WWOOF-5, a short week and likely our last WWOOF experience of this trip in Japan…
Mimiko left us at a train station which allowed us to reach the town of Mizunami , the closest big town from our WWOOF host: Tomomi, a girl aged ~38
And again a totally different experience from the previous ones. She has a job in her farther’s company which sounds like a very successful construction business (Hélène had the opportunity to have tea at their place). After been WWOOFing herself she was seduced by the idea of having her own little farm to grow her own vegetables. So it is here more a hobby or the start of a dream…
The “farm” is located near her parents’ countryside house (the family business is in Nagoya) on what used to be a pottery factory… our quarters were in what used to be the factory’s cafeteria.
When we got there a young American was already there from a week ago. The season was barely starting as in this region there was still some freezing nights… still we did what we could to help her get the land ready for planting.
Main building seen from outside – ex-cafeteria of the pottery factory Oversized kitchen as we were at most 4 to eat… Our host, Tomomi, she often cooked and ate with us.There were also few farm animals, but they were treated as pets.Here and there some odd leftovers…The vegetable garden is below the house, the chickens should be in another field on a terrace above the house, but the are allowed to come down.We sometimes wondered of the utility of what we were asked to do…But Tomomi was friendly.Even the boring and most likely un-useful jobs were pleasant on a sunny day (air was still cool)Tomomi is still experimenting on what she can grow…Another trial with on Nagaimo, but that root can grow over a meter long and soil was here like hard clay!!Mind your heads chicken!!
Living room/ only place with some sort of heating..!Our bedroom, which looks more like a reception/ party room. For once we did use the electric blankets before going to bed…! Elijah, the young American WWOOFer, planting in the raised beds. Built by the farther’s employees!Chickens (3 roosters! and 4 hens) and a goat Mémé- the chickens also had names…The little planting we did was a competition with the hens!!Ploughing is maybe the most useful thing we did to help her for this season.Separating coton wool from the seeds by hand!and treating us well.We had been spoiled with high cuisine in our earlier woofing, but honestly it was more than decent here too!One test is with asparagus – a first time for us too!Without instructions we did what we thought might be the best. Too bad Tomomi was not around to at least see how the attempt was conducted – but she was for 2 days in Nagoya. … as in other places we tried to advocate against individual incineration of plastic wastes.
View on the surrounding countryside ( from hill just above the farm )
During our day off we visited the nearby charming little towns of Akechi and Iwamura. Akechi seems to have some history to boost about, as it played an important role as crossroads… it has a very nice museum on the Taishō era (early 20th century) and another dedicated to a famous actress/singer ( sorry did not pick the name… ).
We took a local bus and train to get there.Cafe at entrance to Taishō museum, it is also part of the Taishō era experience … we got invited by locals!!Traditional buildings built to resist fires, like rice banks…Houses kept as they were, with locals showing how it was to live in those times…Almost one house out of two had a display of the Girls’s Day dolls (Hinamatsuri)… and lots of them!!
Max 2 wagons!Small size sawmill Post office next to old post office kept as museumTrain from Akechi to Iwamura, but we were less enthousiaste with Iwamura…Kind of grilledmochi on a stick
In this town we tasted for the first time the sakuramochi (on the left), mochi wrapped in a sakura leaf – the mix of flavour is quite unique. Our first time, but not the last time!!
We ended our stay with a paint job and headed towards Nagoya Int Airport where we collected Elina for a fortnight together!
Can’t say it made a hell of a difference! But Tomomi was happy!!
