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.

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STORY 2014
Where are we going?

Really not sure where but the two choices at present are Kobe, Japan and Tanegashima, Japan. We simply need to decide on being in a big cosmopolitan city or on a resort island. Both place provide benefits to our family.

Tanegashima, Japan - 1st Choice

Akiko and I both work from home now and can reside anywhere in Japan. Why not move to a nice warm place with fishing and beautiful beaches, not to mention the largest space center and rocket launch area in Japan. Plenty of things for our four year old son Shai to learn. Tanegashima is a small island located off the coast of Kyushu, one of the four main islands of Japan. This place is known for the space center and beautiful beaches not to mention the subtropical climate. The warm temperatures throughout the year would allow us to explore nature and do many fun activities. This is actually our first choice for now until we find out a lot more information.

Tanegashima, Japan

Kobe, Japan - 2nd Choice

This is without a doubt one of the nicest cities in Japan. Kobe is very cosmopolitan with plenty of things to do. Many foreigners are living there and many international couples like us.
A really fun year and the beginning of our island adventures. Much of this year was spent setting up and getting used to this place. A couple of typhoons within a week of each other slammed into the island damaging the house and wreaked havoc on the farms. Caught some nice fish, and visited a couple of beautiful beaches, along with some incredible caves. We saw a rocket launch, went to a fun fish festival and celebrated our first Hannukah on the island.
  • January 2014 - No posts.
  • February 2014 - Snowing like crazy. (no pictures)
  • March 2014 - Basically local stuff. (no pictures)
  • April 2014 - A bit of bike riding and hanami. (no pictures)
  • May 2014 - Found a rental house on Tanegashima island. Began work on getting this incredibly messy house ready for us to move there. (no pictures)
  • June 2014 - Found a room for rent with internet that Akiko could use for work. Spent a lot of time at the beach before returning to Nara again. (no pictures)
  • July 2014 - Ando Town, Nara, Japan house for sale. (no pictures)
  • August 2014 - No posts.
  • September 2014 - The beginning of our island adventures. Much of this month was spent setting up and getting used to this place. (no pictures)
  • October 2014 - Definitely call this typhoon month. A couple of typhoons within a week of each other slammed into the island damaging the house and wreaked havoc on the farms. (no pictures)
  • November 2014 - A nice change. Warmer temperatures, some nice fish, and visits to a couple of beautiful beaches, along with some incredible caves. (no pictures)
  • December 2014 - A really fun month. We saw a rocket launch, went to a fun fish festival and celebrated our first Hannukah on the island. (no pictures)
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The farm plan for Autumn 2014 basically did not happen for a variety of reasons.

I totally underestimated the strength of the winds of Tanegashima when I began farming on this island. Actually I brought a San Diego, California farming mentality to this island and soon found out it does not work. I made farm beds and put the seeds directly into the soil as opposed to setting out seedlings....this worked in California. A couple of typhoons and an Autumn of strong winds later, I watched the struggling vegetables get blown over and they eventually withered away.

A Lesson Learned

I was pretty adamant about not using fertilizer. After a few frustrating weeks I gave in and bought a bag of all purpose fertilizer and put a little bit into the farm. This proved to be mostly ineffective....an example of too little too late.

A LESSON LEARNED

I finished much of the sowing for the Autumn 2014 farm on September 17. Perfect timing....or maybe not. A few weeks later Tanegashima was hit with a couple of mega typhoons within a week of each other. This pretty much wiped out everything with the exception of the garlic, which had not sprouted yet, and the negi, which were already established.

Try Again

I picked up after these storms and decided to try again. And on October 16 the sowing began. Although things seemed to be going good, the lack of fertilizer, and the strong winds of November and December wreaked havoc on the little seedlings. This was really a disappointment. This was not a total loss though. We picked some of the very small radishes and daikon, along with a few of the salad leaves which all proved to be pretty tasty.
 
