Natural Farming Experiment begins!

I'm slowly moving into my Natural Farming experiment as I finish my allocated main gardens which I am doing more or less the Biointensive garden method I learned at the University of California Santa Cruz Program in Agroecology and Community (PICA), Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), and the Homeless Garden Project. I've gotten better at it over the years but it just seems like a lot of work and something about it seems "unnatural" to me. Especially weeding. I really don't like weeding, and I think the weeds don't like it too. Also, with the CASFS organic garden apprenticeship, the focus seems to be in production and surviving/thriving in our current economic system as a small-scale organic farmer. In a world where our economic system doesn't fully respect and appreciate farmers and our environment, it seems like an unnecessarily hard path to take. Maybe things are getting better slowly now. I also don't want to mix growing food with money. Growing food and taking care of the earth is a spiritual practice, a necessity for us to survive and live. But, as many will respond, that's too idealistic. We will see about that, after all don't ideals help us to transform and evolve?

NATURAL FARMING
I heard about natural farming from one of the gardeners at UC Santa Cruz. He talked about the book "One Straw Revolution" and mildly got me excited. But, I never read that book and instead read "The Natural Way of Farming: Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy" while farming in Costa Rica. That made me want to learn more about the topic and actually see it in practice. In permaculture circles natural farming comes up here and there and it is always associated with Masanobu Fukuoka. And although I met people who have met him (at UCSC and elsewhere), I could never find anybody practicing his method.

Then last year when I went back to Japan I started to hear about a natural farmer Yoshikazu Kawaguchi. In Japan, when natural farming is mentioned, Kawaguchi is the person people talk about. A friend invited me to meet and interview him at his home and I was able to explore his beautiful weed filled rice paddies and gardens. I asked him about Fukuoka and shared a bit about permaculture and food forests. I might write more about that later, but for now I'd rather share some translations about him and the natural farming he teaches. Followed by updates on my own natural farming experiment here in Washington.

A little on Yoshikazu Kawaguchi. He was born in 1939 in Nara prefecture. He suffered mentally and physically from chemical (conventional) agriculture and begins to explore natural farming in the mid-70s. He now advises and teaches natural farming all over Japan. He's written a few books such as (roughly translated) "Standing in a strange garden" (1990), "Natural farming-the world of Yoshikazu Kawaguchi" (2000), "The path of natural farming" (2005), and a couple of others. I don't think any of them have been translated.

Thank you sunshine

Today was such a nice sunny day!
Oh so nice.
The sun has been rising around 6am and setting well past 8pm. Its still light around 9pm.
It was so nice out I enjoyed some naked gardening for the first time. Quite a pleasant experience. Highly recommended if you are in the right environment. And this is definitely the right environment. Other styles I have seen are Donald Duck (just a T-shirt), underwear, and loin cloth gardening. I have a vision to garden in a full business suit to encourage "salary men" and "office ladies" in Japan to garden....but probably I will just be amusing myself while profusely perspiring.
What kind of fashion will lure more people into gardening?
That is the question on my mind.

Deer shot

Rise up this morning
Smile with the rising sun
One big deer
Hanging from the woodshed
After waking up, the first thing I witnessed was a skinned deer hanging from the woodshed. I think it was shot at 3am, by Doug (he doesn't consume meat). From what I have heard the deer here have few to no predators and are over populated. They also damage the fruit trees, nursery, and the gardens.

I am not sure how I feel about the whole situation but I guess its a great opportunity to look deeply into how we interact with our environment. For instance, what about volunteers (aka weeds)? Or fungus and bug pests? In Japan monkeys are a vector. Is it necessary and justified to kill monkeys that take from your garden? I remember someone talking about how a natural farmer said he will kill monkeys for the same reasons the deer was killed here. And I have heard of some stories about permaculture bunkers to defend against potentially armed hungry people, when the serious effects of peak oil begin and people do not have enough food. That sounds like an intense way to live.

It can be an uncomfortable topic but its important to look deeply into life and death, and what we need in relation to what we want. A nice opportunity for some introspection. Will I kill for the same reasons if it were my site? Why am I vegetarian? Why not eat meat that is harvested on the land? My answer for now is my sprouts of compassion are still small and I want to grow them stronger before I can even consider taking life compassionately. I do know that I have a pungent desire to kill less and grow more, and that's what I am learning about here.


