Some harvests to share… Was lucky (no wild boar attack) and happy to reap quite a lot of sweet potatoes. サツマイモの収穫。幸運でイノシシにやられなかった。
Yes, they were the purple type… sweet and delicious… 紫の種類、甘くてうまかった。
Navel oranges… managed to harvest about 160 of them. ネーブルオレンジ、160個ぐらいの収穫。
Shared them with many of my neighbors and friends as we could not consume them all… 食べきれないので、ご近所の皆さんと友人たちに配っていた。
Had to harvest all the tomatoes before the cold came in… 寒波来る前、トマトを収穫した。
We consume them as they ripen… this one weighed about 400 grams… 家の中で追熟して食べた。これは400グラムぐらいだった。
Similarly, had to harvest all the chillies before the cold front arrived… pickled them all in vinegar and they are such a treat… 同じく、トウガラシも寒くなる前に全部収穫した。酢漬けしておいた。とても味がいい。
Potatoes… thrilled with the harvest, but still much room for improvement… ジャガイモもたくさん収穫したが、まだまだ改善する余地あり。
Chesnuts… another bumper harvest… they tasted absolutely lovely just boiled and peeled… ポロタン栗もいっぱい収穫できた。ただゆでただけで、味は最高。
The one that brought me the most satisfaction was probably the persimmons (all of them, stringent type). This year, four trees fruited, with one giving us particularly many fruits. My appetite for persimmons was almost fully fulfilled. 一番満足としたのは、やはり、渋柿の収穫。今回、４本の木が実った。中には１本の木からたくさん実った。
The stringent persimmon needs to ripened fully so as to be sweet and edible. I freeze them as they ripen, and de-freeze them slowly, one per day, for consumption. 完熟になると、冷凍しておいた。１日に１個を出してしてから食べると本当にうまかった。
Been playing the Shakuhachi for many moons now, but never really have had much of a motivation to play the well known song ‘Sakura Sakura’. Well, finally, here it is.
This is a traditional song dating back to the Edo period, I think, that was originally written for Koto. The songwriter however, remains unknown.
Accompanying the Shakuhachi performance is a video recording from two viewpoints, of the Somei Yoshino Sakura at our property. Try if you can, to guess how many bird sounds you can hear. These sounds are caught by the camera as they are, unedited.
It is raining lightly today and the feeling is good… Early spring in Japan is such a wonderful time to enjoy the outdoors, even with a little bit of rain… Stayed indoors however, to play the shakuhachi and watch the day go by…
21st March 2021 (Sun), light drizzle, about 16 degrees Celcius, feeling marvellous. Can’t chop wood, can’t do any gardening, so am spending my time indoors, slowly doing things I like. Took videos from the garden of Oshima Sakura flowers. Recorded the song ‘Doko ka de haru ga’ (my translation ‘Somewhere, spring beckons’).
The year 2020 marks the 13th year of my ‘Potager Y @ Japan’ gardening hobby.
Each year, I plant and harvest about 50 types of vegetables and herbs.
It has been a very educational yet fulfilling, exciting and beneficial time spent, albeit spiced with some occasional failures.
At this time of the year, where I live, temperature dips down to about 5 degrees and rises up to about 13 or 14 degrees. Pleasant… even lovely and comfortable, I would say.
In the weekends, I tend the plots where winter vegetables (carrots, greens, fava beans, radish, beets, celery, lettuce, etc.) are growing, and harvest the remaining goodies from summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, etc.) as they ripen.
I touch and smell the flowers (Raja Ulam, zinnia, marigold) from summer and watch the honey bees collect pollen to bring back to the bee hive placed at the edge of the Potager.
Anyway, here are some of the plants that are thriving in Potager Y at the moment.
Potager Y @ Japan 