Canadian Farm

---

And now for the wwoof entry. I am finally wwoofing (being a willing worker on an organic farm) and it's great. I suggest you all try it once for sure.

The farm I am at is in Haramura, 2000 meters above sea level and mercifully dry and cool right now compared to Tokyo and Kyoto, which are sweltering and sticky right now. It is called Canadian farm because the owner, Haseyan ( builder, restauranter, farmer, furniture master, meat smoker, and all around jack of all trades master)　learned about sustainable living and meat smoking and preserving in Canada 20 years ago before starting his farm. I am the 2nd actual Canadian to visit so far. I arrived last Saturday and my first impression was to be blown away by how cool the houses are. Haseyan has his own building style and many of the roofs are curved with grass growing on them and they look like mushroom houses from a fairy world. They also contain some trees in their actual shape which is used for railings, doors, support and such. I walked around and saw little herb and flower gardens, a handmade bamboo chicken coop, stone bread ovens, and a near mansion made of wood by Haseyan himself. Close to that is the wwoofer and staff house where I live. It is a pell mell of rooms, including the laundry room, building garage, tipsy balconies, shower room and store all corners. I walk past industrial tools and garden hoes of all shapes and sizes to get to the laundry room that connects to my room, where of course I have to take off my shoes right away. I take off my shoes and put them on again about 20 times a day, it drives me nuts! Even to go to the bathroom you have to take off your shoes and put on the bathroom slippers and then take them off and redon your shoes when you are done. It sure makes having to get up to pee in the middle of the night even more painful!

In terms of what is done here, there is lots of work to do as there is an organic farm to tend, buildings to mend, and a gourmet slow food restaurant to run. The food is amazing. There are two master chefs here who are incredible to watch; they make thingswith ease that not only taste but look heavenly. And everything is so fresh! If a customer orders tea, we go and pick chamomile and mint leaves right out of the garden and add hot water and voila, the freshest tea ever! There's also amazing smoked fresh slamon and tuna strips, and salads, fresh bread made daily, and so on.

The two chefs are Masami, who has been here for 8 years and is a true master of cooking, I have never seen anything like her. And Tsumoko, who has recently returned from a two year stint in Italy where she was learning to cook Italian style. SHe makes the bread almost every morning. The owner, Haseyan, is quite the character. He is a cross between Toshiro Mifune and David Suzuki. He has a big smile, never stops running around making and building stuff, and comands his castle like a king. He has a gruff manner and way of speaking and a great laugh. He chain smokes at times while working, lighting one cigarette from the end of the last
and at meal times, comes to the table, leans back in a chair, and growls "let's eat". There is also Kumi the farmer who has domain over the gardens, and Juko and 000000000000 who help in the kitchen. The two wwoofers are me and Sam, who just returned to the farm after a few weeks away in Kyoto, where he slept in a few hostels and parks and under a few bridges.
Sam is from Tenessee and is incredibly wise beyond his years. He has a southern drawl and gentlemanly ways ("saying yes mam" and so on) and is well read and well practiced. He just turned 21 last night. He has already been a lathier (guitar maker) and restaurant worker and farmer. 　We are all very fond of him.

Fortunately for me, it was his birthday last night, which meant it was time for a feast! That's definitely the best thing about being here, the food. For example the other day for lunch we ate tempura made out of herbs from all over the gardens. We had batter and a deep frier on the table. We took the herbs, dipped them in batter, fried them, then dipped them in some amazing dip and then ate them, seconds after production. For Sam's birthday. We had strawberry champagne with cherries, fresh tuna (sushi tuna) and avocado salad, fresh sushi, gourment sandwiches , a lemon rubharb cheese cake to die for...fresh herb cheese.... They tried to make it an american meal for him, hence the sandwiches and cheese, not a usual staple in a Japanese meal. We even had cups of pistachios and potato chips and beer and Jack Daniels, to replace our usual green tea (which I adore here, we drink a powdered form called Matcha which is fresh and subtle and delicious. I could drink litres of it). My contribution to the meal was a not too tasty but hot curry rice (I can't cook curry right for the life of me) because Sam likes curry, and some asparagus. Then we drank and ate plentifully and danced and made merry and such until we fell asleep.

All in all I feel like a lion, eating food that is so fresh and alive that I can actually feel the enzymes becoming one with my body. A real treat after eating the dead and pulverized food that we are used to in North America. And although I really hate hoeing because it kills my lower back, all of the lifting and carrying and squatting and weeding and such that I've been doing is making my back stronger and I love it. Farm work will fix your body up like nothing else!

A typical day is waking up on my futon at 7;30 am, and rolling over and sleeping more until
Tsumako (my roommate), gets up and puts on some nice music and starts her morning libations. Then I get up and get dressed for the day in my work clothes and head to the kitchen to don and apron and help with breakfast, which is usually food left over from the night before.

After that I will either work more in the restaurant, setting/cleaning/serving tables, filling up the butter tubs, preparing breadbaskets and such if it's a busy day at the restaurant, or I will help at the farm which is a little drive away from the houses. I have carried slate, carried and washed hungs of salted poof mine over the last three days has been transplanting grass from the brick walkways into an empty area which we hope will be a lawn. I love my little grass babies, I sure hope they grow! Planting things is lovely, especially patting the dirt around them at the end. Very satisfying. In fact I find perfect contentment in all of my work, sweeping, cleaning, farming etc. slow and steady and productive. I guess I can thank my years of office slavery for the ability to enjoy this kind of work so much.

We stop between 12 and 3 for lunch, then work hard again until between 6 and 8 when we start slowing down and preparing for supper. After that we rest, read, talk, shower and so on before starting again the next day. A few nights ago, we went to an Onsen (hot spring house) near by, which had an outdoor hotspring and an indoor hotspring. The water was light brown, rich with iron and apparantly good for the skin. Our onsen was busy, mostly with very old ladies with remarkable shapes. Everyone is naked of course, and you scrub yourself down in a shower area before entering the onsen. I scrubbed myself cleaner than I have ever done before, and I was still done first. I think Japanese people must be the cleanest in the world. Baths everywhere, scrubbing rooms to go with them, everything clean and sanitary. It was a nice night.

All in all, I am quite content and learning alot. Like what different herbs look like and how to grow potatoes (which we are hoeing today). Unfortunately the bugs are plentiful here and some mutant mosquitos were biting my feet incessently at night (our room windows have no screens so the room fills up during the day) and my whole ankle is swollen from it. It makes wearing my work boots uncomfortable. Its like a wasp bit which hurts and itches and causes a reaction of swelling. Very odd. Little beasts. I will try putting freshly chewed mint on, that's supposed ot repel them.

And that's my wwoof acount for now, now it's back to the potato field!
iva

---