tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257036632012-01-18T16:03:47.828+09:00Hello, my name is Sara. In 2005 my husband and I bought an old farmhouse in Okayama, borrowed a few fields and set to building ourselves a pleasant rural life. Now, several years on, we have fields a-plenty, a bakery and have incorporated our efforts, along with those of some friends, into Hototogisu Bakery and Farm. Welcome!Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.comBlogger1251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-23425398441470980732012-01-18T16:03:00.001+09:002012-01-18T16:03:47.950+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-75910759183597517242012-01-16T13:12:00.001+09:002012-01-16T13:13:35.066+09:00

I think I posted some photos from our trip to the Roji Ichiba last summer, when we visited to see if we'd like to join. It looked like fun, so we signed up and have been going for several months now. The Roji Ichiba is held in the Bizan Chiku historical area, just off the Ebisu Dori covered walkway. Keep going straight a few steps after the roof ends, and you are sure to bump into one of the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-46643514471271696482012-01-15T21:15:00.001+09:002012-01-16T04:52:29.772+09:00

We had some visitors last week, and while chatting of this and that, they mentioned the very fancy Geiger counter they bought, and that they happened to have it in their car. Naturally we all decided to try it out! The first step was to check the reading far from the chickens (16 something-or-others), then near the chicken house (16 again), and finally, inside the egg-layer chicken house,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-14527533805049158522012-01-06T11:44:00.001+09:002012-01-06T11:49:01.683+09:00

Okayama is "hare no kuni" or the land of sunshine. Every now and then I doubt the accuracy of the title, but today I loving the gorgeous sunshine with all my heart. So nice. After a minus five degree Celsius night, the warmth of standing in direct sunshine is wonderful. So, what do we with the sunshine today? Dry the harvest, of course. All these lovely beans are destined to become anko,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-37612499190862625262011-12-20T11:13:00.001+09:002011-12-20T11:13:08.820+09:00

It's hard to believe Christmas is almost here. Especially since, with one thing and another, there are no presents under the tree yet. And also no tree, in the house, anyway. After killing last year's evergreen with the lack of sunlight in the house, we decided to go with evergreen boughs indoors, and decorations on the plum tree outside. My winter cheer needs are not quite being met, though, so

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-73267633727921866612011-12-20T09:59:00.001+09:002011-12-20T09:59:31.534+09:00

I found this nest hidden under the feed shelf. Several Henrietta's have remembered how to fly (don't worry, they are safe again now - I put in taller netting yesterday) and have been spending their laying hours outside. One secret nest down, how many to go, I wonder? At any rate, I am glad the weather is cool, so the eggs are bound to be pretty fresh. I'll eat these ones myself - fried eggs?

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-8460648197148663052011-11-29T21:53:00.001+09:002011-11-29T21:53:39.512+09:00

I just wanted to take a few minutes to say a big thank you to all the kind folks who stopped by the comments on my last post to share support for our lovely Henriettas. You guys made me smile lots and lots and made the stress step back a few paces. Thank you all so much!

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-17794495526492478052011-11-13T23:59:00.001+09:002011-11-13T23:59:20.396+09:00

Over the last few days, someone has been directing traffic to my husbands blog for (evidently) the purpose of making unnecessarily rude and alarmist and...well...I feel like I should be kinder, but it has been a long week...poorly informed and illogically argued comments about our decision to adopt those 80 chickens from Fukushima Prefecture. Our lovely, healthy and happy "hanashigai" Henriettas

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com106tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-45533492055580358742011-11-10T15:28:00.000+09:002011-11-10T17:00:33.260+09:00

Finally, cold weather! Mind you, it's not that I am overly anxious for winter, but I am ready for the mosquitoes to disappear and short-sleeves in November does seem wrong. But, here we are, into the second week of November and the weather seems to be righting itself. Now to remember which tub holds all of our sweaters. We've been eating well in this spring-ish winter weather (when we've had time

