Inaka Life 田舎の生活

one step forward two steps back

2012-01-15T22:41:00.026+09:00

A new glade to ski, the new bowl is just over the top of the distant hill and connects to the the bottom of the glade on the lower right

halfway down the bowl, it's not huge but it's close to home and free to ski

フトウガ峰　Futougamine in the distance with the bowl nicely carved up, the cache lies even farther beyond that

We finally got the woodstove fixed just after Christmas. It cost a pretty penny but we're still ahead of the game. During the time the stove was down we relied on 2 kerosene heaters plus ran the woodstove on low. For a few years we heated only with wood, then got an electric heater. Now still mainly heating with wood though we use the big kerosene heater early in the morning, before the kids get off to school or when we've been out all day or longer, it's convenient to heat up the house quick before the woodstove gets up to temp, about half an hour or so. I've found over the years that heating completely with wood is possible, but for our situation not entirely practical.

Same for growing crops. I've learned how to plow, plant and tend some crops over the years but not perfectly and not to capacity given time constraints. But it's been fun, if not arduous learning the ropes in the field . I feel confident that it's possible to produce a good portion of our family's food if need be, but time constraints, or is it lifestyle constraints, take their toll. That's why I'll probably be scaling back the hobbyfarming in 2012, and focusing more on my own land, garden, and pursuits.

Finally what probably started off all this back-stepping, our muscovy duck Mr. Brown seems to have flown the coop. I hope he finds what he's looking for, probably heading towards the warmth and sun of the Inland Sea, it is after all, all downhill from here.

Speaking of which the skiing is getting better and better around here and I've found some new routes that've opened up because of the good conditions. Last time out was some of the best backcountry ever. The hike up the mountain gets easier as my legs get accustomed to climbing again and the runs likewise get longer and more plentiful.

Back at it again and conditions have worsened a bit but still good skiing. We had some heavy rain down here, but I knew it would be snowing up high as usual. The steep hike up to the ridge is not a chore anymore, but a good warm-up for the main event. The heavy wet snow was a little worse than thought, made everything slow motion, which is ok with me on the steeps where it can get hairy.

The ridge runs like this for about 2km. Often 45 degrees or better, in some places it is so tempting to just ski off into the unknown, but at this grade and with the amount of snow it'd be a bear to get back up.

Before heading off down the bowl I tell myself to stick to the shoulder, this new snow may be a problem.

Sure enough it has caused the bowl to avalanche. Just last week I was in the middle there but knew conditions were safer, though I didn't linger long. Doesn't look like a major slide but one wouldn't want to be in there when it went. On re-reading Avalanche Aware, this is a dangerous type of slab avalanche caused by density inversion, heavier snow on top of soft snow.

The lunch kitchen. I need to put the 2nd cache around here, preferably with a cheezy pop-up beach tent and an old sleeping bag for naptime after a big lunch and a few runs.

winter cache

2011-12-25T18:37:00.036+09:00

I love winter break especially when we have a white Christmas, even more when there's enough to ski. During break I get to eat(and cook) as much as I want, drink as much and hike and ski almost as much as I want to.

the golden glow in the distance is the Seto Inland sea area (内海) the sea itself is sometimes visible from here. It's the industrial heart of Japan in many places. About 60 km as the crow flies. The weather along the inland sea or naikai is remarkably different from ours. Usually sunny and dry compared to us.

at the right of this shot you can see the factories of Himeji, the largest city near us, about an hour on the toll road. Its golden glow of sunshine tempts us with shopping malls, Indian restaurants and other sophistication. It's nice to indulge every few months or so.

Back at home where the weather in winter can be sunny 3 days a month if you are unlucky, I was hatching a scheme. I'm 46 going on 47. Getting my self plus gear up to the beautiful snow requires more effort than driving to the ski resort, but each has their place. A small 10x10 cabin up here would be nice but illegal to build. So I decided to make a cache of the heaviest items needed for winter camping. My gear is mostly about 20 years old or more and slowly being replaced with more modern, lightweight counterparts. But without a NASA budget and the shacho (boss) ever vigilant, I still have to make due with some bulky items. Those were destined for the cache. If a badger or fox decides to make a nice nest of them I won't mind too much, but have to clean it up or course.

On Christmas afternoon it was placed on the summit, before the storm closed off the easy access by road. The plan is to hike to the cache and not have to carry an extra 8kgs.

Can you spot the hidden cache? Now it's probably covered with a meter of snow.

Now heading up the long way

a tempting bowl waiting to be dropped in on

In the distance the summit awaits still 3-4 hours away.

another 2 hours of breaking trail and it seems I won't reach the goal by dark, perhaps I placed it too far

I'll have to try another time to make it all the way

heading home
a sea of clouds, called unkai, forming in our valley

Total eclipse

2011-12-11T19:32:00.016+09:00

the total lunar eclipse treated us to a beautiful red sphere and shooting stars at its peak

the creek in full moonlight

one of the reasons I chose to live here is the access to the mountains
just out the door summits can be reached via short but extremely steep bushwack

here's a beautiful bowl that looks ski-able

a nice grove of small broadleaf evergreens forming a sub-canopy, pines as the top canopy

there is absolutely no level ground for a camp on the entire route up
save one 10 meter wide plateau covered with deer scat and ticks
it's a 500 meter climb over an 1000 meter distance

the problem with bushwacking is ticks, you have to stop every 100 meters or so and brush them off your legs and inspect well
the route often follows game trails
black clothing is not allowed

another thing I noticed a few weeks ago on a family hike was the complete lack of acorns, nothing! Seems like it is not just a local phenomena http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/nyregion/boom-and-bust-in-acorns-will-affect-many-creatures-including-humans.htmlalso this has been the mildest year for stinkbugs ever, who can't be happy about that? But they say few of them means a mild winter, we'll see.

December surprise, straggler reds

warm weather

2011-11-27T21:04:00.020+09:00

It's a good thing for this

end of November and silking corn(late season) in the field??

5kg of fall pots

and then there's this......aaarrrggghhh

8 years of regular use or abuse actually, have taken their toll. This translates into 4 years of daily use as the primary heat source. I think it will need a major rebuild, which is beyond my ability.

bolts are weak and snap when turned. The damper is completely warped. Inner heat shields are cracked and more. I have it rigged so we can still make small fires though.

will be saving this nice driftwood and resorting to the giant kerosene heater as the primary.

Always wanted to make a tipi and found this http://simplydifferently.org/Tipi great site which gave me the push needed . It's made of flame retardant white tarp 3.6m X 7.2m and rather thin bamboo poles. So much more cozy than the old Coleman, but more suited to colder weather.

I don't know who likes it more the kids or me.

A lovely place to enjoy some of this...

yamanashi-shu 山梨酒 , wild pear brandy.

a Hokkaido native working on an Ainu motif

2011-11-05T09:48:00.009+09:00

It's been a warm fall so far, hardly used any firewood at all which is good. In the afternoons I've noticed foxes howling just before sundown and again later in the evening at about the same time night after night, and not just in this area.

Found a beautiful yamanashi 　山梨の木　, or mountain pear tree off a lightly used road on public land that has been overlooked. It's loaded with fruit though they're still rather sour, have to check on it again soon.

they've sweetened up, but still much more firm than your regular pear. I gave the tree a good shake without thinking and got pummeled haha.

The first fall potatoes are so thin skinned they don't need peeling, pass the sour cream please.

After 3 years of nothing my shiitake logs caught me off guard and produced these giant hand sized monsters, waterlogged and inedible.

Persimmon jam on homemade bread

So far have gotten almost a kilo of amaranth seed, probably another kilo left to harvest in the field. Considering that 1/3 cup can yield 2 servings it goes far.

This big guy has been hanging around the village

2011-10-11T09:06:00.011+09:00

Some of the amaranth is about 5 feet tall

purple

golden
and pink

I jumped the gun a bit and had to harvest some to clean and to taste . It was a little difficult to clean being rather green. Have to wait until the first frost nips and it falls more easily. It makes a nice porridge like oatmeal, has a nutty flavor and is good topped with a little honey.

Of course it wouldn't be fall without the local parasol mushrooms The aigamo in the field hunting for the day. Time to bring in the green onions, don't know if the late season black corn will make it all the way. Mr.Brown is very happy when I cover the duck run with fresh weeds. So are the aigamo who leave presents every day. Summer is over and gone are these nasties, yama-biru, ヤマヒル、mountain leeches.

summer feasting

These guys snuck in and got my good row of late season corn.

2011-09-03T13:18:00.014+09:00

Stiped snake シマヘビ and lunch of トカゲ lizard

Amaranth getting big. I've been told this is a hard to eradicate weed in commercial agriculture. One man's weed is another man's breakfast.

Locally famous green onions, they sell for up to 200yen each at roadside stands.

Ornamental pumpkins climbing the plum tree
trio

how not to dry corn

how to dry corn

For the life of me I can't get corn to dry enough to make flour without using electricity ie the oven. I have to make a dehydrator that is essentially a plywood box with a single lightbulb at the bottom wherin the common blue net fish/veg rack can be hung. To be run off the solar panels of course.

perfect cukes

white mochi or starchy corn is great grilled
Since we've had a good crop of corn and it is very difficult to dry in near perpetual 70% humidity and too hot to be wasting energy with the oven trying to dry it I had to go looking for recipes. A good one is "johnny cakes" http://www.theppk.com/2011/05/fresh-corn-johnnycakes/(journey cakes) or corn pancakes. My simplified recipe :cut the kernels off of 3 ears, add some milk and flour till it is of hotcake batter consistency, an egg is optional. Add one tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp salt plus 1/2 tsp baking powder,mix thoroughly. Fry in hot oil or butter, top with maple syrup or jam. Yields 3 large cakes. They're heavy duty , stick to your ribs food.

duelling journeycakes

Dried green beans or "leather britches" for stews and soups

pumpkin and bitter melon, a first here

late season black corn from Aichi prefecture
early planted getting a headstart

Feast or famine

2011-08-13T14:31:00.011+09:00

Haven't been all the way up the road in a while and haven't swam here for even longer
it's a real interesting place. The trout are unafraid and the giant アブ abu horeseflies weren't biting.

