Fukuoka Happy Hill Rice

Hi All,

Anyone growing Fukuoka's Happy hill rice? I would like to get some seeds of this. I was growing these some time back, but lost the seeds. These seeds if kept uncultivated for a few months, does not germinate in my climate (Kerala,India). I still have some seeds, but they don't germinate any more. But they are amazing seeds, some photos of my earlier cultivation can be seen here https://farming-experiments.blogspot.com/2016/05/happy-hill-rice-2016-monsoon.html

There are two possibilities of getting these seeds, one from Japan and one in US. There is a seed company which sells this in Japan, but they can not ship it internationally hence some one in Japan has to buy it and then send it to you, in turn you can send a few seeds to me also

Another source is in US, here also, US citizens may be able to get this and send a few seeds back to me

Let me know if it works out for anyone here.


Regards,
Nandan

Nandakumar Palaparambil wrote:Hi All,

Anyone growing Fukuoka's Happy hill rice? I would like to get some seeds of this. I was growing these some time back, but lost the seeds. These seeds if kept uncultivated for a few months, does not germinate in my climate (Kerala,India). I still have some seeds, but they don't germinate any more. But they are amazing seeds, some photos of my earlier cultivation can be seen here https://farming-experiments.blogspot.com/2016/05/happy-hill-rice-2016-monsoon.html

There are two possibilities of getting these seeds, one from Japan and one in US. There is a seed company which sells this in Japan, but they can not ship it internationally hence some one in Japan has to buy it and then send it to you, in turn you can send a few seeds to me also

Another source is in US, here also, US citizens may be able to get this and send a few seeds back to me

Let me know if it works out for anyone here.


Regards,
Nandan

So here's my thought -

Didn't Happy Hill Rice come about because Mr. Fukuoka spent many seasons keeping seeds from his best faring and yielding plants and propagating them the next season? Over time he had a rice that was especially suited to his soil and climate and subsequently thrived.

So my thinking is that it would be better to find a locally cultivated seed and to save back the seeds from whichever plants fare best. Then repeat that process for a few seasons. Over time, you should wind up with your own "Happy Hill Rice" that is particularly suited to your soil and climate. It seems to me that just because a type of rice thrives in southern Japan, does not necessarily mean it will thrive elsewhere. Even if it was bred by the master himself.

Just my two cents. Good luck with finding what you're looking for!

Thanks Patrick,

Yes, I keep cultivating a particular traditional seed which is suited for my climate and keep selecting it...one of the main reason is that it tastes excellent and quite resilient..What you mentioned is a perfect mechanism, keep selecting and the seed will be suitable for my local climate.

I had tried happy hill rice earlier, some of the features of it was attractive, even though never tasted it. One is that, it grows very well and produce good yield and also the grains does not fall easily...so it looks to be an attractive variety to keep.

https://farming-experiments.blogspot.com/2016/05/happy-hill-rice-2016-monsoon.html - some photos of my previous cultivation can be seen here



Regards,
Nandan

You may have better luck with a thread title specifying that this is a request for help reshipping from US/Japan; as it stands only folks who click through will see that this is the goal!

Surely someone will be able help you out.. anyone?

Yes, Nikolls, that would have made more impact, if nothing happens with this,will try that. Meanwhile I am trying many other options,something would have worked, but because of Corona pandemic, things are bit slow everywhere.


Thanks & Regards,
Nandan

Who/what is the us source for happy hill rice?

Happy Hill is actually the result of a cross of an ancient Burmese glutinous rice crossed with a Japanese non glutinous rice per The Road Back to Nature p156. Based on the square meter he’d cultivated, he expected a metric ton of rice per quarter acre presumably via do-nothing methods. If those numbers proved accurate a small scale farm could grow enough rice to be marketable locally or provide for one’s family without dedicating your entire garden to the effort.

I just happen to be working on finishing Road Back to Nature, so had the info at my finger tips. Least favorite Fukuoka book ever, but there are still gems buried in it.

Taking Happy Hill with its potentially high yields and crossing with a local variety may yield the best results in the end. I’m thinking a cross with a shorter season variety (if such exists) would be good for where I’d be growing it.

It's funny how things work. I follow this place in India (http://spiritoftheearth.in/artisanal-rice/) that's working to preserve a bunch of heritage rice and I'm jealous that I can't get them. And then there are Indians who want rice they can't get. :-)

Definitely. I spent weeks a couple years ago digging through the USDA GRIN looking for seeds from around the world at the same latitude and similar altitudes. Short growing season plus a zone 5 is fun to try to plan for.

Definitely not the most fun I’ve had but it was interesting and hopefully some of what I earmarked will be available when I’m able to actually work on the project.

Happy Hill is available via GRIN just search here : https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/search

Not suited to where I’m growing though because it is 116 days from emergence to flower… no chance it will get done in the grow season I’m facing. :-/

I forgot to update this thread...finally I got Happy Hill rice from Japan. Mentioned about this in a casual chat with my school friend who had spent couple of years in Japan but now settled in India. He still had some contacts with his earlier friends and he checked with him and one person agreed to buy it and send it. Later payment through internet was tedious and he just drove to the Japanese seed shop which was close by and bought it. Later shipped it through his friend to India and I received it. I had tried USDA and they had promised to send but due to COVID situations, they didn't send it.

The first generation happy hill rice plants were very weak, but next generations are better. It performs well in upland condition and grain forming is much better, even with just moisture. I had tried 3-4 local traditional varieties but performance wise, this looks much better. But one issue is that since it matures 80-90 days depending on season, it fails to germinate if I keep it for long, that is how I lost old seeds. I keep this in refrigerator to avoid this and keeps cultivating in sample plots 2-3 times.

Yes, we have lots of indigenous variety, but suits me is only upland varieties since water availability is less, but still searching for variety which does well in upland.


Regards,
Nandan

Dear Engr. Nandakumar,

I have read your post about Happy Hill Rice. Im about to receive this variety soon which a friend of mine send to me.

I just wanna ask you, how to keep the rice in order to germimate successfully?
Is there certain storage temperature, length of time in storage etc.

Thank you very much! Your blog gives so much information to us.

Edwin Saladaga
Cebu, Philippines

I keep the seeds in refrigerator, otherwise they loose viability soon. The variety which I have is 3-months duration, so they won't last more than 3-4 months after harvesting. I keep hearing that this is true with any rice variety, shorter the duration, shorted their germination viability.

Also it comes best with monsoon in my climate. Here pre-mosoon rains have started and I am planning to sow them in 2-3 weeks

Regards,
Nandan