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-681139972007991002011-10-22T23:01:00.001+09:002011-10-22T23:01:36.336+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-5526407853842562402011-10-22T06:39:00.001+09:002011-10-22T06:39:36.879+09:00

Oops! The recipe got left off the last post there, and these are so good, and so easy, I wanted to share it. The rough recipe:1 egg1/3 cup raw kurozato sugar or dark brown sugar1 cup flour1 tsp baking powderMix the egg and sugar first, then add the flour and baking powder. You may need to adjust the flour amount to get a stiffish batter - you want to be able to drop it by the spoonful into oil

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-61577302978790421822011-10-16T10:01:00.000+09:002011-10-16T10:00:57.673+09:00

We have all these eggs now (a good 30 a day), and in an effort to use them up, Shuzo and Midori (assistant baker - wonderful woman!) have started a whole line-up of sweets, including Okinawan donuts called sataa andaagi (or sataa andagii, or sataa andaagii, or...). Not being able to eat those ones, I have been having donut envy, but no more! I have succeeded with my gluten free version, by the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-18143256519102123202011-10-04T12:55:00.000+09:002011-10-04T12:54:39.099+09:00

The new Henriettas are settling in in earnest now, and we are netting roughly 30 eggs a day now. A quick bit of math - I can be counted on to eat two a day, Shuzo and Ai combined eat one or two, the other bakery family seems to be averaging one a day - and you can probably imagine how many eggs are piling up. As these chickens moved here from Fukushima prefecture, we had them tested for cesium

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-24889016742101443752011-09-27T21:38:00.000+09:002011-09-27T21:38:24.106+09:00

As you may have guessed from the recent photos, the farm family has expanded! Last Saturday we welcomed a flock of 80 laying hens (all, for the time being, to be known as Henrietta). These hens have had a rough time of it over the last six months, and we are glad to have them safe and sound in their new, deluxe chicken coop! Ta da: (photo) **okay, yeah, no photos, as my computer has crashed,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-49970091020452108652011-09-23T08:07:00.001+09:002011-09-23T08:07:31.401+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-623505520743193442011-09-14T07:55:00.001+09:002011-09-14T07:55:02.642+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-6419400851237039632011-09-14T07:51:00.001+09:002011-09-14T07:51:47.237+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-22977189594383896872011-08-30T11:00:00.000+09:002011-08-30T11:01:49.902+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-68285622329559955602011-08-29T14:39:00.001+09:002011-08-29T15:38:56.976+09:00

At the end of August, the current baker will leave us, and he and his wife will open their own shop in a neighboring town. (Congratulations to them!) We have changes ahead as we replace him with two bakers: Shuzo (who, as I might possibly have mentioned before, is my husband) and the wonderful Midoro-san. Yay! We are all really happy to welcome Midori-san who, in addition to being very nice, has

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-79601789278196651372011-08-29T11:19:00.003+09:002011-08-29T15:38:04.757+09:00

Well, as you can see, I am still not quite up on the business of updating the blog with my Ipod, but I have figured out how to send photographs. So, now, to tell you about the photographs that make up the posts below. The chicken house under construction is a mobile house for small chickens. Grown up chickens like to roost, perching on bars set in along the top of the coop, but young chickens

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-24181497707500605912011-08-23T14:43:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.616+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-71076534574738042392011-08-23T14:37:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.616+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-88595557663481351562011-08-21T15:28:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.616+09:00

Amazing how time flies. I was looking over the Hototogisu webpage and realized the most recent update starts with something like "spring is here!" Oops. So, here goes with something a bit more up-to-date. August will be over soon. Whew! Summer always wears me out - the heat, the bugs, the humidity - and I am looking forward to fall. In fact, with rain and clouds in the forecast for the next week,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-8869980530753257892011-08-18T13:46:00.001+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.617+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-18573436239035068142011-07-06T15:15:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:34:19.872+09:00