Farming information probably from 2014-2015

A few turnips were harvested and were pretty good actually.
The cherry tomatoes went crazy. We enjoyed at least 1500 of these little gems until a beetle began eating the leaves and vines.
Another success story. Tons of medium tomatoes were produced before the vines were infested with some type of beetle resembling a ladybug.
A few large tomatoes were produced but most split due to excessive rain.
Actually only a few kaboucha were produced this year. The vines were doing pretty good until the island was hit with a three week long monsoon season. The leaves and the kaboucha turned brown and began to fall off.
No spinach. A couple of typhoons and subsequent strong winds and rain wiped out the spinach for this year.
The edamame were doing great and then, for some reason, the leaves began turning brown and the edamame pods began drying up.
The scallions sown from seeds did not produce due to a couple of typhoons and strong seasonal winds and rain. The scallions shown in the picture were actually growing from bulbs which the neighbors were nice enough to provide.
Although this is a white radish (diakon), this veggie is grown primarily for the leaves. The first season a couple of typhoons wiped out most of these but this year they are producing.
White radishes, AKA daikon in Japan, are definitely a cool season favorite. I put in a few different kinds during the first year on the island. They were completely wiped out compliments of a couple of typhoons. They were sown again and a few radishes of each kind were harvested.
Um pretty sure this is basically a vitamin radish....Japanese pronunciation being bitamin. These were among my favorite since half is green as opposed to the typically all white radish usually seen in Japan. The taste was really good and I plan to put these in again if I can find the seeds online.
These radishes were very easy to grow and withstood the strong seasonal winds on the island. The radishes were basically bug resistant with few damaged leaves.
This vegetable was originally sown on 9/17/2014. Typhoon Phanfone hit Tanegashima on 10/5/2014, and then on 10/12/2014 typhoon Vongfong slammed into the island. These typhoons effectively wiped out the farm including these radishes. They were sown again on 10/16/2014. Subsequent strong winds during the months of November and December of 2014 reduced the amount of radishes harvested. The radishes were harvested on 12/10/2014.
American round thing. A grand total of three different varieties were attempted and none were successful thanks to the climate and a brown beetle infestation. Really not much to say except try again next year.
Too hot to handle pretty much describes the jalapeno peppers grown this year. A ton were harvested and stored and almost not were used. lol. A few of the jalapeno peppers ready for harvest. These things were incredibly hot. They certainly look pretty harmless....yeah right. These guys turned out to be so hot they were basically unused the entire season. What a waste. Now bags of these peppers are sitting on ice in the storage unit. These burned during preparation, on the way in, and on the way out. Mistake: Hey guys be sure not to pee after handling these peppers unless you want to know what "great balls of fire" really means.
Another farming success story. I produced plenty of these peppers, albeit they turned out not to be hot at all. Still Green. The chili peppers made it through, and actually adjusted quite well to this climate. They got off to a slow beginning but then really produced towards the end of the season. For some reason the chili peppers took a long time to turn red. In fact, most of the peppers harvested looked exactly like these, still green, and not even a little bit hot. Towards the end of the season they did turn a bright red but were still not hot at all. Storage Ready. A ton of peppers were harvested the first season, most of which were stored for the cooler months. I decided not to blanch these and even months later they were still good quality, especially when used in strong tasting dishes like curry rice.
Bell Pepper Green. This vegetable was sown on 1/31/2015 in pots kept in an interior room of the house.
Bell Pepper Colored. This vegetable was sown on 1/31/2015 in pots kept in an interior room of the house.
More strong winds and rain and another disappointment. Mistake: I did not give enough support to the pea vines while they were still seedlings. The vines became really spindly and weak. This year they are doing a bit better but still not going to produce much.
A couple of typhoons wiped out all the onions. They were sown again and subsequently wiped out be strong seasonal winds and rain. Mistake: I decided to begin from seeds as opposed to already established bulbs from the farming store. The small seedlings could not handle the climate. I am using bulbs this year and so far all is well.
I produced a lot of okra, in fact, more than we were able to use. I found myself way behind on harvesting and ended up picking many okra which were too large and tough to be eaten. Okra is without a doubt one of the strangest veggies you can add to your farm or garden. These things seem to defy gravity as they grow upwards towards the sky. Out of all the veggies in the farm, these were among the easiest to grow. There were basically no problems until the very end of the season when some type of moth or butterfly began laying eggs all over the leaves which eventually produced an infestation of small, colorful caterpillars. These little critters ate more leaves than you can possibly imagine. A lot of time was spent hand picking these guys off the leaves. A few of the early okra from the first Summer on the island. Interesting texture and taste and a definite addition to the farm next year.
Japanese mustard spinach. Strong winds wiped out most of the leaves during the first year on the island. The leaves which were able to be harvested were pretty good. Reduced amount and lower quality compliments of some strong seasonal wind and rain which inundated the farm.
