Pictures

1. a summer-like sky
2. Maple leaves and the propeller-shaped seeds
3. today's sunset

Soy soy soy and soy :0

I went to a farmer friend couple's house and chatted over a cup of tea.
They are super hospitable, friendly, and super experienced and smart and I look up to them so much.
They are over 80 years old but still active and kicking, well they might be more active and kicking than me.

When I asked if they had any soybeans left for planting, they said sure.
I was only hoping for a handful of one kind of soybeans but they ended up giving me five kinds of soybeans!!
Normal (white) soybeans, green soybeans, light green, black, and another white soybeans.
I went to plant the beans right after I left their house but there is not enough space to plant them all...
Phew.

Triple S

I Snuck into the abandoned rice paddy to check on the veggies I planted last fall.
The field was covered with weed but I found some Snap pea perfectly ready to eat,
I had some for Snack and picked the rest to take home.
It was great. I was happy :)

田植えボランティア募集中！Rice planting volunteers wanted!

Want to play in the mud? or watch schools of killifish in the reservoir?
Want to enjoy a great scenery from the terraced rice paddies up in the mountain?
You can do all these in one day!
Come plant rice with us!!! Yeah!

Date: 2009. June 6th, Saturday from 8am to noon.
Meet at the Fusube-mura, work-study center in Kodomari, Hamochi, Sado at 8am
Bring a pair of boots, a hat, towel, change of clothes, rain-wear, etc.
Lunch to be provided :)

Let me know if you are coming.

無農薬の米栽培2年目の今年は、育苗から挑戦しています。
方法は水苗代で、もうほとんどだれもやらなくなったやり方なので
最初は心配でしたが知合いのお百姓さんが手取り足取り教えてくださったおかげで今のところ順調に育ってくれています。品種はコガネモチです。

6月第一週目の週末に、水苗代で育てた苗を大崎の山あいにある田んぼ（7畝分）に手で植えます。

つきましては協力してくださる方を募集しています。ため池にいるたくさんのメダカとたわむれたい方、棚田からの絶景を楽しみたい方、
泥遊びに興じたい方も大歓迎です。

お知り合い、ご友人お誘い合わせのうえお越しいただけたらうれしいです。

日時：　6月6日（土）午前8時集合、正午終了を目安に行います。
雨天の場合も決行します。

場所：　羽茂大崎の棚田（標高３００メートル）

集合場所：　羽茂小泊ふすべ村駐車場　（体験学習施設）　※田んぼまでは車と徒歩で約１５分くらいかかります。
集合時間：　午前8時。

持ち物：長靴、帽子、タオル、着替え、飲み物、雨具など。
昼食はこちらで用意します。

参加いただけるかたがいらっしゃいましたら、6月3日くらいまでにメッセージお願いします。
どうぞよろしくお願いします。

里芋の植え付けと人参種まき

I've been working to create gardens around my dad's cabin in the last
few weeks. Today my new friend A came to help me. A and his family
moved to Sado this April. A is a photographer from Belgium and his
wife S is a yoga teacher from Niigata. I took her yoga class a few
times now. A and I planted some aroid potatoes, or satoimo in
Japanese, that Mrs O gave me, after weeding the beds I made last
winter. There were soooo many earth worms in the beds! It means the
soil is pretty rich and made me very happy. I'd say we found about a
hundred of them. I'll attach a picture of the longest and fattest
earth worm that we found today. We covered the beds with rice straw to
keep the soil moist and to make it better in the long run. Also, we
made three gardening beds and sowed carrot seeds on them. We stepped
on the beds at the end to make the seeds connect better with the soil.

Pictures: 1, satoimo potatoes that we planted. 2, A weeding the beds.
3, The biggest earth worm we found today. 4, A stepping on the carrot
seeds.

取材依頼が来た! an interview request!

A reporter of the Niigata newspaper says he wants to interview me tomorrow.
He said he wants to ask me about the stories of my organic rice farming on Sado, what I think about the endangered specie toki or ibis protection movement, Sado tourism, etc.
I'm a little nervous if I can answer the questions well...

新聞記者が明日私に取材をしに来るという。無農薬米栽培のきっかけやらトキやら佐渡観光のことやら聞きたいらしい。
ちゃんと応えられるかな。ちょっと心配。

Relay triathlon

I'm doing the swimming part of a relay triathlon at the Sado International Triathlon to be held this september. I will swim 2km, my friend T will do the bike part of 105km, then my dad will do the run part of 20km.