Well, clearly I still have some figuring out to do before I get this whole posting-from-my-iPod thing down. I was hoping to put all the photos scattered below into one post, and to tell you about the Kurashiki Roji Ichiba, a market we have just joined. We made a family outing to the market at the end of last month and had a great time. Lots of folks we have met at events in the past - sometimes

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-66660397248838244662011-07-06T14:20:00.001+09:002011-08-29T15:34:19.872+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-23091545653672606072011-07-06T14:16:00.001+09:002011-08-29T15:34:19.872+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-4071826295643425572011-07-06T14:14:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:34:19.873+09:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-79752285342167529942011-07-05T22:40:00.002+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.617+09:00

Back in the spring, when we had our Golden Week Hiyoko Matsuri/Festival of Baby Chicks, we had fluffy little bundles of chicky cuteness running around. This is what those chicks look like now, having passed through their fantastically awkward teenage dinosaur phase and moved back into the realm of recognizable chickendom. So quick! It begins to be possible to tell the girl chicks from the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-77280124337926624762011-07-05T10:56:00.003+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.617+09:00

  This is Mary. Isn`t she cute? She is a girl goat (a doe, or rather, being young, a doeling) and she takes her work on the farm, eating weeds, very seriously. She and our goat friend Ponchan make up our current flock of goats, but I have hopes that she will provide us with some sweet spring-y little baby goats next spring, and our almost five-year old daughter, a big fan of Heidi and all her

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-27733661034041014992011-06-12T22:00:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.618+09:00

Tomatoes! These first tomatoes are from the cherry tomato plants in the greenhouse. Yay! Hopefully we will have more soon - lots mean semi-dried tomatoes and tomato focaccia and cherry tomato soup and more goodness.  The view from the front of the bakery: more tomatoes! These are Italian sauce tomatoes, fruiting all at once, rather than gradually throughout the summer, and (we hope) capable

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-57041223743097008942011-06-05T13:20:00.000+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.618+09:00

We`ve got honey! Fresh golden honey! The second honey harvest of the year is in and bottled. Beautiful jars of sweetness line the walls of our shop and make my Market Mobile display prettier than ever. Good stuff! Meanwhile, we are busy as bees ourselves. We are just back from Kyobashi Asaichi (thanks to everyone who came out this morning!), an early morning market we have been a part of since

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-19849669765750457302011-04-16T08:06:00.002+09:002011-04-16T08:10:31.919+09:00

Saturday morning breakfast: for the little one, soy milk hot chocolate (made with heavenly Varona cocoa powder - good cocoa powder a luxury well worth the price!) and for the mama, chocolate crepes (again, with good organic dark chocolate chips - good chocolate the only kind to buy!).Gluten Free Chocolate Crepes:3/4 cups flour mix (very roughly: 1 part rice flour, 1 part almond flour, 2 parts

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-84012971032343010862011-04-14T06:48:00.004+09:002011-04-14T08:03:56.042+09:00

As all the world knows, March 11 brought the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear badness. Where we live in Okayama, life has changed relatively little - from here we watch with little to do to help in the immediate disaster-response effort. In our household, we were very lucky to have been able to contact Shuzo`s parents in Iwate a few hours after the big quake, and to hear that

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-59905934629105658292011-03-30T15:57:00.003+09:002011-08-29T15:35:58.618+09:00

Spring means eggs!! For about a week now we have been getting a steady supply of 5 or 6 eggs per day from our 9 hens. The first egg was quite a surprise - I very nearly stepped on it. Gradually the hens have learned to use their nesting boxes, though, and the eggs are much cleaner and easier to find as a result. Go girls, go!There were a few days there when the chickens were a-layin` but the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-78033308080724913512011-01-17T10:43:00.002+09:002011-01-17T10:48:38.530+09:00