The insects were certainly feasting on my corn and cornstalks, lost a good many. The damaged ones go to the ducks who are certainly not as upset as I am.

5 fingered black corn

giant

4 varieties of maize this year. Only one F1 hybrid.

keep in mind these are not all supermarket jumbo sized, in fact few are. Most are medium to smallish this year. Had some pollination problems I believe. That and the usual laziness.

drying nicely in the fishnet, the cherry tomatoes didn't fare well for sundries though

a first- sprouting on the cob

bumper beans and chard

梅雨あけ十日

2011-07-09T19:51:00.016+09:00

It's blistering hot but with low humidity, which will last only a few more days then the rain will return.

The log raised bed put out about 2kgs of potatoes

the field has given me this plus about 2 buckets full

my weekly lunchbox bill has tapered off to nil

into the bin and under the house

some stragglers from last fall's planting popping up here and there around the field

So much field and so little time

potatoes harvested and their beds plowed back under

bullfrog　ウシカエル

low on phosphate?

heirloom corn - I tried a block planting for the first time, could squeeze 100 plants into this space. So far so good, but it's difficult to weed and water. Thinking maybe next year to do several of these block plantings with either black plastic mulch or some experimental newspaper and or cardboard mulch. Maybe try to leave a block with a undersow of clover, 1 with plastic, 1 paper , etc

a wind barrier on the south facing side plus nearly each individual plant is staked and tied as opposed to the Florida weave I did last year (my son got into my 500m. spool of manila twine what a mess) The long raised beds are somewhat easy to weed using a power strimmer.
about 200+ corn total

2011-06-12T14:23:00.009+09:00

artichokes from Yamaguchi

time for a big field clean-up
some surgical cutting with the gas
powered trimmer

wheat

oats?

potatoes, corn, clover, corn
a good portion of the field potatoes have some
kind of stalk boring pest going on

log bed with potatoes
going well

tires with potatoes , clover and chard

new duck enclosure surrounding a thick patch of clover

2011-05-15T21:25:00.014+09:00

Oh Vermont!

East towards the White Mountains of New Hampshire North and West towards Lake Champlain , the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and Canada Painted Bluff at Buffalo National River, Ozark Mountains, Arkansas

back to the world My first stab at wheat, wish me luck.
Since I missed dandelion season the only other option was crimson, clover that is basically copying the dandelion recipe and winging it
boil about 10 minutes

Seriously red

should be ready for Thanksgiving or Christmas, guess this decides the menu

plowed under half of the regular clover green manure and sowed another 100 or so corn seeds

Something's in the air

2011-04-09T20:03:00.018+09:00

It's the time of year when yellow sand from China's desertification comes blowing across the Korean peninsula and combines with 2 kilograms of pollen per tree from the cedar/cypress forests which makes for all kinds of respiratory distress.

Which can only mean potato planting time! 5kg of seed taters yields about 90 hopeful plants in 3 raised beds to the left of the now blooming rape seed duck salad bar on the right.

Also added yellow and black heirloom corn, amaranth , wheat, barley, oats, millet, and peanuts. How the grains will do in this wet climate is anybody's guess, but it's worth a try. trying the kitchengardenjapan weed-mulch-method this year, I need more weeds!

< The muscovy sometimes refuses to be herded into the coop at night, yes it is that big. Here he's flown outside the compound and the raccoon is saying, " I think I'll stick with the easy grub here on the ground" Brazen suckers

Found a great source of log end cuts for next years wood supply. Right off the main road and only 15 mins one way.

How much wood could a kei truck huck if a kei truck would huck wood? For the first time in 7 years I actually had to crack out the kerosene heater and burn a few 18L jugs of the stuff to heat our home. Due to the record cold winter and my lazy arse we, I mean I, ran out of wood at the end of March, only to be rescued by a neighbor who happened to give us 2 truckfulls of ancient sticks normally used to fire a woodburning bathtub. On a sadder note I had to depart with a pair of muscovy ducks who will now be taking up residence in Aichi-ken at Elwood Garten http://kenelwood.wordpress.com/ They'll be eating much better over there for sure, thanks much Ken.

Duck compound

2011-03-07T12:05:00.005+09:00

The new duck compound seems to be working ok. It's in a north-facing corner of the backyard so it's shady and rather damp. Ideally a roofed area would be best, but expensive to build. The muscovy coop needs a chicken wire protected extension around the door for times when we are out overnight. The current configuration of the coop will be too hot come June.

It takes at least 2 cubic meters of weed cuttings to cover the ground to keep the mud down. After 3 successive layerings this gets raked up and put under the tarp in the corner. Should make for some fine compost.

There's not much to forage for the ducks on this side of the yard at any time of year, so I march them down the road a bit to the rented field and let them forage there whenever possible.

Muscovy Ducks

2011-01-29T18:43:00.018+09:00

Through the internet I've met some interesting people here in Japan. Not a bad apple in the bunch. Some were hitch-hiking the length of the country, some are on pilgrimages. Others are starting farms , homesteads, trades, even villages and trying to live as simply as possible, slowing down, perhaps dropping out, but never giving up. Occasionally in life you get to meet someone who walks the walk. Thanks to the good people at http://journeytoforever.org/index.html we are able to take part in a journey. One that we should all be on, to live more in tune with each other and our home, than against. Their extraordinary website has provided inspiration for thousands of people all over the globe to undertake their own journey to forever. Good luck wherever your journey may take you!

Muscovys are more known for their meat than their eggs

New extra large coop for the extra large Muscovys

5hrs and 13,000 yen later. It's the best I've made so far

http://journeytoforever.org/index.html

food, grog, and skiing

2010-12-27T17:21:00.019+09:00

Not much new around here except that our food self sufficiency rating has just about dropped to zero, mainly due to winter . The ducks have stopped laying for the season and all that's in the field are beets and some lettuce. Waiting on some brussel sprouts and broccoli though. Did barter some hombrew for venison and wild boar, both of which were excellent. (thanks Yabanjin) Here's the making of a venison stew in my new best friend the pressure cooker. Haven't bought any beer for quite a while now. Have a system pretty well worked out for fermenting even at low winter temperatures. Just place a water jug of wort on the sacrilegious electric radiator for a week. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

These electric radiators make the difference between unbearable and bearable temperatures in the far corners of the house where the woodstove warmth will not reach. But still it pains me to p..p..p..pa I can't say it....pay money for heat. Then do a second fermentation in the bottle for another 4 days

wait 3 weeks or longer if you can stand it, fresh Belgian style ale for 1\5th the price

Then you have to go out and work off all those calories

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　杉山　　　　　　　　　　段が峰

should be able to ski up there in another day or two , looking forward to trying out the new gear

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　フトウが峰

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Dangamine from Sugiyama

With more snow it is now getting good. The problem is the road to the top of the pass is snowed in and I have to hike up the ridge from the beginning, brutal.

Skiing on the ridge top at 900m.

A typical glade that can be skied right off the trail, what goes down must also come back up. After a few of these glade or tree runs you're wiped.

Quince wine 花梨ワイン

2010-11-21T19:52:00.007+09:00

This giant caterpillar has nothing to do with wine

I was really hoping to try making persimmon wine this year but my secret mountain persimmon tree either didn't fruit well this year or my timing was way off. Acorns also were absent due to the very dry August weather probably.

The dandelion wine たんぽぽワイン　bottled back in May is ready and came out quite well. I'm pleased because it was my first attempt at wine and used only regular bread yeast.

An aquaintance gave us some very large quinces. The quince or karin 花梨　is a large, hard, asian pear that must be boiled to be eaten.

boiling the karin

cut into bite sized pieces, add sugar, honey, lemon juice and a little ginger. Boil for 1/2 hour.

strain into carbuoy with cold water added

using proper wine yeast this time

Sprinkle on yeast and fit airlock in place

Insulate the warm brew and store in a warm place till fermentation ceases. This will be racked (transferred) to another carbuoy in about 2 weeks, and sit for about 3 months . Then bottled and aged for another 3 months at least. Hoping for the best.

autumn

2010-10-21T22:20:00.016+09:00

Well, autumn started off great with a computer crash and my potatoes getting eaten by boars and bucks. 100 plants were down to 20 or so. They left the plants and roots uneaten but got the little tubers. I managed to salvage a row of spudless roots.

Then things got better and we had to have the entire bath replaced due to the inept construction of the original contractor. Rigged a solar shower on the roof next to the deck. It worked for a week, then it got colder.

Into the second week of remodeling had to use buckets of hot tap water to fill containers, the kids, wife and I enjoyed bathing al fresco in the evenings.

All the amenities of home

Trying a system to force dry wood by February. That is when I figure I'll just about run out of dry wood on hand. Green logs are split in half and stacked with large air spaces.

Covered on ominous looking days but opened and free to breathe and dry when nice.

