat so I could wait until I was back at the apartment to go.