I am so, so happy to announce the launch of our bakery webshop!!All of the English pages can be found at sara.hototogisubakery.com. There is the webshop page, of course, as well as a few other pages introducing our bakery and farm.The bakery is now shipping bread throughout Japan, fresh to those regions where we can have it delivered by the next day (that is, most of Honshu south of Tohoku) and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-34111603762579575562011-01-11T14:31:00.003+09:002011-01-11T14:39:41.609+09:00

I have been working hard on the internet, trying to get the Hototogisu Bakery and Farm English website off the ground. I am getting there, I think, and hope to register a domain name and get the site onto it very, very soon. What is more, I *think* I have succeeded in making an online order form, which means ... drumroll ... you can order bread from me! If you are in Japan, that is.Now I just

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-56748679959974646122010-11-16T19:13:00.002+09:002010-11-16T19:20:38.339+09:00

I installed what may well be the worlds most crooked door today. It is a masterpiece of use what you have on hand carpentry, with the door itself being very old, found in the shed I demolished several years ago, covered in dingy white paint, with one pane of glass (or, rather, plexiglass) missing and rusted, bent hinges. It is attached to an un-square, slightly out of level post and is much, much

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-66742389739350129802010-11-06T10:46:00.002+09:002011-08-29T15:34:19.873+09:00

The bakery is on the road again. After a year break from deliveries, we have started up again, this time with a me and a mobile market. On the off-chance that there is anyone out there who is both reading this and lives in Okayama, look for my bright red parasol:Fridays 11:00 - 12:30 CotanCotan is a natural foods store near Okayama University - look for the bright red parasol out front!Fridays 1:

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-58949008751359194742010-10-21T07:09:00.003+09:002010-10-21T07:54:50.776+09:00

The baby chicks arrived yesterday. 21 of them, all a local breed known as Momotoro, a Rhode Island Red and Plymouth Rock cross, if I am remembering correctly. They are being raised in a brooder a bit different from the ones you`ll see in most chicken books. It has a supplemental source of heat in the form of a rice bran and leaf mould compost pile and is constructed as per the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-53407070136772488632010-09-18T10:35:00.002+09:002010-09-18T10:49:04.912+09:00

It has been a while since I have been here, admittedly. But, things are moving again, with goats (so much fun!) moved in and chickens in the works. The bakery has passed out of my hands, on account of the baking and eating of the bread having been making me quite sick, but all is well there, with Shuzo and another family working together to make sourdough, bagels and anpan for selling on

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-50891143291093359532009-02-09T07:36:00.002+09:002011-08-29T15:36:59.762+09:00

Though it is still winter, we are experiencing a few lovely sunshiney days that have us out working in the fields for a change. What a wonderful feeling! Yesterday we got some mundane but necessary picking up done; clearing around the compost pile in preparation for building a new little compost complex, picking up generally around the place to atone for the scattering of bits of plastic done by

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-8870442892156678542009-01-15T16:41:00.002+09:002011-08-29T15:36:59.762+09:00

Happy 2009!Winter has taken firm hold of our little spot in the (ahem *many*) days since I last posted. We have had a few little snow squalls, amounting to a grand total of about 3mm of snow sticking, and many more clear cooooold nights. Minus 7 degrees celcius this morning! Happily, these big ovens of mine keep the bakery warm. The house, however...we're working on. The beautiful green house

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-57211017183442829762008-10-11T20:57:00.004+09:002011-08-29T15:36:59.762+09:00

We planted five varieties of rice this year, which may well mean five separate harvest days. With a little luck we may be able to combine the akamai (red rice) and kaorimai (fragrant rice), to have but four harvest days, but either way it looks to be an ongoing event. Last wednesday we (and by we, sadly, I do mostly mean shuzo) harvested the kuromai (black rice). It is the wildest looking of the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-58803482136629941962008-09-11T05:26:00.002+09:002008-09-11T15:30:17.418+09:00