The rape seed- green manure is really taking off. It's about knee high and looks like broccoli. The ducks get a good bucketful per day, well chopped.
And the row of salvaged potatoes is hanging on and some are actually flowering. What is going on underground is anybody's guess though.
Things were looking up and had some good luck in the yard with parasol mushrooms.

Most years I'd get one or two total, but this year they're coming in groups of 3. I'll harvest 2 and break up 1 and throw it around the yard for next year's crop.

Tried my hand at Matsutake hunting way up on the mountain but found nothing but poisonous Death Caps.
After taking this picture, I read " do not handle these mushrooms, if you do wash hands thoroughly". Well I'm 3 km. in and up the mountain, have 200cc of water and a 500 meter descent ahead, what would you do?

Couldn't positive ID these as Oyster mushrooms , tempting they were, darn.

Earthballs, poisonous of course. If I start a band it's going to be called Earthballs.
Looks like Matsutake

Wait it's an egg..

Death caps

After that things got better round the house with even more monstrous parasol mushrooms.

Makes about a dozen for the year so far

2010-09-05T13:52:00.013+09:00

The water in the Sea of Japan is sometimes incredibly Caribbean-like

This August,and September so far, was absolutely blistering, but with little rain. For that I'm thankful. April-July was wetter than normal with 1200mm in that period. (4 feet) We've finally gone under 30C/85F inside the house.

Is that Diamond Head?

The corn harvest topped out at 250 ears, from 450 plants, not bad. It was pretty much on my prediction for 1\2 being successful.

Didn't make it over 300 due to boars/deer/insect damage on the final 2 rows. Recently in the evenings the hamlet resonates with the sounds of radios in the fields, banging on fences, and a few bottle rockets (my contribution). The other day a lone monkey foolishly came down for a daytime glimpse of the now golden rice paddies. Poor little guy was ruthlessly harassed by all. Actually felt sorry for the him, till he comes near my house that is.

Put in 秋じゃが fall potatoes. 3 beds of 30-40 seed spuds. Continuing with the use of double wide rows between raised beds. The few visible remaining corn plants mark the beds used in summer. They will rest and were broadcast seeded with rape. This should act as a green manure for next year's planting.

The solar powered yard lights have been upgraded from compact fluoresent to LED's. This simple but somewhat costly act has extended their range to 60 hours. Of course I waited till the bulbs were on sale. Edison would be proud, a 20 dollar light bulb. The new LED's are 0.11 amps, using less power than the already super efficient CFL's. A very small home could easily be lit with a single PV panel and one battery. Lighting is the easy part of trying to be off grid , but it just got a whole lot simpler. Before, the ultimate in off grid lighting was supposedly propane, I'd say the standard has changed. The bulbs are said to be good for 40,000 hours or about 20 years.

Yellow Gold

2010-08-13T18:59:00.005+09:00

Got about 100 more ears from the middle rows with my son's help. There are still 2 rows remaining that are not quite ready. Hopefully this will push the total over 300. About 1/2 are "supermarket large" some with a little insect damage, usually on the very top. The other 1/2 is a mix of medium to small sizes. This really makes up for the poor potato crop. I'm tickled pink to say the least.

Though my wife shares my enthusiasm for maize, freezer space is a different story.

Corn fed ducks enjoying the irrigation ditch

Homegrown

corn "raisins"

I think I accidentally discovered a new food. While trying to dry par-boiled corn to make flour, it wouldn't quite dry all the way no matter how long it stayed in the electric oven at a very low temperature of 45C. Not having any screens to properly dry it in the sun, and having fruit flies attack the hung cobs, the only option was to raise the temp to the next lowest setting. As it turns out, about 2hrs at 100C makes perfect "corn raisins". The family is wild about them.

summer harvest

2010-08-03T14:43:00.014+09:00

The real goods are finally starting to roll in. Cherry tomatoes, green beans, peppers and of course...corn!

this is going on every other day or so. For our first corn feast we each had 3 ears! That's about as filling as a heaping bowl of rice.

Have gotten about 30 50 70 90 ears so far. I'd rate size at medium but taste and sweetness get an A.
The ducks get the earworm rejects and we get the nice ones. Had to cull about 25 40 plants though.

The deck shade has withstood a few good thunderstorms and windy days but still needs some modifications.

Nothing like a dip after a while in the field.

Amago (trout). There's a couple of keepers in here that I really should go after one of these days.

broody duck

2010-07-21T22:37:00.006+09:00

Our duck "Milk tea" or is it "Lemon Tea"?, has gone broody

Lately she doesn't lay in the nesting box early in the morning, but later after being let out for the day.

The eggs are much cleaner this way.

da da

da da da da

dadadadadadadada
daDadaDADADADADDA
arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Corn earworms: I've tried a variety of organic solutions, hard to tell if they're really effective. So far I've pulled out about 10 plants that have been really infested. I realize now that last year I made a big mistake of not disposing of infested plants properly, so the pest has come back this year. If it keeps up at this rate it won't hurt harvest too much. If things go exponential from here though it could get ugly.

Haven't been in the field for two whole days which is a no-no, especially at this critical time of flowering , silking, pollenating. Hand watering takes about 30 minutes. Inspection and spraying also takes about 30 minutes.

weave hybrid

2010-07-12T10:03:00.007+09:00

We had heavy rain and high winds that began to knock down the corn. Being my lazy self I went swimming the day before the anticipated storm instead of putting up supports. How could I resist?

At least the ducks are happy and I'm saving on feed.

This looks more like a Florida weave system designed for tomatoes. It was the only thing I could think of other than gathering 400+ bamboo stakes from the riverside somewhere. That would take forever.

Spent about 6 back-breaking hours in the pouring rain and winds paying for my laziness. Nearly each plant is tied loosely to the support line

99% of the crop is upright, pretty good considering the winds. At the top of the valley here it all gets funnelled straight to us from the south. Good for a wind turbine- bad for corn. I can't do a block planting cause of the heavy rain, wouldn't be able to enter the muddy block for days at a time, forget about weeding it. The only other thing I can think to help is make my rows run south-north, as opposed to east-west like I have now. Can't imagine it'd make much difference though. This is the first test of many to come this summer for sure. In the meantime, I'll start gathering bamboo poles for next year, and wait for things to dry out and cultivate the rows again.

Sea of Corn

2010-07-06T08:25:00.002+09:00

OK, not quite that much but there are 400 plants so far. The battle against the weeds this rainy season is going surprisingly well so far. The double-wide space between raised beds, black plastic mulch, and very carefull weed cutting with the 草刈り機　is working out. Now if I can only keep the future pests at bay. Hoping for a few sunny days to dry out the rows and get the tiller in again.

Kotobikihama beach in Kyoto. 琴引浜　my favorite place in summer. On July 4th, practically no one there, cloudy but no rain, warm water and free outdoor hotspring, unbeatable.

I have no idea where they get this from.

Creek-boating

2010-06-29T15:02:00.018+09:00

The weather hasn't been good for sailing on the lake, but the water is high so I decided to do some canoeing, or creek boating, as it should properly be called. Creek boating is different in that you spend about 1/2 the time out of your boat, portaging or lining rapids by rope, that are either too rocky or too shallow to run. The other half is spent bashing rocks, running narrow chutes, and wishing you had a helmet with the occasional flatwater stretch in between.

The journey begins here at 魚ヶ滝 or Fish Falls. This is a popular swimming hole, below the falls the 5 meter deep aerated water is teeming with fish. The area opens up to a large pond which I neglected to show.

On the first portage I nearly stepped on a giant salamander オオサンショウウオ　(ohsanshouo). They are an endangered/ protected species that inhabit cold, clean high mountain rivers and streams in western Honshu. This one was about 50cm. They can live to be 60 years old and up to 150cm.

The best decision I made of the day was to bring my full -net bug hat as the あぶ　horseflies were pretty bad. During the first rapid however it was ripped from my head as I went under a low hanging branch.

Luckily after making it through upright I was able to spot the dark blob moving quickly downstream and went for a fast paddle to get it.

I haven't made this trip for about 3 or 4 years. I've only once seen another person here. There are about 5 nice swimming holes with beaches. It's a bit off the beaten path and only run-able at very high water.

I did however find a driver's license belonging to some guy from Vietnam on this rock once. I mailed it back to him of course.

Taking a swim to cool down. The water was about 18 degrees I'm guessing. The air was quite warm and muggy. 2 polypro t-shirts, a dive skin and neoprene shorts covered with rain gear was enough to stay warm. A nice lunch of ikura onigiri and Kirin's finest topped off with a cigar (bug repellent) was a nice touch here.

In many places it is a real gorge.

The last rapid.
Looking back at the last rapid from a fairly hairy knife ridge off of the road back.

The portage back is pretty easy as and I was able to carry everything in one shot. Hopefully I'll get some sailing in this week.

Got in a good day of sun burning, of course the wind picked up just as I was leaving. Was able to hike out a good many times though, makes it all worthwhile.

new potatoes

2010-06-16T09:35:00.004+09:00

Harvested the potatoes from the tires. Mice and/or moles did a number on them. Only got 1kg. from there. The vertical log bed had the same problem and only produced 2kg. But they are delicious and don't need to be peeled.

This bed is doing really well and has yet to be touched by vermin. I need at least 5kg. out of here to make my quota. Crossing fingers and counting chickens.

Figs, will they make it all the way? The biwa (loquat) tree at work is blooming and I got 20 early fruit with the hope of ripening them off the tree.

Snap peas, broccoli, lettuce are on their way out of season. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zucchini , chard, beans, cukes are on their way in. Corn is a long way off but doing well, 400 count. Oh and yesterday I regrettably had to dispatch a tanuki that was in the duck pen. It had already taken 2 of my flock.