My dad says it had never occured to him that he would join a triathlon race. I'm pretty excited about doing this relay.

９月に開かれる佐渡国際トライアスロン大会２００９のリレータイプにスイム担当として参加します。
チームメンバーは2キロを泳ぐ私と、105キロをバイクで走るTさん、そして20キロのランを担当するうちの父の計3人です。
思い切り楽しみたいと思います。

よつばのクローバー

I found some four-leaf clover near my dad's cabin.
There were even six-leaf one.
Lucky? Not really sure myself...

今日の料理：おからのサラダ Bean curd refuse salad

友達からおからを使ったおいしいサラダの作り方を教わった。
安いしうまいし栄養満点のおからは食材の優等生。
今晩さっそく作ってみた。

主な材料：
おから
人参、きゅうり、玉ねぎなどの生野菜
酢
塩
コショウ

好みに合わせて：
オリーブオイル
豆乳
マヨネーズ
など。

作り方：
１、おからを湯通しし、軽く濡らした布などで水をきる
２、人参、きゅうりなどの野菜を薄切りにして塩もみする
３、１が温かいうちに酢を振る
４、３に２を汁ごと加える
５、好みの調味料で味を整える

作ってみると意外と簡単で、食べたらおいしくボリュームもあり、
高得点の結果でした。
お試しあれ。

Bean curd refuse of soybean, or Okara in Japanese (it's not 'okra' by the way) is sold at supermarkets. It is a by-product of a very popular food, tofu. It is very cheap, about 30-50 yen for a bagful since tofu production leaves so much okara.
I made a salad using okara today. A friend gave me the recipe.

Ingredients:
Okara
Raw veggies carrots, cucumber, onion, etc.
Vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Method:
1, Parboil okara and sqzueeze the water to dry it
2, Slice all the veggies and add salt
3, Add vinegar to the okara
4, Mix the veggies with okara
5, Add seasonings of your choice (pepper, olive oil, etc.)　You could add soymilk to moisten the salad.

I put it on spinach and tomatoes that I got at the local farmers market today and ate it. It was easy to make, healthy, and tasty.
I think it's worth a try.

Have a good day.

free haircut 青ぞら散髪式

I had my hair cut by myself yesterday.
I got to be outside while doing it, I didn't have to worry so much about making a mess and it was a lot of fun. I got to save money, about 3000yen or more, which was very nice :) I'd cut your hair for cheap if you like.

初めて自分一人で（自分の）髪を切りました。
なかなかうまくできたし、お金も節約できたし
なにより楽しかった：）
髪切って欲しい人募集中　：）

発見！もち米のうまさ discovery: sweet rice is delicious

日頃とてもお世話になっている方々への感謝の気持ちを表すべく、ヨモギ団子を作りお届けすることにしました。

昨日夕方母と家の周りを歩いてヨモギ摘み。4月の中旬ころから出始めたヨモギはもうすでにかなり大きく伸びて、葉がかたくなり始めています。なので先っぽの柔らかそうなところだけを選んで摘みました。

食用にするヨモギは4月の20日から10日くらいの間に採るべし、という近所のお百姓さんの
格言（！）には少しの狂いもありません。あっぱれ。いつものことながら感服させられます。

夜のうちに圧力なべで小豆を煮ておきます。甘味に今回は黒砂糖を使用してみました。
暑くなってきたから暖かい地域で採れるものをからだが欲しているような気がなんとなくします。

今朝5時半に起きて団子作りを開始。

もち米とうるち米を１：１でブレンドした粉に水を入れてこねる
ひとつかみ分ずつちぎってにぎって蒸す
ヨモギを茹でて刻み、さらに臼でつく
蒸しあがった団子のもと？を臼に入れて杵でつく
ヨモギが均等にまざりなめらかになったら
一口大にちぎってのばして中にあんこを入れてできあがり。

「完成→味見→おいしい！」

となるはずだった。

のですがしかし

蒸しているときから「あれ？なんかちがう」
ついていても「む？むむむ？」
食べたら「えーなんで？」

そう、あんまりおいしく見えなかったし、おいしく感じなかったのです。

4月の山の会のときにつくったヨモギ団子は蒸しているときからおいしそうで
ついている間はうっとりしてしまい、
食べたら大大大満足だったのに。。。

なぜ？

期待が大きかったせいでショックが大きくなってしまいました。

それでも冷静になって原因を考えてみる。

おいしかったときに使ったのはもち米１００％
今回使ったのはもち米５０％＋うるち米５０％。

使った粉の原料の違いが一番大きい。

そう、もち米１００％の粉を使ったときのほうが格段においしくできたのです。
まさかこんなに違いがあるとは。
そしてもち米がこんなにおいしいとは。
感覚的にもち米のおいしさを感じたのは今日が初めてでした。