I am clearly a cheater at heart. Shuzo has lots of lovely pictures up on his blog, and I want them for my own. So, for your viewing pleasure, I have stolen them and put them on display here.Look - rice! We planted (mostly, Shuzo planted, but I did help, a bit) black rice, red rice, green rice, aromatic rice and an old local favorite called asahi rice. The red rice and aromatic rice (aka-mai and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-86932793531730126652008-09-11T04:43:00.003+09:002008-09-11T05:19:32.096+09:00

Although the march of the seasons is somewhat muted for me, now that the bulk of my days are spent inside this lovely little log house bakery, they (the seasons) do progress, and it is quickly turning in to fall. I do no think it was only in my imagination that summer ended early this year - we made it through without wishing for an air conditioner in the house, and I had to get the blankets back

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-66092992343042931862008-08-17T10:24:00.003+09:002008-08-17T21:29:43.196+09:00

We just finished a lovely summer vacation - closed the bakery for a week and a half, did some work on the store and even managed to get away from the house a couple of times. The bakery store now has an oiled floor (so much easier to keep clean than untreated wood!), a wonderful, lovely insulated ceiling (sheeps wool insulation - works even if damp, so no moisture barrier needed, and so very much

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-51239102739780841532008-07-12T06:34:00.003+09:002008-07-12T08:26:19.692+09:00

In May we changed the bakery open time from Saturday only to Thursday, Friday, Saturday plus a delivery on Tuesday. This was enough to keep me fully occupied for a few weeks, as I got used to the new schedule (up at 4 AM four days a week). Then, just as I was getting comfortable and feeling like I had everything under control, a man from the local TV station stopped by and made arrangements to

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-3299290748228381862008-07-11T06:59:00.002+09:002008-07-12T06:27:28.078+09:00

Hee hee - I just realized I can load pictures from Shuzo's blog, which saves me a huge hassle, as the pictures are not on my computer, but rather on his. So, the above picture, courtesy my husband, is Yama-chan, the newest member of our household. We found him on the side of the road (a mountain road, which is why he is Yama-chan, with yama being Japanese for mountain). The vet thinks he is about

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-48998062525183695202008-05-10T14:24:00.003+09:002008-05-10T14:45:03.991+09:00

I have not fallen in to a hole, even though my posting habits would seem to suggest otherwise. It is now May (May 10th - happy birthday tomorrow mom! also, late happy birthday to Liam and a late happy anniversary to Jeff and Steph) and the bakery is open three days a week, with one additional day of baking for deliveries. The bakery has a store and office attached, where I spend much of my days.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-89434230056014196462008-04-08T10:48:00.003+09:002008-04-08T10:58:47.304+09:00

Spring is nice! We stole a quick afternoon break after finishing our thursday morning delivery last week. The flowers were out in full bloom in the city over the weekend, so we had thought to visit Korakuen, a landscaped castle garden park in Okayama. It has been labeled one of the top three such gardens in Japan, and we had a very nice hanami (flower viewing picnic) there last year. However,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-73320824509527908032008-03-24T06:42:00.002+09:002008-03-31T21:03:53.093+09:00

The roof picture Shuzo posted on his blog was very alarming. Unnecessarily so, because the first photo was of the storm damage after a typhoon two and a half years ago. He and friend (who worked for a roofing company) repaired the damage, and for two years we hadn't much trouble with it. I think the repair was slightly undone during some windy weather we had a few months back. Shuzo went up on

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-28050778174495848432008-03-20T21:13:00.001+09:002008-03-20T21:16:51.060+09:00

Today is the official first day of spring (and I do mean official - itis a national holiday). Our plans for this first day of spring had beento go on a hanami - flower viewing - picnic after making our breaddelivery. The weather, however, and our roof have conspired against us.The roof began its very own celebration of spring by springing a leak(harty har har har - I am a punny dork). As I set

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-50552770633446161112008-03-16T14:30:00.001+09:002008-03-17T06:49:47.071+09:00