I've decided to dismantle the side yard "tire garden". Results were poor with only radishes doing well, even the chard did poorly in such wet and shady conditions. The fencing will go to the ducks and the soil will be incorporated into the main garden.

The rainy season is here and at least it is not too hot yet. Need to cover the tomatoes so they don't split.

planting

2010-05-22T09:15:00.011+09:00

Since I got a very late start on the field and the garden is already established I decided to go with mostly corn this season. Missed my chance at potatoes, but will be planting fall spuds - 秋じゃが, aki-jaga. So far there're 200 seeds in, hope to do a succession planting totalling 600. I'll be happy to harvest half of that. That's only 6 or so packs of seeds. The number of beds has been cut from previous years, and also used black plastic mulch to suppress weeds. Also the space between beds has been widened to at least a tiller width, so now when the weeds get bad I can run the tiller easily between the beds. The problem with this method however is that the beds need to be raised by hand to make the row between beds wide enough to get the tiller in. When using the plow on the tiller the row between beds is narrower than the tiller itself. When the weeds take over the row they are nearly impossible to stop without using a different, smaller tiller(which I don't want to buy) , or the gas powered trimmer. This risks damaging the plants. Hopefully this will work out and I'll be able to use the same raised beds and mulch for a few years . All in all it's only a few hours hard labor to raise the beds though. Successful very small scale cover cropping with clover, ie: duck feed. I've had no luck doing this large scale in the field so far, but am learning. The lettuce/clover bed just keeps on producing, but then again it was a very cool spring. I keep cutting it back and it just keeps on growing. The clover is amazing I can fill a bucket full by cutting with scissors and in a few days it is full again. The ducks are now laying 2 eggs per day! I proudly told my wife to stop buying eggs. The other day a friend gave us an old breadmaker, I gave them some eggs and promised a bottle of dandelion wine when it's ready. Today I said stop buying bread! Ham is going to be a real problem though.

200mm of rain in the creek behind the house

meet the neighbors

2010-05-12T10:03:00.005+09:00

コゲラ　(ko-gera) Japanese Pygmy woodpecker

キセキレイ　(ki-sekirei) Grey Wagtail

シジュカラ　(shiju-kara) Great Tit

The girls discovered a new swimming hole just downstream from the house. It's only waist-deep to me but if I dam off the end with stones it'll fill up nicely. Not to worry, one good storm and the dam'll be washed away.

My first try at broccoli was delicious and trouble-free due to the cool weather I suspect.

Alas, aspargus season has just ended, but we got about 20 monsters like the spears below and double that of smaller ones. They were tender down to the bottom. Rarely did we have them cooked, right out of the garden raw was best.

The ducks are all enclosed with fencing and seperated. The hens have been laying an egg every other day. Usually they lay in the early AM in the nesting boxes, but occaisionally they are found outstide the coop.

I've found that covering the area around the coop with weeds,clover and vetch cut from the neighbors field acts like a free range for them. Insects live in the weeds and the ducks hunt and poke around while nibbling the clove and vetch. I'll change the weeds every week or so (no shortage of weeds around here). The ducks are also free ranging the side yard when we are home and can keep an eye out. Next year I hope to fence the side yard from the woods. But even that is no guarantee of safety.

Also, looks like I'll be getting a chance to use the field again. My neighbor surprised me with an offer to use it in exchange for cutting the weeds. I had not planned on this at all, but can't really say no. Now it is all soggy from the overflow coming from the irrigation ditch supplying water to the lower paddies. It needs a good 5 days of sun to dry out and then he can run the tractor over it once or twice, then I can take over with my rototiller. Maybe too late for potatoes, damn. But the warm weather staples should be ok.

first eggs

2010-04-30T09:32:00.007+09:00

The hens have finally started laying! We've gotten 3 eggs in the last 3 days. I had 2 for breakfast today (after the kids had gone to school of course). Duck eggs have a waxy covering called "bloom" and the shell seems harder than a chicken egg. Under the shell the white membrane is very strong and they are difficult to crack open. The egg white itself is clearer than that of a chicken egg. The yolk is a bright yellow on the outside, but a deep orange on the inside. I cooked them scrambled for a first impression. The flavor was stronger, almost fishy at first, but it is just a richer taste. By the time I was finished I thought there is not a major difference between chicken eggs and duck eggs.

I had tried 3 different kinds of nesting boxes without success prior to laying. 1 was a very small plastic sled cut in half. This was too slippery. Next were plastic containers from the 100yen shop, too light, got knocked over too easily. Then plastic boxes, also too light. Finally decided something much stronger, and found 2 old desk drawers at work, about 20cmX30cm. Cut out a doorway, lined with newspaper. Straw or old clothes is better. I hope the egg a day thing keeps going.

Nesting boxes

The garden now has an excess of greens for all the ducks, they still get some commercial chicken feed but would like to eliminate this, what's the point if using all commercial feed?

Duck salad

Dandelion wine in progress

Near my son's bus stop for school is a nice grassy area away from the road and sloping down towards the river. The other day it was loaded with dandelion flowers. I've been reading about the Italian dandelion as a good salad green, but suppose any dandelion leaf will do. Also thought of dandelion wine for some reason. Seemed a shame to let all those flowers go to seed.
Gathered a few liters of dandelion flowers to try making some wine, went back with the kids just before dark to get some more. The field was empty, I was gobsmacked. Someone beat me too it I thought, all those beautiful flowers, all that wine, gone! My wife said, you silly duck, they must have closed up for the night. Impossible I said, I was there, empty I tell you. A quick google proved her right, I'll be back tomorrow, hehe.

storebought tomato seedlings planted into a green manure of clover. The clover is so thick, the roots penetrate about 10 cm down, it cuts like peat or turf.

inside a mini greenhouse covered with clear tarp

garden progress

2010-04-21T23:21:00.010+09:00

The "tire garden" has been off to a rough start. Spring has been unusually cool and wet here this year, we had frost on the 17th. Plus, I was a bit over enthusiastic and started planting cold weather greens on March 1. It has been terminally soggy since. Nothing took and it has been re-planted from seed again earlier this month. What's worse, I sighted the first ヤマビル -　mountain leeches, of the season, yikes. This area gets sunlight partially in the early morning, then from 2pm-5pm only.

I've been checking my fuzzy weather log and it shows that for this year, we've had , according to rough calculations : 25% of days that were sunny or mostly/partly sunny. 30% of days were good enough to make power from wind. 20% were cloudy, and 35% had either rain or snow. Some percentile are missing there, but you get the idea.

In the upper garden, store bought seedlings have been going strong for the most part, broccoli and beans here. Don't know if broccoli is worth the wait or the space yet.

Carrots and green onions planted from old seed on March 1, fail. Hey the clover is going well. Re-planted this bed with 10 potatoes from last years crop.

The log bed also has 10 potato plants or more, along with radish, clover. Also covering this with a tarp on consecutive rainy days. Tomatoes, clover etc
Store bought seedlings of red leaf lettuce have been providing salads every 2 -3 days for the family, more lettuce from seed going ok behind.

potato (4/4)from last year's seed, cukes store bought seedlings, and zucchini from seed. Also beans in there somewhere, no sign of the zucchini yet.

The PET bottles have been working better on protecting store bought seedlings and young garlic, than on my seeds unfortunately.

The first-planted potatoes (3/1)in tires are really coming on strong, surrounded by boxes of lettuce. This whole setup gets covered with a leftover, clear polycarbonate sheet in prolonged rain of more than one day.

PET mini-greenhouses

2010-04-03T17:21:00.006+09:00

The store-bought seedlings are now established and chances of frost have slimmed.
Not wanting to buy new plastic domes or do transplants from seed, I've removed the domes from the established plants and put them on newly planted seeds of warm weather veg- cukes, toms, zucchini and beans.

Using PET bottles, cut in half with some ventilation holes drilled on the sides.

beans - (need to plant more every week or 2)

the tomato bed
It's a little early in the season for these plants but the combination of dark colored raised beds and protective covers should keep things warm enough.

potato - probably doesn't need a cover but want to speed things up and experiment.

I cleaned out the entire recylcling bin. Now I want to try making seedling starters using PET bottles.

Ume and snow

2010-03-30T16:24:00.006+09:00

The ume (plum) are blooming
We get snow at the beginning of April every year like clockwork

marshmallows, first time of the year

orion

Solar powered yard lights

garden gates

2010-03-15T10:19:00.006+09:00

The gardens are now hopefully secure with gates all finished.

The first set of tires all planted up with swiss chard and beans. Can probably get at least 10 more tires in here.

So far there are potatoes, green onion, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, wildflowers and clover. Saving room for the warm season staples of tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and peppers.

I'm thinking of squeezing in 5 wooden raised beds on the wall. There'll be some kind of weed proof sheet topped with a tatami mat, to suppress sasa bamboo grass. Then framed with cheap wooden boards and filled with bagged soil.

2010-03-10T10:32:00.009+09:00

The sun is actually almost shining for the first time in 14 days without so much as a glimpse of blue sky. Reason enough to celebrate for me.

On a sad note however, we lost our new drake to a predator in broad daylight. I was out shopping for fence for them at the time, figures.

We've had some of the wettest, heaviest snow I've ever seen. Trees are bent everywhere. My new garden net fence collapsed twice due to the weight. It was literally like slush falling from the sky.

The location of the new forest tire garden.

This area is partially shaded, getting maybe 4 hours of indirect light per day.