ところで、去年に続く無農薬での米づくり2回目の今年はもち米栽培に挑戦すべく現在準備中です。
もち米を選んだ主な動機は

１、もちが父の大好物だから。
２、田んぼのオーナーのお百姓さんから「あの田んぼでつくるもち米は天下一品だ」と太鼓判を押されていたから
３、最近もち米を作るひとが減っていると聞いていたから

の3つで、個人的にはもち米に対して特別な思い入れがあったわけではなかったのですが
今回の気づきでなんだかやる気が１０倍くらいになった思いです。
楽しみ楽しみ～。
みなさんも、お楽しみにー。

Farmers' market

I went to a local farmers' market with my mom.
There were not only farmers but also blacksmith, gardeners, fish store, gold fish store, sweets shop, etc. It was crowded with people and enjoyable.

Great time

Three friends of mine invited me to their mochi pounding, or rice-cake making party at their place. They live in an old cow barn, do farming, and take care of a horse for a traditional ceremony called Yabusame. (Boys get on horses and launch arrows at a target. People pray for their healthy growth.) They keep a sheep, a goat and a piggy. They said they would shear the sheep after the party. I went a bit early to help them organize the event. About 25 people came. Half of them were children. I knew most of them, so did they.

It took quite a long time to prepare everything but none of us was in a hurry. Everyone was enjoying the time and it was great. We made mochi, and ate it with different kids of toppings: the azuki bean paste, sesame seeds, natto, etc. The hosting friends made soup with bamboo shoots, wild plant called warabi and the wakame sea vegetable that I brought from home. It was all tasty :)

Sheep shearing took a while since none of us had the special shaving machine but Imaizumisan, a professional knife sharpener, had brought some of his old cissors and he was very good at cutting the sheep's hair so he was a great help.

The kids were running after the animals :) I played with the kids and it was so much fun :) They are so lovely!

I had a great time there.

Homemade fertilizer

I make organic fertilizer at home.

Ingredients:
leafe soil
rice bran
smoked/coaled? rice husk
rapeseed meal
water

When you mix all the above in a tub-like container and cover it with old blankets or plastic, the temperature rises to about 50 degrees C, or 122 degrees F in a few days and stays at about 30-40C for about 10days. It smells. When the color turns dark brown or black and the smell clears, it's ready to use. You need to keep turning it untill then.

I am putting a tray that I sew seeds in, the other day on the tub to help germination. I'm a little nervous if the seeds would come out.

A day at the beach

I went to the beach with my mom yesterday.
The waves were very calming and the sand felt good to my feet.
We had a picnic lunch and I made a painting while my mom was taking a nap :)
It was a good day.

Movie: Music of the Heart

I have been lucky with movies lately. Saw another good one last night.
Pretty moving to me.

Flowers flowers flowers!

They are the source of my life!
Wonderful.

Painful days

I was suffering from this unexplained pain in my stomach for about 4 days last week.
It was intolerably painful that I even called an ambulance.
I went to the hospital four times, did all kinds of examination and saw five doctors but they have found nothing abnormal with my body.
It is very strange and frustrating to be told "everything is fine" when you are feeling an excruciating pain.
The pain went away after the 4 days and now I feel fine but I will keep searching for the true cause of the pain.

Lots of people helped me during my battle with the pain and it was amazing.
Without them I wouldn't have been able to take the brunt of the pain.
I would like to use this space to thank all the people who gave me support.
Thank you.

Movie: Dead Poets Society 映画『いまを生きる』

This is a great movie.
"Seize the day!"いまを生きろ！

the large intestine endoscope

the examination itself wasn't really so bad.
the feeling was wired but it didn't hurt at all.
i got to see inside of my intestine on a screen and it was interesting.
the doctor said everything was fine with my intestine, which was a great relief.

but the process of emptying my intestine was awful.
i had to drink 2 litters of magnesium-containing laxative liquid in the two hours before the examination.
it was a lot and the drink must have been loaded with artificial sweeteners like sucralose and it was hard for me to drink.

and after the endoscope, i had to fight with a feeling of fullness in my abdomen
it was painful

it was one of my toughest experiences for me.
i do not want to go through this again :(