This picture is after the guts and skin was removed at the woodshed, site 2 of the dressing process. I love the irony that the processing of the animal migrated next to the lone vegetarian having his breakfast.

I will put this in the unique meals memory-box with the time I was having dinner while naked people came out of the sauna, passed in front of the "dinner table" to the shower, and back into the sauna.

今日の朝３時頃に撃たれた鹿です。

手巻きすしパーティー Sushi Party (itadakimasu)

ほぼ毎週ゆりこさんの家で和食パーティーをしています。交代で研修生二人に和食の作り方を教えながら、ごちそうを用意してくれます。この日は手巻き寿司！サーモン（この周辺で収穫されたもの）、アボカド、ごぼう、卵、椎茸、揚げ豆腐、などなど。自家製のお酒も毎回出ています。せっかくだから、みんなに日本人らしくピースをしてもらいました。ピースって平和の事ですよね？ゆりこさんの家で和食パーティーは拍手、歓声、笑い声で一杯です。みんなで楽しく食事をするのは和を育む方法だと思います。ゆりこさん、ブロックス、研修生のみんな、地球に感謝。

頂きますも教えました。だから、ゆりこさんの家ではみんなが座るまでま待って、一緒に頂きますを言います。バラバラに食べるよりは僕はみんな一緒に頂きますを言って食べるのが好きです。

This is a picture of a temaki sushi party at Yuriko & Sam's house. Almost every week we have a Japanese food party there, where 2 interns cook with Yuriko to learn the art of washoku. Then we feast Japanese-style, beginning with "itadakimasu." The sushi ingredients included Alaskan salmon she buys from a fisher-person, avocado, burdoc root, fluffy eggs, shiitake, fried tofu, etc. She also shares home made wines (e.g. plum and blackberry wine, mead, etc). Since its a Japan themed night, everybody did the official Japanese "peesu" (peace) sign, that defines you as a Japanese person posing for a picture (or at least a wannabe). Yuriko's parties are filled with festive clapping, dancing, cheering, and laughter. I think the technical term is, blissed out.

Eating together is probably one of the most important practices for peace and community-building. Its also an excellent space for cultural exchange.

ABOUT いただきます
itadakimasu is a greeting that Japanese (not all) say before eating. It literally is a formal way of saying "I am receiving this." Some people put their hands together and bow as they say it. When I was in elementary school in Japan, students would serve each other food and we would wait until everybody was seated with their food. Then we would all sing or shout (me) "itadakima-su" together and start eating. I do this before almost every meal as a way to fully be aware of how amazing it is to have nutritious food, to be alive, to be present, and to eat with others. It also helps me slow down and not just chow down the nourishing food before me. Its a good opportunity to give thanks and send prayers to those who are not so fortunate, as there are many. Sometimes I think about my ancestors who were starving during WW II. I remember reading about children fighting over grains of rice, and soldiers eating maggots off their wounds in jungles they would rather not be in. Its easy for me to forget that having nutritious food, from all over the world, all the time, is a luxury. So, I want to make sure that I am eating it with respect and using that energy to find ways to build a peace-filled sustainable world for all.

Robo-farmer 2015

Thought I would add a surreal element of reality to this blog. I believe this student is pulling out a daikon raddish.

Perhaps the increasing unemployed tech-youth will find their niche in techno-farming. It still has yet to be mounted with auto-sensor laser beams to toast bugs and weeds, and water canons to clean veggies. Maybe solar panels and auto-pilot would be good too.....oh, then we could just get rid of the student (representing the aging population of Japanese farmers) and make robo-farmer 2015.

You know the Japanese will go there.

Here is the full article (thanks Marley)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hc_NmgA0Nxdu7CkAj1VmVZQpjNDg

ここに来るには

おこしになりたい方は、info@permacultureportal.comに連絡ください。


ブロックスホームステッドの楽しみ方はいくつかあります。
１．一日見学／参加をする。日曜日の昼はポットラック（持ちよりパーティー）です。一日の作業に参加したい方は金、土、日、月に来てください。火、水、木は研修生の休みの日なので来てもみんな休んでいるかもしれません。

２．数日泊まる。研修生と一緒に生活ができます。自分のテントや寝袋を持ってきてください。ここのすばらしさを満喫するには一週間ぐらい泊まる事をお薦めします。一日の食料費はだいたい＄８！ここのご飯は豪華です。宿泊料はとっていないようなので、費用は食費または何らか寄付／交換だけです。パーマカルチャーに興味なくても、ここに泊まりにくる良い理由です。（これが、団体と「家」の違いなのでしょうか？）。

