Today was yet another exciting day! In the morning I showed Ryouske how to do the chicken stuff (feeding and cleaning eggs). It's quite simple, I think he already has it down.
Then Hitomi-san took us to where the sweet potatoes grow and she showed us how to harvest them. First cutting the vines away, then pulling up the plastic that covers the bed, then digging them up a little before pulling them out. So we did that all morning. It was fun and very satisfying- satisfying because once again, it's a very good feeling being close to the earth and our food. Also it was a new experience, I've never done it before... (Oh so THIS is where sweet potatoes come from!).
After that it was lunch time! Muto-san was sharpening the chainsaws so Ryosuke and I prepared lunch, saraudon, crunchy thin noodles with vegetables on top. However we didn't have many vegetables in the fridge so I asked if I could pick eggplant from the garden. When I came back Hitomi-san asked if I also wanted carrots and I said yes and she said that there were carrots on the other side of the house. So I went back to the garden and there were tons of carrots...and the ones where I thought she said to pick from seemed really little so I picked them from elsewhere and they were long carrots (like ours in America) but they were fine.
Since it was a warm and wonderful day we ate our lunch on the tree deck outside under the sun! Katsu and his wife were at the farm with friends, so they joined us on the tree deck for lunch.
Afterwards we went into the mountains! We went along a little road that I hadn't gone down before. It wound around next to a dry stream bed that was entirely mossy boulders, beautiful. We were following Hitomi-san and Hiro in the van, but at one point a truck came from the other direction so we had to back up for like 100 meters to let the other truck pass... little little roads....
We climbed higher and higher into the mountain and soon it cleared and there were small fields of "kunugi" trees with grass growing beneath it. They plant them in order to grow shitake mushrooms. I knew we were going into the mountains to cut the trees, but I didn't realize how many! We stopped at one field where we were going to cut. The tall grasses had been cut all through the field and I realized that this must be the place Hiro went to for like 3 days straight to cut grass, so much work! They don't use a lawn mower, more like a weed whacker but with a round blade rather than the string. We walked into the trees a little ways (the trees were planted approximately 15 feet apart, and the field was probably 100 meters by 300 meters or so...) at about the halfway point they marked it with a stick in the ground and we started cutting, we were going to cut half of the trees standing in that field (WHAT??). They had collected a tall bamboo stalk that they used to guide a piece of a branch tied to a rope between a fork in the tree branches so that they could pull on the rope and help guide where it fell. So for the most part, Muto-san worked the chainsaw, Ryosuke and I pushed on the tree and Hitomi-san and Hiro pulled on the rope. Sometimes I pulled on the rope to because it was more fun (probably because I wasn't actually doing much...Hiro did all the work!). After we pulled a tree down I went into the branches to collect the rope tied to the stick but Muto-san was already cutting the next tree and next thing I knew I looked up and that tree's branches were falling like 3 feet away from me, close call! It was kind of scary but I was grinning and laughing like the whole time. The falling trees were so powerful to watch...they aren't even that large, maybe a foot in diameter at the most, but every tree was impressive.
These trees will sit till New Years, then they will come back, cut them into the right size and I think at that time they will inject the bacteria for shitake mushrooms (maybe that is a little later...can't remember) but then they stack them up with branches on top and they sit for about 2 years! Growing shitake seems like a real pain...but I guess it is fun in its own way. I don't know if I could do it all my life though...tomorrow we get to do it again! Yeah!
Then there was talk of going to an onsen. Hmmmm. I haven't been to an onsen in a very long time, the last time I remember must have been when I was in 5th grade and it was not a very pleasant experience because it was so hot...however, we decided to go. Ryosuke, Hitomi, Muto-san and I went. But first they drove us to an overlook that was stunning. The sun had just set and the sky was a glowing rainbow, all the colors, and the city lights shining from the valley was stunning. Photographs and video are wonderful, but the real thing is so different...
The onsen was actually very very nice:) It wasn't as embarrassing I thought it would be. Just women taking baths. It was very relaxing. We went outside where the water was really hot but we can see the stars! It was a nice bonding experience with Hitomi-san. We talked about shitake and the other mushrooms in Japan and then about family mostly. She is happy for me that I can see Yuka-chan's wedding soon. She said two years ago a WWOOFer got to see Katsu and Hiroko's wedding. How cool! I said I wanted to see another wedding so when I come back here in March, Hiro has to get married:) She told me to tell him (I don't think he even has a girlfriend right now, so that might be a little to rushed). We talked about her grandchildren and long lives...I'm glad we got to talk.
Afterwards we had dinner there. I had dango-jiro, dumpling soup:) Yum! There was a salad bar so I got salad and the soup came with rice. Everyone in Japan eats really fast, I swear, I'm always last. So this time in efforts not to be last I didn't really talk and focused on eating, I wasn't last! The food was great. Hot onsen, hot food and now I am tired. I skyped with Dad just now:) It was good to see him and hear his voice. My family! I'm not homesick really, but my thoughts do seem to be straying more often to my family and friends and my home...it's been two months. So fast..too fast perhaps. I still have a lot of time! No worries:)
Tomorrow more hard work (my favorite, unlike...weeding), into the mountains!
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