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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. |
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 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.
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February 2014
- Snowing like crazy. (no pictures)
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March 2014
- Basically local stuff. (no pictures)
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April 2014
- A bit of bike riding and hanami. (no pictures)
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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)
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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)
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July 2014 - Ando Town, Nara, Japan house for sale. (no
pictures)
- August 2014 - No posts.
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September 2014
- The beginning of our island adventures. Much of this
month was spent setting up and getting used to this place. (no pictures)
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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)
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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)
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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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2014 -
Possible
Facebook Posts
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. |
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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. |
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