３．入門コースまたは三週間のパーマカルチャー・デザイン・コースを受ける。僕はデザインコースを受けたのがきっかけで研修生に応募する事にしました。人生で一番質の高い教育だと思いました。詳しくは、ホームページを見てください。数週間で満員になってしまう人気のコースです。

４．研修生になる。お薦め！四月から十月いっぱいの期間です。結構倍率が高くなってきたようで、僕の他二人は去年落ちて今年入りました。一人はプロの大工で、もう一人はプロの庭師。僕は．．．カリスマぷ〜？ここに入るコツは、ブロックス兄弟と直接あって話す事です。

５．三時間ツアー。大人は一人あたり＄１５で学生は＄１２です。最低人数１０人または＄１５０とホームページに書いてあります。二十年以上発展され続けられているあらゆるパーマカルチャー・システムを（例えば、micro-climates, エッヂ作り、チナンパ、様々なソーラーシステム、エコ建築、植物ギルド、などなど）じっくり見学できます。質問は大歓迎です。また、特別なリクエスト（例えばワークショップなど）も受け付けているようです。日本語、ロシア語、スペイン語、ポーランド語の通訳も可能だと思います。

パーマカルチャー生活を実感したい人は是非来てみてください。ここは、団体や教育施設ではなく、ブロックスの家です。とても居心地がよく、パーマカルチャーを生きる人達から学ベます。特に、土地／気候(micro-climates)への理解と食べ物の森に関しては、ここが特別優れていると思います。好きな果物がなる期間に来る事もお薦めします。去年、僕はプラムの食べ過ぎでお腹を壊してしまいました。それでも、食べてない新しい種類を毎日のように見つけてしまったので、苦しみながら味わいました。食への欲は恐ろしいものですね。

では、お待ちしていま〜す。

Party party party!

DAY 1 (Platform completion tea and dinner party) Thursday evening
As a celebration of finally completing my new home, and to appreciate all the interns I live and work with, I invited everybody for a tea party on my platform. I only expected 2 or 3 people, but pretty much everyone came and shared some high mountain green tea from Taiwan a friend gave me, loquat leaf tea I made, and a kichidi inspired millet dish that turned out much better than I expected. Hope to have many more tea parties up there.

DAY 2 (Spa and Music Night at Doe Bay) Friday eveningA happy group of permies after soaking in the spa, cleansing in the sauna, putting on some clay for some smooth skin, and fluffing up our aura. Dinner after the spa that Gina gracefully prepared for us during the day. Permy picnic.
Then off to the live music from San Francisco.

DAY 3 (Bullock's Appreciation Pizza Party) Saturday eveningJames preparing the pizza for the party.

Food prep while a fairy arranges the flowers.
Music around the fire. At one point there was probably about 6 string instruments and almost everybody singing. This is one of those experiences that just make life so much fun! Sometimes I wonder, is this for real?

DAY 4 (Sunday Potluck and Mother's Day) Sunday lunch and evening
We had a nice sized potluck for lunch with plenty of tasty goods, no mas! Its really hard to mediate food consumption when there is such good looking food....all the time.

For the evening, we had a special appreciation of mothers day meal. A bunch of us including two mothers said the names of our mothers while standing around the food, with gratitude in our hearts. I don't have a picture but the food was visually tantalizing. Flowery salad, braised whole onions, stir fried perennial cauliflower, seafood pasta, crab cakes, pesto quinoa pasta (for the "special people" like moa), and two dangerous looking desserts that I didn't eat but I think was something like a rhubarb crisp and a something-shortbread. Yuriko was the mother of honor.