It should be ok for greens, but I will try some fruiting veg as well. Still have to finish the gate and add more tires,soil.

raised beds

2010-02-25T11:53:00.007+09:00

A motley assortment of raised beds in the garden

This whole area was covered with mud and silt from last summer's flood. It was impossible to remove by shovel. Nearly all the wood chips were washed away as well, so I decided to go with gravel. This should keep the weeds down to a minimum also.

Big cedar logs lined with old newspaper and cardboard. Mulched vegetable scraps, bagged soil and cow manure.

I hope my blackberry bush comes back to life. All the beds have the same newspaper/mulch combo. Might add some more tensioning ropes and make this the cucumber bed, they can climb the ropes and stay off the soil perhaps.

The fugly tires hiding behind fugly crates

Should be able to plant potatoes soon and cover the tires easily in case of frost

Making Juice

2010-02-22T13:28:00.013+09:00

The panels are all hooked up to the battery, charge controller and DC-AC inverter.

The wiring board is a plastic storage box with plywood on either side, mounted to the wall.
The DC-AC inverter has no mounting holes so I used chicken wire. Looks almost professional.
Not as nice as a wooden box, but cheaper and easier to install. Note the powerstrip on top.
The battery box may be moved under the floor in the future, or covered with a wooden bench.
Try not to go under 70% of battery capacity, or 70% depth of discharge. This is not a true deep cycle battery, and will last longer with shallower cycling.
I will probably get one more of the same battery; always use matching batteries.

I like to consider this my solid state generator, no moving parts or fuel needed.
I could have gotten a small gasoline generator for what I have spent so far, but prefer this setup.

2010-02-07T16:41:00.011+09:00

2 of the new ducks are clearly females, the other is a drake and recently flys over the fence to be with the other 2 males. He will soon be seperated from the females.

It should be time for egg laying soon I hope. Maybe the recent warm spell will induce some activity. I should start to make some nesting boxes soon to be ready.

In farming news I've been dealt a blow. Looks like field #2 is unavailable this year as the neighbors will be using it while constructing a home for their kin on the adjoining field. Wasn't counting on that. Field #1 has been lent out and can't renege on that.

Just put the 'self' back in 'self sufficient'. So...looks like raised beds it is! Some for the garden and maybe some forest farming in the side yard. I'm up for the challenge. I have enough knee-high, 40cm diameter cedar logs to construct several raised beds. These will be stood vertically and lined on the sides and bottom to prevent soil loss. Filling them will be a problem and may have to buy some soil. The money for this will come from not having to service the tiller and have it trucked over here, so it is a push. All of this will force me to do what I should have done originally and focus, focus, focus on my existing resources.

Testing the solar charge controller, battery and everything today. It is an MPPT solar charger, which just means super efficient. Here's about 100watts running. No problem in full sun (9amps), but a big problem at night. This would run down the battery in about 3-4hrs. I intend to only use about 60 watts worth of CFL's or 15 watts or so of LED's.

However by using LED lights, the battery power will last many nights. But 5 of these lamps cost the same as another deep-cycle battery, which should be added to the system anyway. LED's will last for 10 years or more. While testing I used CFL bulbs from the kitchen, some were marked 1/05 by me, so are now 6 years old!

Eventually the controller and inverter will be housed in it's own cabinet in the screen porch with the battery bank in an insulated box underneath.

installation 1

2010-01-18T21:29:00.012+09:00

Rather than purchase expensive, specially made mounting rails, I've surprise surprise, decided to wing it. A piece of angle aluminum, attached to the frame and bent up slightly by hand.
An old board screwed to house.
The angle aluminum gets screwed to the board.

This will all be painted and silicone caulked
2.72 amps at 20 volts = 50 watts. Right on target .
Scientifically angled at approx 40 degrees due south using my daughters school protractor.
I found I can get 0.20 amps more by increasing the angle to about 45 degrees, but this setting is a compromise between the best angle for summer and the best for winter.
Next, I'll drill a hole through each of the 2 standing seams, (or attach bracket/clamps to the seam )underneath the panels, that each panel rests on. Then the panels will be fastened to the seam with heavy wire. They weigh 6 kilos each and should be secure even in high winds. One more panel to go. Guess we're going to have to add a few "solar nights" to our monthly "candlenight" festivities. Hoping for about 375watt hours per day (half the rated output X available sun hours) or 1KWH per month. Not much, but enough power to light the house every night in a pinch.

solar panels

2010-01-14T21:47:00.009+09:00

Here are 2 of 3 solar panels I recently purchased from a manufacturer in China. These, I believe, do not carry the usual stigma of a MADE IN CHINA label. Most people including myself, sometimes associate that label with shoddy goods. Something's going on here. I've never purchased or used PV's before, but they seem to be well made and of high quality. In preliminary testing they were putting out more than the rated power of 50 watts. The only difference I can find so far is that they are slightly heavier than domestic models, probably because they use cut cells. Most if not all modern Japanese PV's have no void spaces between cells. Therefore less glass is needed, thus less weight. How mine perform in the long run is the real test. I'll let you know in 25 years.

Today I was testing them in cloudy and snowy weather. Even with the sun behind trees they were putting out more power than the best wind turbine I ever made did in high winds. Well that's not saying much for my turbine, but it is saying something for the panels. By importing them myself they were 1/2 the price of the same model sold on the internet, and 1/3 the price of domestically manufactured panels of the same wattage. Of course I'd rather have domestic, but...

I plan on mounting them on the roof of the living room sometime soon, then pick up some semi- deep cycle batteries. I'm re-thinking my plan for microhydro and leaning more towards wind again. The reason for this being cost of the pipeline, expected problems with getting permission to place the pipeline on neighboring land, and mostly, foreseeable damage to the pipeline intake due to flooding. With the wind setup it won't put out nearly as much power as the hydro, but it will be much easier to install, no permission needed. Costs will be the same roughly too.

I've found a good company in the US that makes blades and tail to fit my generator/PMA. All of their testing is done under load, while the batteries are drawing power. In low winds, 10mph , it should make 50 watts. 100watts at 15mph and 200watts at 20mph. And more above this level of course. None of this is spectacular, but it is sufficient for my needs.

coop and run

2010-01-05T19:38:00.002+09:00

The new coop and run for the new ducks. One is definitely a female, the quack is loud and strong. The other 2 have the raspy honk of males, but their appearance is strongly female, hoping for the best. Don't want to be stuck with 4 males and one female.

artwork

2009-12-14T12:56:00.015+09:00

I recently got in contact with an old friend . We used to climb mountains and work together when my wife and I lived in Colorado. He is one of the most devout and dedicated people I have ever met, a great artist and musician as well. His painting is an abstract of the Neversummer mountain range in north central Colorado. We climbed a beautiful mountain named Mount Richthofen there. It made such an impression on me, as did he. I am lucky to have this painting and to consider him a friend.

Lost duck returns

2009-11-28T19:27:00.011+09:00

About 6 weeks ago we lost one of our 2 older ducks when I forgot to close the rear hatch of the coop after cleaning. In the morning there was only 1 lonely duck, and signs of a struggle near the river. However, last week our neighbor called and said she saw one of our ducks in the river near her house.

The ducks are well known for wandering the road and stopping traffic. Actually I like that. Especially cause it slows down the damn dump trucks.

The neighbor and another in their 70's succeeded in capturing it, only to lose it as they handed it off to our daughter. The next day I set off in rain, armed with 3 umbrellas (which they hate) and 2 butterfly nets. I set a barrier of umbrellas just above the small falls, and herded the missing duck towards the umbrellas. Then trapped it against the wall and grabbed it, put it in a pail and closed the lid.

He was sentenced to 48 hrs in the pen to remember where home is.

Here are our new ducks, we lost one early on.

In other homesteading news: I've officially given up on field #1. It will be used by the neighboring field's owner from here on. I am relieved. Today I dug out the fig, lemon, chestnut and tangerine trees and brought them here. Don't know how they will fare in this climate though.

Now I can work on field #2 which is in front of our house. This time I am actually going to (cough) buy (cough) black plastic mulch and even some super heavy agri-sheet mulch. . No more messing around. In between rows will be laid cardboard boxes from the supermarket. These are harmless, free, and will degrade back into the soil soon. That is IF the neighbor will let me use it again in spring. Have to get the tiller over here soon and make everything look nice.

First family hike

2009-11-09T09:36:00.022+09:00

Now that wonderboy is big enough, we are able to hike as a family. We climbed the nearby mountain just behind the house, it is 5 mins to the trailhead by car. We can hike it right out the door, but this would add another hour each way at least.

Parts of it are quite steep. He did great and never once asked to be carried, whew. He did however need promises of snacks at each rest stop, which worked like a charm.

The elevation gain is 400 meters over 1.6 km. ( 1200 feet in 1 mile )
The equivalent of climbing Bear Mountain NY, from the Hudson River, a decent climb.

This mountainous region extends uninterupted except for rough woods roads for thousands of square kilometers. It is the end of the spine of mountains that runs from 大山　Mt. Daisen in Tottori, past Hyounosen 氷ノ山　in Hyogo. It would be possible to walk all that way, occasionally encountering a village or crossing a paved road.

On the way down the forest floor was literally littered with beautiful acorns.