Japanese mustard. This veggie is really good when boiled in a Japanese nabe pot. Reduced amount and lower quality compliments of some strong seasonal wind and rain which inundated the farm.
None of the lettuce did well the first year on the island. This year none is being grown. Apparently the seeds were too old and none even sprouted. This is what might be considered regular lettuce. These came out fairly good despite the strong winds, although the leaves are a bit tattered.
WHAT A DISASTER. The plan was to make a "green wall" in the farm and produce a few gourds for decoration around the house. This was not to be compliments of a bug infestation. The gourds proved to be quite a disappointment. The vines simply could not handle the typhoons, strong winds, and rain. I was trying to grow them vertically but they were continually being battered and were unable to produce really strong support vines. Then, about halfway through the season, something, moths or butterflies, began laying eggs all over the leaves. The eggs hatched into these green caterpillars that completely ravaged the vines and leaves. These were simply too much work for no return. I am probably not going to grow these again.
The harvested eggplant was really good but the amount was reduced due to a couple of typhoons and an infestation of bugs. The eggplant did fairly well but took a long time to produce. A couple of typhoons wiped out many of the eggplant while the others were stripped of many of their leaves. Then they were infested with some kind of ladybug looking insect which was eating the leaves and sucking the energy out of the stems. This is what the eggplant looked like all washed up. These were pretty firm and tasted great in a few different Japanese dishes.
The cucumbers worked out for the most part, although the production was limited thanks to a couple of typhoons and an infestation of some kind of brown beetle looking bugs which ended up devouring most of the leaves on the cucumber vines. I grew my cucumbers on trellises made out of bamboo, which was used to form a wind barrier on the north side of the farm. The bamboo was used for both horizontal and vertical support. I then used jute to tie the cucumber vines to the supports until they were able to hang on by themselves. The nice thing about using jute is the strings are biodegradable. Especially in this humid climate, the jute lasts for about 6 months and then is barely strong enough to hold together. At the end of the Summer season the jute strings simply pull away with the cucumber vines when they are removed. The entire load can then be tossed into the compost pile. This trio was among the first to be harvested. The cucumbers turned out pretty good, typhoons and bugs aside.
A fair amount of corn was produced but was loaded with small bugs. Corn growing on the stalk and ready for harvest. A few ears of corn were cooked on the barbecue and eaten off the cob. Due to the presence of many small bugs, most of the corn was taken off the cobs, thoroughly washed and put in storage.
Another farming success story. The popcorn stalks were totally dried out before the ears were picked. The local farmers kept asking if the corn was okay since they though the stalks were regular sweet corn which would already be way past picking at this point. Kinda funny. A bunch of nice looking ears of popcorn drying out. Each cob produced about 350 individual pieces of porcorn.
This year was really a disappointment when a couple of typhoons decimated the farms. Only a few pieces of cauliflower were harvested. Now a new year and so far my cauliflower is hanging in there and trying to make it through the strong seasonal winds. Yeah they look nice but this was basically it for last season. Hey from this picture you would never know what a disaster the farms were last season thanks to strong seasonal winds and a couple of typhoons. Note: Be sure to "hill up" the cauliflower if your farm or garden is subject to strong winds. Most of the seedlings were totally leveled last season. The good news is things are going much better this year.
I converted a jungle adjacent to the upper farm using hand tools. This included taking out a bunch of fairly sizable trees. The locals said this new farm would not be usable for a few seasons due to the abundance of roots in the soil. Not wanting to take no for an answer, I decided to go ahead and put in some veggies anyway. Since the local farmers know a lot more, and since they might be right, I decided to make the jungle farm into something fun. I was so impressed with the rocket launches from the Tanegashima space center, that I decided to make the farm into something of a space exploration theme. The space agencies of America and Japan, NASA and JAXA respectively, were to make up the basic design of the farm. Then off to the side was a rocket, which ended up looking very much like a phallic symbol. lol. I decided to put in carrots, hoping that the greens would from the letters. The soil in this farm has not been subject to chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and thanks to years of composting jungle leaves and materials, the soil turned out to be fantastic. The carrot greens grew very tall and soon made the space agency letters unintelligible. The farm ended up producing hundreds of carrots. This farm became very popular with the locals. Many times people were taking pictures of the farm. What was supposed to be the letters representing the NASA and JAXA space agencies, turned into a carpet of green, as the carrot leaves quickly took over the square beds. The neighbors kept saying to thin out the carrots in order to produce more. I kept insisting the greens were forming letters and thinning would destroy the theme. This same discussion went on and on for during the Summer. As a result of not thinning, a ton of carrots were ready at the same time. What to do? The solution....blanching and storage of hundreds of carrots for the cooler months. These were a few of the early carrots harvested. The carrots harvested later were much larger and many were split, possibly due to excessive rain. The flavor of these carrots was excellent and even stayed tasty after blanching and months of storage, especially when used in strong tasting dishes like curry rice. This was actually the first time for me to blanch carrots. The whole process was a bit time consuming but it was well worth the effort. These carrots were the first edition to the new storage unit, along with tons of fish caught earlier in the month.
WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. The only fruit trees growing in the farms is bananas. A few cantaloupes (plural form?) would have made a nice addition to the dessert table, but it was not to be, at least not this year. The climate on this island had other ideas. The cantaloupe proved to be quite a disappointment. The vines simply could not handle the typhoons, strong winds, and rain. I was trying to grow them vertically but they were continually being battered and were unable to produce really strong support vines. Too depressing to even take a picture. lol.
Chinese cabbage, AKA hakusai in Japan, is pretty much a staple food during the cooler months. The typhoons pretty much wiped out everything but a couple of huge Chinese cabbages made it through and were harvested. Thanks to favorable conditions the Chinese cabbage is doing much better this year. This couple were pretty huge, especially the hakusai in the foreground. These hakusai leaves came out pretty good and were a nice addition to the nabe pot during those cool season nights.
The first season on Tanegashima the cabbage I grew barely made it through the strong northerly winds which blow almost constantly it seems from as early as October to as late as March. No worries though, the next season turned out much better thanks to a little thought and a few new techniques. After the fiasco of the first shot at growing these, it was time to change a few things. The next season I decided to sow the seeds directly in the farm and not in pots. I was kind of late again thanks to a lot of time spent on changing the farm beds from an offset square design to an inline square design....I digress. The seeds were not sown until the middle of October, somewhat late for this subtropical climate. It all worked out though thanks to a few new techniques and better placement in the farm. I set out my cabbage seeds directly in the farm in 2 meter long rows with the seeds closely spaced. As the seedlings began to grow, I moved them to a square bed measuring 2 meters x 2 meters with 4 rows,� running north to south. Each cabbage seedling was placed only 25 cm away from each other. This time the cabbage was grown in one of the middle beds, a few meters away from the bamboo wall on the north side of the farm. This helped a lot to reduce the effects of the wind. In addition, I think the soil was a little better, maybe softer, if that makes any sense. I also began "hilling up" the seedlings as they began to grow. Hilling up (not sure what the actual farming term is for this) made a huge difference this time around. Hilling up is using your hands, or a small tool, to delicately pull soil up and around a seedling to give it support and protect it from the wind and rain. Cabbage seedlings are very delicate and cannot handle strong winds. This year the cabbage seedlings were hilled up all the way to the lower leaves. Now held in place, they were no longer flopping around in the wind and were given a change to grow stronger. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and this must also apply to cabbage. I am not using any pesticides in my farms and this is the result, totally chewed up outer leaves. The actual cabbage head were much better with very few bugs. Mistake: This year we are actually eating outer leaves which look like these. I think they call them Spring greens or something like that. Usually the bugs which caused the damage to the leaves is not longer around when the leaves are harvested. These cabbage leaves were perfectly okay to eat. Simply brush off any suspect areas while in the farm and then give the leaves a good washing before using.
A handful of tasty roots were produced but at a cost. The burdock took a long time to be ready and harvesting the roots was very difficult. Not planning to grow this again. The burdock produced huge leaves and actually looked pretty nice, especially with lots of French marigolds planted in the foreground. Mistake: Be sure to sow burdock on a fairly tall hill with soft soil for the roots to grow. I was growing the burdock in a standard square bed with very little elevation. Although the soil is pretty good on the island, the burdock root grew in the the clay subsoil and was very difficult to harvest. This was about all the burdock harvested this year. Actually there was much more but I really did not want to go through the trouble of digging these roots out of the clay subsoil. Actually I am not even sure if I am going to put this in next year. The local grocery store sells burdock very cheap, and considering we rarely eat this, it is probably not worth the effort.
Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies so it was quite a disappointment when a couple of typhoons decimated the farms. All was not lost though and a few delicious pieces were harvested. Now a new year and so far my broccoli is hanging in there and trying to make it through the strong seasonal winds.
Um this is actually different broccoli than what is shown on the seed package above. I received seedlings from a neighbor and these were the only broccoli which made it through the typhoons. Yup this was pretty much it for the last season. Try try again.