寒い（プラットフォーム完成、サムとの仕事、ヒヨコの誕生）

寒！
昨日から平均四、五度！
しかも、やっと昨夜から自分のプラットフォームで寝る事ができました。プラットフォームと屋根が完成したのは昨日でした。恥ずかしながら今回ここに来て以来、僕はここに来てから一度も外で寝てません。というわけで、昨日が記念すべき最初の夜でした。四度！寝袋なしで毛布を五つ重ねて寝ました。一番きついのが、おしっこのために布団から出る事ですね。一気に一晩中蓄えた熱が寒い空気に消えてしまいました。今年の五月は、珍しく寒いようです。ま、良い修行という事で。起きると、辺り一面森が見えます。暖かければもう天国です。

今日はサムと一日働きました。サムは、仕事中丁寧に説明をしてくれて、給料をもらいつつ勉強になっています。しかも、月二日働けば生活費はカバーできるのです。つまり、僕みたいに毎週サムと一日働けば、二ヶ月分の生活費を余裕で稼ぐ事ができます。ありがたいです。

晩ご飯は毎週恒例のゆりこさんの和食。今晩のメニューは七面鳥と魚の竜田揚げ、小松菜らしきものの浸しもの、赤飯、サラダ、そしてそして、Tahiniと葛のごま豆腐！最高．僕は、特別砂糖と醤油の入っていない状態で頂きました。もう僕たちの生活は贅沢そのものです。これから、日本を中心としてこのような生き方を分かち合っていきたいです。特に精神的に、経済的に困っている人たちと。まだまだ僕はヒヨコですが。。。。。

そういえば、一昨日と昨日にかけてヒヨコが５匹生まれました！とても可愛いです。移動する最中に、母役をしている鶏にストレスがかかってしまい臭いおならと糞を出していましたが、今は大丈夫なようです。


では、また寒い夜を迎えて。

明日は畑でいっぱい働いてから、プラットフォームで中国茶パーティーをする予定です。

Potato planting and garlic processing

今日の最初の行事は芋を植えるための草抜きと溝堀でした。溝に植えた芋の上にはだいたい１０cmぐらい土をかぶせ、芽が伸びて土から数センチ出たら、もっと土をのせてもっと伸びるようにします。溝の中には蟹の粉末を撒きます。大切なのは窒素を土に入れすぎない事です。良い芋ができないと言われました。草抜きにかなり時間がかかってしまって、半分ぐらい終わってからお昼の時間でした。
　　　　
Potato planting. (left to right): potato varieties to plant, weeding and cleaning up the field, trenching the potatoes (dig a trench in a straight line, sprinkle crab meal, cover spuds with about 4 inches of soil).

日曜日は持ち寄りパーティーです。雨だったのでアロハオッジでみんなでお昼ご飯を楽しみました。火を中心としてみんなが集まっている様子は、とても良い絵になっています。

Sunday potluck in the Aloha lodge. Everybody getting cozy.

雨で芋植えは切り上げる事にして、接ぎ木組とニンニクの保存処理組に分かれました。僕はニンニク組で、たき火の周りでニンニクをローストして食べながらの作業は最高でした。熱々のクリーミーなニンニクを２０個ぐらい食べしまいました。

Garlic processing as they started to sprout and mold. We ate buttery caramelized roasted garlic around the fire.

ニンニクが存在しててよかった。
芋も。

Pizza Party 1

なぜか、exclusion dietを始めて二日目の朝食がタヒーニー入りの自家製cinnamon bun！小麦も砂糖も入っているから食べられませんでした。みんな「美味しい」と繰り返しながらものすごく幸せそうに食べていました。そんな中、僕は昨日の残りのレンズと粟を食べました。さらに、今日はブロックス家族に感謝するためにピザパーティーをする事になり、晩ご飯はcob ovenで焼かれたピザでした。またまた小麦とチーズが駄目なので、特別ポレンタの上にトッピングをのせてチーズなしのピザもどきを食べました。美味しかったです。なかなか、誘惑の多い日でしたが問題なく楽しく過ごせました。

因に、ピザが焼かれたオーブンは多分デザインコースで作られたものです。材料は、粘度（ここの地面から取ってきたもの）、砂、わら、水、とオーブンの床となる石またはレンガ（熱をを保つ素材）。僕も大学で一回作ったのですが、とても簡単で楽しい作業です。石焼のパンやピザなどに最適で、かなり盛り上がりの対象になります。

ピザパーティーの後、毎日座禅を二回する研修生と一緒にメディテーションをしました。もっとまじめに座禅をしないと駄目ですね。ラジオ体操は順調に毎朝やり始めました。生活のリズムがだんだん摑めてきた気がします。


左が（本物の）ピザで、右の二つはポレンタのピザもどき。真ん中のが僕のです。石焼の焼きたては格別でした。しかも、小麦とチーズを食べなかったため、お腹もすっきりしている感じです。いつも食べ過ぎてしまうし。