They say they are too bitter to eat. But I am processing them now to remove the tannin. If this works, there is possibly an enormous food supply lying in wait. Shelling the nuts was easy enough. Put them in the oven at 100C/200F for about 10-15 mins. and they will begin to split open. Take them out and give them a squeeze, the shell will split in two. After several boilings they were still too bitter. The other method is to put the shelled acorns in a mesh bag in a fast moving stream, which we have. I will try that if continued boiling fails.

boiling out the tannin

tannin

end result:about 6 cups of honey roasted acorns. Some are a little bitter, like the skin on a walnut, but not bad. The boiling out of the tannin was time consuming the way I did it, in small batches. I probably changed the water 12-15 times. A larger batch done on the stove in my large brew pot would work better I think. Again there is also the stream method, which I really want to try next. Have to get out and pick more acorns soon.

PS - after shelling split the nuts into halves or quarters.
you don't need a rolling boil to process them. Process until the water is clear and the nuts begin to lose shape a little.

climbing wall

2009-11-07T17:37:00.009+09:00

I picked up a box of holds cheap when I was in the states and finally got around to making the wall today.

the first route up, aptly named "green road" by supergirl, rated 5.8 by yours truly

wonderboy on sites the 5.8

supergirl flashes "green road"

2 more routes to make, but first, tomorrow we will all go climb a real mountain

2009-10-30T07:57:00.004+09:00

guess what's in the box?

take a brick off the stove and wrap in an old shirt, replace when cool

cut a 1" slit, 5 inches long, 3\4 way up a PET bottle

bond

秋祭り

2009-10-18T22:16:00.003+09:00

sumo

mochi maki can be dangerous, they're little rice cakes as hard as hockey pucks

Chimney cleaning and stove maintenance

2009-10-10T19:39:00.004+09:00

It's been so cool I've alread used the stove twice this month. Time for the first cleaning , gasket replacement and catalytic combuster replacement

All the goods

Nine- 90cm rods all the way up

Digging out the main gasket

Clean, fill with cement, lay in new gasket

some heavy creosote on top of the ceramic refractor

200 bucks worth of broken catalytic

I can't remember if it's 2 years or 3 years old
brand-new, all stainless combuster
I hope this puppy lasts at least 5 years

all cleaned up, ready for the top

2009-10-09T18:51:00.000+09:00

Well the worst part of the typhoon passed far south of us. The old section of roof on the playhouse blew off, it needed replacing anyway. The new caulking is holding up well.

2009-10-07T14:43:00.001+09:00

Oh boy here we go again, this one is packing serious winds. Hopefully it'll knock the stinkbugs out haha.

I got the irrigation channel pretty well blocked off in 4 places, but unfortunately didn't have time to get the south side windows covered with plywood. They should be ok, hopefully the winds will lessen as it gets near our area.

The lates forecast says 250mm or rain for us. 500mm or more for more south and east of us!

Log Home maintenance: chinking or caulking checks

2009-09-23T15:32:00.017+09:00

Now that I've got the new addition and old southside stained it's time for some more maintenance. Chinking is sealing between logs, caulking is using a sealant to fill in upward facing cracks, or "checks" in log walls.

When we first moved in we had some water leaking in around the 3 south facing windows during heavy wind-driven rain which occasionally pounds the south side. For about 3 years the carpenter couldn't stop the leak. Finally the carpenters son was able to do it. Now for the last 2 years all has been fine with the windows. I attempted many times to caulk the checks around the windows, and the frames themselves inside and out during that time.

Now that all but the kitchen, south facing log wall are pretty much overhung with eaves or roofing, I can focus on the remaining trouble spot. (The north facing rear of the house is in pretty much mint condition, paint wise.

However: here is a big upward facing check that I improperly caulked with silicone sealant. The log pro's say don't use silicon. You must use non-silicone based, read -very, very expensive stuff.

So for 5 years now this check has been gathering rain into the log, oh sh*t.

I did a borate treatment when the home was built, so hopefully this will help if too much water got in.

I don't see why silicone isn't acceptable, maybe the pro's just want you to buy their stuff? They say silicone will not seal properly and moisture can pass where the silicone adheres to the check.This was done about 3 years ago? looks good to me, if it fails I can always replace it.

This one is completely sealed, I see no gaps for water to enter, forget the aesthetics

fully sealed , but will check into caulking and chinking more on the net

The new extension of the front porch roof. Before we used to get good and soaked running into the house on rainy days, which is often.

The front all stained. Reaching the peak was lots of fun of course. First I had to remove a large hornet or wasp nest. This took 5 days. They were not happy in the least. The nest was melon sized and just under the peak beam. I wore a netted hat and improvised bee suit of rain gear while doing the entire upper section. The worst was of course painting the peak, and wasps would return looking for home. All the while waiting to be stung on the back or neck or somewhere, and not fall off the ladder while instinctively swatting the bastard. Oh and it was nice and windy too of course. But the new addition makes it so much easier to get to the peak now. Before my 8 meter ladder made it only to between the peak beam and the window.

Next: stain the dormers, deck floor, top rail and deck stairs!

30 meters rapid fire

2009-09-18T08:15:00.014+09:00

My new hobby, like I need one. An 80 pound pull, self-cocking crossbow pistol. Here I manage to get off 8 shots in a minute. I pushed it to 35 meters, but the trajectory was wild and lost too many bolts. If you shoot for a while you wind up breaking almost half the bolts you start with. It is a good piece of equiptment overall.

20 meters rapid fire

PS* Aluminum bolts break upon hitting a hard target. They have a one piece fletching/nock which is plastic and snaps off. After correcting my target this has been resolved. I found one piece plastic bolts which are lighter, cheaper, and have less penetrating power, these are best for everyday target shooting . Will keep the aluminums in reserve.

almost there

2009-08-27T23:52:00.010+09:00

screen porch and deck

original wood needs some stain pronto

deck and new LR

happy campers

screen porch entrance

will keep daily supply of firewood at far end next to rear door of screen porch

looking back towards the deck
access to kitchen is by old door near diagonal beam

rear of screen porch, notice the clear panels

beautiful weather

2009-08-18T23:13:00.005+09:00

We're enjoying the breezy arrival of summer finally. It's been nice like this for a few days now, I can't believe it is here. Look at these, it is the middle of August, afternoon temps and humidity in the house, nice.

In the old living room

new living room

kitchen

first floor north side, notice the humidity spike

second floor

new swimming hole

2009-08-17T19:42:00.012+09:00

It's a 3 minute walk up the road, or 20 minute hike up the river. Depth is over my head, and more importantly if you are in the 10 and under category, it is jumpable!

my new wallpaper

yamame

the rock is perfect size and shape as a passive solar body heater after swimming in the chilly water

yummy

river survey

2009-08-14T19:51:00.016+09:00

Got a chance to survey the river. The first thing I noticed was the smell was very different, kind of dirty. Must be due to all the mud and the soggy banks. Next was the sky. You can actually see it! Before it was all overhung with jungle-like trees, now they're gone. Hiked up to the upper bridge. Every foothold was sure, even in the water. In 2 places the bank was collapsed near the road. Found a few new, deep swimming holes where there were none before. Bad news is mine are gone. One thing I've noticed being here in the inaka a while now is that the river will almost always go back to normal. After a typhoon back at our old house, the river filled in my favorite swimming hole with sand and stones. I was heartbroken. It was a great place that few people new of. After about 5 years of normal storms, it was again cleaned out and open. We've lost our "beach" before, but it'll be back. At least I don't have to by those 沢登りシューズ , waterfall climbing shoes now.

here's the "old" river, like a jungle. Slippery, slimy old pal.

Here's the new river. Sandblasted, bleached, surefooted, bathed in sunlight in the morning at least (and debris).

where's my ladder?

big slide upriver

I was standing by the cones that night and the water was about 1 meter or so below the road level. This is about 7 meters above my yard level.

here's where the river overran the bend of the irrigation channel, it's a straight shot to the yard now

new room and deck

2009-08-09T17:00:00.013+09:00

Big news here at Larue Towers. After much hand wringing and stomach churning (on my part), we've decided to expand the house. The new living room will be 4x4m on the outside, with a same sized deck next to it, plus a screen porch running the side of the house. The carpenters are doing a good, but slow job of it. The new living room will be log siding on the exterior, cedar T&G on the inside and oak floor. Can't wait till it is done, we could use the space. I'm especially looking forward to the deck and screen porch.

Here is the original, felling trees for more light.

poured concrete foundation with storage underneath

roof on

log siding on just needs some stain

living room interior

the stove is now more centralized but will require more fuel to heat the extra space, and the far end of the house may lose a few degrees, we'll see...

deck and screened porch taking shape

More rain

2009-08-01T14:37:00.004+09:00

100mm of rain overnight turns the lovely wading stream into this torrent. When you get close you can hear the boulders grinding as they roll downstream hidden in the murky flow.

wicked squall

2009-07-26T14:53:00.007+09:00

We're getting battered this rainy season and I've had about enough. This morning one blew in so fast, it was like a mini-typhoon. Visibility was less than 100m. and about 20% of my corn got trashed. Noticed that most of the damaged plants were already weakened from insect damage to the stalk. Luckily was able to get a good many plants back up again. Too many setbacks this season.

River ducks

2009-07-23T08:34:00.003+09:00

Took the ducks down to the river behind the house. It is a 4 meter drop to get there by ladder. They and we had a great time, until it was time to go home however. It took us 2 hours to chase them down and catch them to carry them up the ladder. Thought it would be much easier, them wanting to go home. The ducks wanted no part of it and were thoroughly panicked. Prior to that however, we all had a great time in the pools. Looking forward to much more this summer, if only this rainy season would end. This year's rainy season is making up for last year's almost nonexistant one.