Hey from this picture you would never know what a disaster the farms were last season thanks to strong seasonal winds and a couple of typhoons. Mistake: Be sure to "hill up" the broccoli if your farm or garden is subject to strong winds. Most of the seedlings were totally leveled last season. The good news is things are going much better this year.
The bok choy during the first season turned out to be a disappointment. A couple of typhoons and subsequent strong winds wiped out most of this veggie. The good news is we were still able to harvest a few leaves. I am growing this again this year and will post pictures and information if the bok choy is productive. A few of the bok choy actually did quite well.
I really was not a fan of bitter melon at the beginning because it is so um....bitter. Go figure, they turned out to be one of my favorite things grown this year. Once you get used to bitterness, or, take steps to reduce it, this veggie is great in many stir fry recipes. You can also make juice but the best way to prepare them is Japanese style tempura. Another way to enjoy bitter melon is to sprinkle it with pickling salts. I grew my bitter melon on trellises made out of bamboo, which is growing all over the place. The bamboo was used for both horizontal and vertical support. I then used jute to connect the horizontal bamboo poles. The vertical lines of jute were spaced at about 25 cm apart. The vines and leaves formed a beautiful "green wall" which gave us privacy on the entire front of our house. The nice thing about using jute is the strings are biodegradable. Especially in this humid climate, the jute lasts for about 6 months and then is barely strong enough to hold together. At the end of the Summer season the jute strings simply pull away with the bitter melon vines when they are removed. The entire load can then be tossed into the compost pile. This works out great when the cool season veggies are planted since, with the exception of peas, they do not require support. Then when Summer comes simply put up some new jute for the new runner bean vines. Bitter melon vines are very prolific. The vines will easily take over any support you use in a matter of weeks. Each new vine should be tied, using jute or some other biodegradable material, and guided in the direction you want. The bitter melon vines produced a lot this year. I produced way more than we needed but we managed to eat pretty much everything, mostly as tempura. I basically cut the bitter melon lengthwise and used a spoon to scoop out the pith (the soft middle stuff holding the seed) and the seeds. Then I chopped up the two halves in the food processor. The chopped were pieces were sprinkled with a generous amount of salt and put aside for a couple of hours. I rinsed off the salt and then, using my hands, I tried to squeeze out as much juice as possible. The bitter melon was now ready for use in a tempura recipe. Mistake: Be sure not to mix bitter melon vines with anything else in your farm or garden. I made the mistake of putting in runner beans and a couple of kinds of gourds with the bitter melon on the same trellis. Although the total area of the trellis measured about 12 meters long and 2 meters high, the three kinds of veggies soon mixed together and became a total mess.
My runner bean vines produced hundreds of good quality pods. The smaller pods were very tender many of which could be eaten with those stringy things on the side still attached. The more mature pods required the stringy things be removed before eating. I grew my runner beans on trellises made out of bamboo poles which were growing around the perimeter of the farm. The bamboo was used for both horizontal and vertical support. I then used jute to connect the horizontal bamboo poles. The vertical lines of jute were spaced at about 25 cm apart. The runner bean vines were easily able to climb up the jute and the bamboo poles provided support when the vines became heavy with leaves and pod. The nice thing about using jute is the strings are biodegradable. Especially in this humid climate, the jute lasts for about 6 months and then is barely strong enough to hold together. At the end of the Summer season the jute strings simply pull away with the runner bean vines when they are removed. The entire load can then be tossed into the compost pile. This works out great when the cool season veggies are planted since, with the exception of peas, they do not require support. Then when Summer comes simply put up some new jute for the new runner bean vines. Be aware that runner bean vines are determined to grow in an upwards direction and then towards the south if a support is available. If you want to make a "green wall", be sure to sow the vines at the north side of your trellis or other support to allow them to naturally grow along the supports towards the south. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time tying and redirecting the vines to go in the opposite direction. The runner bean vines produced a ton of good quality bean pods. I picked many of the pods when they were small to medium size, as these proved to be more tender. The leaves grew very thick on the vines and at the end of the season the pods became a bit more difficult to find. This meant often picking pods that were pretty large and not nearly as soft. These more mature pods needed to be cooked a bit longer but were delicious nonetheless. Mistake: Be sure not to mix runner bean vines with anything else in your farm or garden. I made the mistake of putting in bitter melon and a couple of kinds of gourds with the runner beans on the same trellis. Although the total area of the trellis measured about 12 meters long and 2 meters high, the three kinds of veggies soon mixed together and became a total mess.
A handful of these were produced. All the others were wiped out due to strong winds and rain. A few of the green beans were harvested and pretty good. Mistake: I think the bean stalks were not supported well enough. The leaves eventually withered and turned brown and the flowers began falling off. A lesson learned. A few beans were harvested and tasted pretty good.