A small gift to my friend

An old farmer friend lady gave me a snack she made on the movie night.
I went to her house to tell her thanks. On the way, I made a little bouquet with wildflowers to give to her. This is a picture of it.

Movie night

I happened to organize a movie showing on the same day as rice planting.
The movie is called "降りてゆく生き方", or Life getting down(?)
http://www.nippon-p.org/mov.html

This is a fiction story about a guy who works for a multinational company and goes to a countryside village to privatize the land, meets a local farmer who grows rice organically, a lady who makes rice wine traditionally, a social worker, etc. and ends up quitting the job and helping this yound guy who tries to save the environment, empower the local community and the kids....

The stuff of the movie were on Sado for a week and a friend of mine who has connection with them suggested doing a movie showing at my dad's cabin. It was such a short notice (=3 days before the showing) that I didn't really have time to advertise the event but more than 40 people came to watch it on the day from all over Sado :).

The whole event was very warm- family-like? Lots of people stayed after the showing to share stories and time together, old local farmers brought food for the stuff, etc. Made me very happy.

I became friends with the movie stuff-they have quit their jobs in Tokyo to help support/show this movie nationwide :0 amazing.

I am thankful for the opportunity to watch and show this movie in the cabin :)

Rice planting finished

9 people volunteered to help me plant rice (to be precise, it is rice seedlings that we planted) on Saturday.
I met three of them, oh plus one goat for the first time :0
Everybody was very nice and helpful. I was so happy.
Thanks to their great help, rice planting finished in 3 hours=took less than half of the time planned.
Everyone was like "so where is the next rice paddy?" :)

The rice seedlings grew so well, that all the local farmers who saw them said "what a great seedlings! well done!" and gave me so much strength and happiness.

It's been 4 days since we planted rice.
Weed has already appeared and been threatning me and my dad so much :0
We began our fight back to it: much earlier than last year.
I made a tool with a chane and a pole to remove weed in the rice paddy.
I read about some people use one like that on the internet.
I tried weeding with it but doesn't seem so effective...what a pitty...

Pictures:
1.rice seedlings with my dad
2.3. rice planting friends
4.me weeding the rice paddy with a DIY tool

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。