Forest Green Tree Frog
(Moriaogaeru) protecting our sunflowers.
Well, our plans to move to Canada are on hold for the time being. As with many business sectors, we have also been affected by Coronavirus. We decided in late spring to stay another summer in Japan, possibly longer depending on the pandemic and the challenges of moving across the globe during a crisis. We had not planned for our early spring crops or early seedlings like peppers, onions, parsley, and eggplant. Luckily, we were able to source some seedlings from farmer friends and our gardens were filled by the end of June. We have also cut down on the number of gardens by giving some of them to our apprentices, Chie-san and Keiko-san, whom will eventually take over all the fields when we finally leave.
We are in a bit of a state of limbo at the moment; ready to leave at any time, but also ready to stay another year. But we have noticed that most people around the world are feeling the same feelings of uncertainty at this time. We take some comfort in knowing we are not alone in these challenges. We are grateful to have a roof over our heads, food on the table and loyal customers still keen to buy our crops. Food sovereignty has never been more important than now. With extreme weather causing more crop failures globally, and with global food systems being affected by this pandemic, sourcing healthy, sustainable, local food is critically important. In fact, there is already a food shortage in Kansai. We are so grateful that we save our own seed, have local buyers and are able to continue contributing to local food sustainability while we are still here in Kyoto.
No doubt, we will continue on this important journey when we finally move to Canada as well. Whenever that may be….
Happy to see the bees!
We grew some early greenhouse corn for the first time this year. So yummy! But the aphids were fierce.
Hello Farm 