Beautiful weather for a family hike up Mt Myoko, one of Japan’s famous 100. We spent the night in a small hut near the top of the mountain, hiking down the next day to the bikes. After ditching the backpacks into the support van, we cruised down the rest of the way to a much…

We have been waiting all spring for the mulberries to ripen. Last week they started, just a few berries at a time – enough that Mona insists on walking to school each day past a tree where we find a handful that have darkened overnight. The container is so we can have some with our…

The rice fields are planted, and its time to take a break from the rice fields (tayasumi). The locals from our little hamlet gather together with our guests to peel bamboo shoots, and enjoy a brief break before it is time for the neighbors to get back to their fields, and our guests to say…

When the rice fields look like this below, it is not good. Well, not good for me if I have to weed it alone, but good for random strangers I find riding by on their bike. He looked tired so I offered him a place to crash for a few nights. Little did he know…

Ran out of bikes the other day, but we pride ourselves on our resourcefulness.

Photos of the current snow situation. Also, today we picked our first fukinoto for the year, and had our first tara-no-me tempura for lunch (grown in our neighbor’s greenhouse) Its amazing how much more quickly the snow is melting compared to last year. I have customers coming in five days. Originally I had suggested that we do the trip…

This was just a quick overnight into the remote mountain valley and back out, with the best weather imaginable – cool and enough clouds to make it beautiful, but no rain. I might have overdone it on the distances and hills (mouse over the images to see satellite images, and click to see the interactive…

I skipped out on fire department bugle duty yesterday and used the morning to pick cherries with Tomoe and Mona at a nearby cherry farmer. It was part of a special promotion for orchard owners in the area. For 2,000 yen ($20) We were allowed to pick all the cherries we can eat for 30…

June 1st is generally the goal for finishing planting, but this year we were a bit late. One field left to go. Luckily there is a little girl to help me.