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This is a story about an
international couple raising and home educating three
young boys on a small island in Japan, half living in
buses, engaged in organic, self-sufficient farming in
the middle of a mountain forest while dealing with
climate, cultural, and personal challenges. These pages
are about pretty much anything and everything all guided
by our family motto, Taking Chances, Making Changes,
Being Happy. Thank you very much for joining us on our
ongoing crazy adventure.
Comments or questions about this blog?....message me at
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 Agroforest
Farming
I began farming (gardening) as a child growing up in
Kenmore, New York. Our home had a small space behind the
garage where my parents let me go crazy growing whatever I
wanted. I eventually moved to San Diego, California for
college, purchased a home, and was back to gardening in a
small space once again. Many years later I married Akiko and
we moved, with our son, to a small house in Nara, which also
had very limited gardening space. We moved again, this time
to Tanegashima Island where we rented a home that included a
couple of farms totaling probably about 400 square meters or
4,000 square feet. This is when our real farming began.
After three years we moved back to California, bought a
property up in the mountains (about 4,000 feet above sea
level) and put in a lot of effort trying to grow anything.
After only six months there, we returned to Tanegashima,
bought a house, and began farming
the 800 square meters around our home. Then in 2021, we
purchased a 4.5 acre forested mountain, opened up a half acre area, and began
farming there as well.
My wife Akiko and sons, Shai, Lael, and Ethan work together
and are producing some incredibly
tasty stuff. We are working towards total self sufficiency
and already we are growing 100% of our beverage, snack, and
veggie requirements. Our methods are certainly not
conventional, to say the least, with most of our efforts on
a trial and error basis. We do not use any chemical
fertilizers or pesticides with only the occasional use of
organic manure from either cows or chickens. We use very
little mechanization or man made materials, although we did
give in and bought a weed wacker and a couple of chain saws after my shoulders gave out.
The stuff we produce is not always the best looking, in fact
often pretty ugly, but the taste is out of this world and
chemical free. |
 What
We Grow
We are now growing our food at home and at our mountain.
Our mountain has a dense forest of oak and cypress trees.
Although the forest is in poor condition, the soil is fantastic with almost no
rocks. We were already growing food in a farm and at our home but decided to
open up a large area (approximately .25 acres) of the forest for food
production.
Home - This is where we are
growing most of food that requires frequent harvesting such as tomatoes,
peppers, and various herbs.
Mountain - This is where our
bulk carbohydrates are being grown which includes approximately 100 meters
(about 2,000 sweet potatoes per year) of three kinds of sweet potatoes and about
60 banana trees consisting of 16 different varieties. This is also where a
combination of bulk food including, turmeric, garlic, and fruit, along with
annuals and perennial herbs including apple mint, lemongrass, stevia, and
oregano are being grown. The forest faming is by far the most enjoyable and
where we plan to expend most of our efforts.
The following table is a detailed list of the food we are
growing at our home and at our mountain forest. This list is basically for us
and will be changed occasionally as we figure out what works and what doesn't up
in our mountain. I decided to put it online since some of you might find this
information useful. |
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Home and Forest Farming Food List |
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Table Key |
| Food |
T |
S |
H |
M |
D |
B |
H |
C |
Date |
Notes |
- Food
- a list of what we are growing at home and at
the mountain forest
- Bold
Print - means we gave up growing it
- T
- type .... A = Annual, P = perennial
- S
- where seeds were obtained
- O
- old seeds
- N
- new seeds
- NO
- both
- H
- food grown at home .... Y = yes, N = no
- M
- food grown at the mountain forest .... Y =
yes, N = no
- D
- do deer eat the food .... Y = yes, N = no, ? =
unknown
- B
- do bugs eat the food .... Y = yes, N = no, ? =
unknown
- P
- when food is picked .... C = when finished
growing, P = periodically
- C - does it
cross pollinate
- Date
- date when the seeds were sown
- Notes
- additional information
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