Mad River tubing

2009-07-19T12:00:00.003+09:00

Tubing on the beautiful Mad River in Waitsfield, Vermont

Jeezum Crow

2009-07-14T08:41:00.003+09:00

Here's the first look at field #2 after 16 days untended during the height of the rainy season, as they say in Vermont , Jeezum Crow!

I did pull out 3 buckets of cukes, 1 bucket of lettuce, some basil and green beans. The corn is doing well and the potatoes are ready for harvest. The tomatoes will be ready in a week or two. There's a lot of veg hiding in the weeds there. Who cares what it looks like.

Field #1 looks very much like #2, but with less results. Was able to salvage about 10 small ears of corn, a couple of cukes and a handfull of green beans. Not bad for 20 hours of work, sniff, sniff, sob , sob. Next year will be concentrating on field #2 only, as it is just in front of the house. Will probably only maintain the borders of #1 to keep the neighbors happy. Much to much work for such little return (aside from the 100 pounds of potatoes that is!!!) Well it is all my fault for leaving it to the elements for 2 weeks. This seems to happen every year, haha.

Rainy season blues

2009-07-13T16:15:00.002+09:00

Got my first look at the fields today after leaving them untended for 16 days. Well, ALL the corn in #1 is gone, between the threadworms and the crows, probably the crows did the most damage. The cukes and beans seem to be still there hiding amongst the weeds and cover crops. Didn't have a chance to walk the rows yet. Field #2 is looking better at least, except for the weeds, that is. Also no time to walk around yet. That's what happens when you leave your crops untended for long periods during the rainy season.

Potato harvest

2009-06-24T14:06:00.003+09:00

Got the last of them out of field #1 today. Just over 30 kgs. Bringing the total so far to about 50 kgs. The earworms on the corn turned out to be threadworms and are doing a number on half of a row, totally stinks. I picked them off and squeezed the ears to kill the ones inside. Just hope they don't get to the other rows. Very disheartening. Was talking to the owner of the next field over, he gave me some much needed pointers on soil amendment. We both agree that this farming stuff is one tough business. I give the local guys tons of credit, I don't see how they make a living at it.

Around our village

2009-06-21T20:52:00.007+09:00

Rasberries are in season and the kids found a "gold mine"

Lazy weeding

2009-06-20T12:27:00.004+09:00

Luke and I at the jizousan down the road

an un-covercropped bed of corn simply "ramped up" to supress weeds

un-cover cropped bed of cukes ramped up

a bed of tomatoes cover cropped with rye (rye star). The rye is simply pushed aside and soil is ramped up around the plant

New potatoes

2009-06-17T13:20:00.006+09:00

Well it doesn't get any more exciting than this folks! The first batch of real potatoes. Maybe they're a little early, but some of the plants were beginning to wilt. Got about 18kgs. from about 35 plants. Still have 45 plants in field #1. Then there's field #2, which won't be ready for another month or so, that's if they survive the rainy season.

wilting plants

college fund

And now the bad news: looks like corn earworm on the now chest high corn
had to pick them off the flowers by hand, the fruit is sprouting silk and looking good though

Sailing at Mizushima, Fukui prefecture

2009-06-16T07:53:00.013+09:00

Ours and two other families went to an Aquamuse sailing get together at Mizushima in Fukui. My first time to attend such an event. Other than some embarrassment at the poor knot tying on my rig, as well as having the rudder completely backwards, all was well. The people were great and really helped me with my rigging. Some of the best sailing of my life. Wind was strong and steady, unlike that on the lake. Can't wait to go again in September. In the meantime will prepare fot the Biwako crossing!

Link to some cool videos of the day

http://ako.webdeki-bbs.com/

Cultivating between beds

2009-06-09T22:52:00.012+09:00

Finally got a chance to tidy up field #1 today after kindergarden class. Let's go from the Hokey Pokey to Musical Fields. Field #1 is 30 km. from field #2, and I've recently learned it's in a different hardiness zone as well. The other day I borrowed our freinds kei-tora and brought the kounki 耕運機, roto-tiller, rotivator, whatever it is called over there. Spent 2 hours getting the rows ship-shape. It looks good again but maybe, just maybe, this year will be different. I'll be able to till the rows once a month and it won't all revert to jungle, we'll see.
Was also able to get some new potatoes, pulled up 3 plants, got about a kilo.

new tea bushes

2009-06-09T08:28:00.006+09:00

Notice the other, very small tea plants as well

Rika gave me a bagful of freshly picked green tea on Sunday. I asked her surprised, " Where did you get this? ". She led me across the road to 5 small bushes living amongst the sasa (bamboo grass). That's my girl! She often teaches me the names of plants,trees, and weeds in Japanese. This she learns at school and from her friends and their parents. Sadly I informed her that we can't drink the tea because the bushes are right next to the road. Pollutants from cars will accumulate in anything so near. "But, we can dig these out, plant them in the garden, and next year we can have lots of tea " I said hopefully. This should give them time to clean out.

cover crops

2009-06-05T17:00:00.008+09:00

Did some weeding in the overgrown field #1. Here's a good example of cover cropping using clover and vetch. They are legumes that will supply nitrogen to the crop while surpressing weeds. If only all the beds looked this good. I'm learning a lot though. Next year every bed will be cover cropped.

cukes and clover

cukes and clover

corn and vetch

Ooops! peanuts and clover, both are legumes, so technically not providing nutrients to each other, but they look healthy enough!

cultivating between raised beds

2009-06-01T23:17:00.003+09:00

Got the tiller into field #2 today to run between beds. Looking much better than field #1. Have been harvesting lettuces from my 4 lettuce bed lately. It's nice to walk to the field with a bowl and a pair of scissors to gather an instant salad. There's: rocket, sunny, arugula and one more type. A bit spicy, but very nice.

new potatoes - field #1

2009-05-30T15:52:00.006+09:00

Went to weed the beds and hopefully dig out some new potatoes to start feasting upon, but... no luck. I pulled up one large flowering plant only to reveal 5 quail egg- sized potatoes. Still to early unfortunately. They are doing well and flowering, the weeds of course are getting unmanagable. The rainy season hasn't started yet and already I'm starting to lose the weed battle. But the plants look good regardless of their surroundings. Compare to 2 weeks ago below!

お茶　ocha-　　green tea bushes

2009-05-20T11:33:00.004+09:00

Our friend and neighbor, who is my gardening guru, pointed out a small green tea bush growing out of the wall in our yard. I was surprised to find out what it was. I've been hitting the poor thing with the weed cutter for years now, ohhhh noooo.
She handed me a big handful of the tender new leaves and instructed me to slow roast them in a frying pan. The aroma is beautiful. This morning we had it after breakfast, very nice. Much different than store bought of course, a little tangier, perhaps. Found one more, even scragglier bush, looks like 2 is all we have. Will look into transplanting or propogating them somehow. I know now is tea harvest time, but don't know how long our poor little bushes will produce for this year. I picked enough for one more potful. 2 pots per year? It's a start.

Green manures and weeds

2009-05-12T12:40:00.000+09:00

Hairy vetch, chest high!

Here come the weeds, do do do do
here come the weeds, and I say
It's alright............

Crimson clover

Visited field #1 today to see the weeds coming on strong. And so it begins. Thinned out the corn seedlings and took stock. 75 out of 100 potato plants going strong. Corn too numerous to count, unfortunatley so are the weeds. Some beans coming up as well. Hoping for some rain tonight so as not to hand water this week.
The vetch and clover mix in the back is chest high in some places, but some weeds have gone to seed in there too, alas.

corn and sunflower maze

2009-05-10T21:48:00.000+09:00

Leveled the left side of field #2 by hand with the garden rake and "drilled" corn and sunflower seeds. Sunflowers around the border and corn within. I drilled it by walking with the garden rake and just punching 5cm holes every 30 cm. The girls followed and dropped a seed or two in each hole. I figure to cut the maze by hand once the vegetation is high enough, with luck. Also tightened all the through bolts on the house today, lots of fun, 2 hours in a crawlspace.

Corn maze, or monkey magnet

2009-05-07T10:18:00.000+09:00

The end of the Golden Week holiday is finally here for me. Back to work tomorrow, dang. I'm totally hooked on working in field #2 now. I had a bad thought today though, thinking about the future corn maze. And sure enough, our friend stopped by today and told us she had 60 monkeys in her field, yard, and garage! Stealing veggies out of the garage, on the roof too. No damage done, but uh-oh. I think monkeys are kind of rare this far up the valley, only because there is so little food for them to pilfer. But the farther down the valley you go, the more it widens naturally and the fruit and veg is in abundance.

field #2

2009-05-06T23:29:00.000+09:00

2009-05-04T10:42:00.000+09:00

Field #2, planted 1 row peanuts, 1 row basil and parsley, 1 row mixed minitoms and reg toms overseed with rye, 1 row cukes, 2 rows corn, 1 row very heavily seeded with 4 kinds of lettuces, 1 row of last years potatoes.

Sun Halo

2009-04-25T09:24:00.000+09:00

Saw the most incredible halo around the sun today while working on field#1. It was like a giant rainbow, of course the sunglasses helped to see it better, but it was truly stunning, and yes it did rain the next day, thought that was for the moon though?

2009-04-23T10:45:00.000+09:00

Field #2, planted 1 row corn and beans overseed with vetch, plus lettuce and vetch on back half. 1\2row cukes, 1\2 carrots.

logging

2009-04-14T09:27:00.000+09:00

Kira-san the logger came over to drop 8 giant sugi trees that were a little too near the house. Hoping to get more sunshine and cut down on the yamabiru and stinkbugs, also to dry out the terminally soggy yard.

seed potatoes

2009-04-12T10:37:00.002+09:00

Planted about 100 potato plants, yikes. This is how I plan on putting my children through college. No, not by selling potatoes, but by eating them. Also pu in 2 rows of corn. Broadcast vetch, clover and beans on the rear middle section. Will be planting more corn an veg every 2 weeks or so , so as to have a staggered harvest hopefully.

I have to say that potatoes must be the easiest thing to grow, especially for this Jersey boy. They're very low maintainence, high yield, high calorie and very filling. At least the luck has been good so far.

field #1

2009-04-07T10:33:00.000+09:00

Tilled field #1 4/6 and4/7 3hrs each day. Raised 14 beds, no plastic mulch this year. The 2 lemon trees died in the back, but the mikan, fig, and kaki are OK!

Sunset Beach

2009-04-05T02:45:00.002+09:00

A pic from our trip to my retirement heaven haha, Ishigakijima.
Also Taketomijima, the real Okinawa?

Sunset Beach, it was incredibly beautiful. Water temp about 22.

Canoe capsize!

2009-03-30T09:36:00.000+09:00

Pre-capsize pic

Capsized the canoe today in heavy winds, water and air temps were just under 10 degrees. No wetsuit but lots of polypro and wool really saved my ass. It took 45 mins to get the boat bailed and ready to attempt to paddle back to the care. My hands and feet were numb even though I had scuba gloves and scuba boots with wool socks. I was cold for about 3 hours straight but, never did I even shiver due to constant movement, my judgement was a little clouded after reaching shore, and the shrinkage factor was painful! haha. Lessons learned, don't sail in March without a wetsuit numbnuts, literally.

Luke's first canoe trips

2009-03-09T09:54:00.000+09:00

Canoeing with Luke today to check water levels for sailing. Very high water. We saw a giant salamander, unusual for this time of year. Had lots of fun making echos off the mountains, beautiful day.

stove cleaning

2009-02-01T10:51:00.000+09:00

Time for the midwinter stove cleaning. Burning lots of crappy wood this year because I didn't get anything in the shed until late fall, still not propery cured.

Icicle of the month

2009-01-17T19:44:00.000+09:00

Winter started late but is now in full swing!

Winter hike and ski

2009-01-14T10:47:00.002+09:00

Climbed Darumagamine to the Col between Futogamine in deep, heavy snow. Skiing was very difficult due to the unpacked wet stuff. Still it was great to ski again and the knee was OK. Met lots of unfriendly hikers, you can almost always tell the city folk, they don't acknowledge your 'hello'. Maybe I'm prejudiced?

Good snow

2009-01-13T06:27:00.002+09:00

A nice shot from the backyard

wish it was like this more often

snow ducks

2009-01-02T11:53:00.000+09:00

After the first good snowstorm it took the ducks about 20 minutes to come out of the ark, but they got used to it.

Winter Hike

2009-01-01T10:45:00.000+09:00

Climbed Darumagamine in snow. First climb in over a year due to knee injury. Did OK wearing, knee brace. Took it very slow , coming down was slow and difficult. Great to be back in the winter mountains again!!!!!

More logs

2008-11-29T05:45:00.000+09:00

The gov't is building a dam to prevent land slides and flooding in the valley, up on my mother-in-law's land, as well as other people's land up in the mountains around Itoi. Part of the reason for the land survey's was to mark the trees which need to be cut for this pork barrel project. I was able to get 3 truckloads of wood, but had to pay to have it carted over to my main woodshed. Next time I'll be a little more business savvy and have it carted over for free or refuse to let them cut the trees for the project, lesson learned.

canoe sail camping

2008-10-30T02:07:00.001+09:00

I have absolutely no luck with solo camping. After several weeks of being very stressed out from work, my wife actually suggested that I take some time and go camping. Wow, I must have been grouchy, huh?

So I finally had my chance to head for my favorite beach in Kasumi on the Sea of Japan. The weather forecast said mostly cloudy, fairly warm, chance of rain. I put the canoe on the car, loaded some firewood and supplies and was very psyched to fulfill my dream of camping on the beach! Upon arriving at Mitahama beach I was very surprised to see the beach nice and clean, very little litter. It was blustery and water temp was about 16, air about 22, very nice. So I sailed for a while, it was quite hairy to keep upright. Tense sailing as I like to call it, as in you can't do anything but focus on keeping the craft upright as the wind throws you around. After about an hour of "tense sailing" I took a break, set up my tent and blocked the wind with my Hijet.

Then it started to rain, but I was optimistic. The rain stopped and again I took to the water, this time it was more intense. I decided to call it a day and head back to camp for dinner. While happily collecting some driftwood, there was a sudden boom! Then rain began to pour down. I ran for the campsite and quickly secured everything, and piled into the Hijet. This won't last too long I thought. How wrong I was! The wind increased dramatically as the rain beat against the car. I had to jump out now and again to secure the now flattend tent. Even with the car blocking the wind the tent was pancaked to the ground, with my gear and guitar inside.

Back in the Hijet, I sat in my folding chair, having a beer and considering my options. Then a loud bang and the little van shook, what the? The wind had picked up my 25kg canoe with about 20kg of gear in it, and blew it 1meter into my car, this is not good, I thought. I repositioned the boat and waited listening to music, hoping for the best. Again and again the canoe was flipped over and bashed into the car. It's going to be a long night. As darkness fell and I sat in my Coleman chair warm and dry, but bored and cramped, I thought how I should be strumming my guitar to a crackling fire right now. Not worring about my gear being damaged and blown away.

Listening to weather forcasts gave no good news, more of the same tomorrow. Finally, after sunset, I could take no more and donned my headlamp for the arduous task of re-loading all my now wet and sandy gear into the car. What a bummer. Trying to get a 15 foot canoe onto a car in the middle of a gale requires excellent timing and a lot of luck. I was lucky at least in that part that as I finally got the craft onto the vehicle that a big gust didn't come along at that precise moment and bash me with the canoe. After about an hour of this nonsense, I was thoroghly soaked and exhausted.

Now looking at a 2 1/2 hour drive home I considered stopping at an inn and staying the night as I had intended. But I could imagine how the person at the inn would look at me, now completely soaked, wearing outdoor gear, asking for a room, meal and bath. Also who knows what this might cost me, it sure wouldn't be cheap in this quaint seaside village. So began the long drive home. The next day was lots of fun rinsing, hanging and drying my sopping gear. Someone wants me to stay home with my family!

firewood gleaning

2008-10-06T14:23:00.002+09:00

It's 1.5m high, 2m deep and 15m long. Conservatively estimated at 5 cords. Mostly sugi with some hinoki and keiyaki.

14 full loads in the Hijet. It's rated at 350kg payload, but was hauling more like 450 I think, judging by the pancaked rear tires.

Even though it's already October, some of it will be dry in a few weeks. The large round pieces (my favorites)are the the end of the log just above the box cut that the logger makes to fell the tree. They're only 10-20cm thick so it splits oh so easily, like cutting cake.

So far it cost me 6 cans of coffee, 2 packs of smokes, and 1 bottle of sake for the workers. Plus 20 liters of gasoline for the Hijet and 10 hours of my labor. Didn't lift a chainsaw til today.

Aigamo ducklings!

2008-08-29T11:14:00.000+09:00

After much searching for Guinea Fowl ホロホロチョウ、I finally gave up and ordered some Aigamo ducklings by mail. They're said to be so so layers, and much better tempered than chickens. Also they won't dig up the garden and eat every seedling like chickens will, we'll see. Needless to say the children love them! There's Choco- the darkest one, Mini- the biggest one, and Cookie- the yellowest one. They're too cute, but the genkan (front hallway) stinks like, well, ducks in August.

the ark

one week later

one month old

2008-08-23T19:37:00.000+09:00

After taking this picture I did something incredibly stupid. I jumped from a large boulder down to a smaller boulder in the middle of the river behind the house. I have done this in the same location probably hundreds of times. But today, I stepped onto a mossy patch instead of a dry rocky patch of boulder. I slipped and fell backwards almost 2 meters through the air, and into about 1 meter of water. I had the presence of mind to extend the camera up (wasn't using the waterproof housing) and splashed down into the water. I saved the camera, but very narrowly missed bashing the back of my head in to the boulder. Had that happened, I hate to think of what would have become of me. Probably would have drown in 3 feet of water in my own backyard. Gives me chills. Got the picture though.

swimming hole

2008-08-08T02:18:00.000+09:00

Went to a cool swimming hole up the rindou with my brave little girls. It was a little chilly and buggy but they did great, found a nice antler and lots of friendly trout! Also a great view on the way home.

blackberries, no not the thing in your pocket

2008-08-07T11:58:00.000+09:00

After 3 years of waiting the blackberry bush is finally procucing! They're a bit seedy and not supermarket sweet, but they're nice and the kids love them, especially Luke, I have to keep him away from the bush as he'll eat all the small ones before they have a chance to get like these monsters.

first summer harvest

2008-07-11T11:54:00.000+09:00

After coming back from visiting the States, my field was overrun with weeds, and vegetables! Best of all, corn, nearly 30 ears. The cucumbers were mostly gigantic waterlogged yellow submarines, but we did get a good amount. The corn is not the prettiest, but it is soooo sweet!

Next year will be planting much, much more.

古墳　kofun old tombs

2008-05-31T11:38:00.000+09:00

After the final land survey we came across these 1500 year old tombs behind the local temple in Itoi. I had no idea they were there. They're from the tomb building era that lasted up until 6-700AD. Would love to poke around here with a metal detector.