There is a small Shinto shrine just up the hill from our house. To get there, you walk up a remarkably steep road, turn off on to a little path, pass through the gate which is hung with those zig-zag paper and pass the gate guarding statues, continue up some dirt and log stairs and come upon the shrine, two main buildings surrounded by a ring of doll-house sized buildings set up on stone

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-76249777536300142102008-03-16T13:44:00.002+09:002008-03-16T13:55:22.917+09:00

In California, I fall is my favorite season, but here, I think I have settled on spring. After months of living in a house that is literally colder than the fridge most of the day, the onset of spring is something to look forward to. And - hoorah - it is here! Spring is not only in the air, but it has crept in to the plants, trees and, of course, the bugs. Within about a week we have gone from

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-4727656224861204892008-03-10T15:38:00.004+09:002008-03-10T21:30:30.559+09:00

It seems a little odd to post this picture of the bakery in the snow, as today was a glorious sunshiney day full of the assurance that spring is on its way. Nonetheless, someone pointed out that I have never posted a picture of the completed bakery, so here it is. This is not completed, quite, as we will soon add a two meter by six meter store to the building, but this is roughly what the place

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-56007264405088813692008-03-10T15:37:00.008+09:002008-03-10T21:34:29.254+09:00

Yeah, we bake bread. Here is some. I see raisin focaccia, fig bread, bagels, rye currant rolls, ciabatini and country batards. Batard is French for I am not sure what. Ordinarily, I try to avoid the French names for bread, on account of I don't speak French, but I do not know what else you might call this long, but not too long loaf of bread.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-47697165826847210272008-03-10T15:37:00.007+09:002008-03-10T21:02:48.710+09:00

Here is our booth (and me) at the solar energy fair we went to yesterday. We shared our booth with the the vegetables of the farm of the father of the cute girl in the background. Sharing was fun, both because the little girl back there helped me man the cash register, and because we use eggs and azuki beans and sweet potatoes from their farm in the bread.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-86109601547779583742008-03-10T15:37:00.005+09:002008-03-10T20:56:13.420+09:00

Well, I thought I had gotten arund my picture-publishing difficulty with this e-mail post to blogger thing, but I forgot a step and am not now able to include several pictures in one post. So, for now, there will be several posts of one picture each. I hope to do better next time.This picture is of Shuzo unloading bread from the oven. The bread on the peel is our simplest bread - a basic

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-41488832177110705062008-03-10T09:04:00.002+09:002008-03-10T14:06:51.956+09:00

A traveling salesman came to the house at lunch time today. There weretwo men in a truck covered with an awning, with shiny silver bins in theback. What do you suppose they were selling? Fish! Fresh fish from Irecall not where. We bought an aji for sashimi (er..aji is a fish. I donot know its name in english. In fact I do not know the name of mostfish in english. sashimi is sliced raw food.) and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-15209861652866249322008-02-29T07:06:00.000+09:002008-02-29T07:09:03.952+09:00

For years I have made sporadic attempts to quit coffee, with the hope that it would improve my health. Thank goodness I gave us that silly notion! An essential part of my new career as a baker is starting work at 4 am. At the end of February, the sun begins to rise just after 6 am. By this time, on my baking days, Thursday and Saturday,I have the first rush of work out of the way and can pause to

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-6936185818385107952008-02-26T09:05:00.000+09:002008-02-26T09:14:51.563+09:00

I have been feeling some guilt about only posting bread-related doings, while hapf of my immediate family are gluten allergy folks. So to them, I dedicate this post.Spring is in the air! Despite the frequent snow, the sounds and allergens of spring are taking over. The silence of winter is gone, replaced by the twitterings and screechings of birds. No hototogisu (that be the name of the bakery -

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-88151268559838088172008-02-26T07:41:00.001+09:002008-02-26T09:04:03.383+09:00

How many Saturdays in a row can it snow in Okayama, Land of Sunshine? This weekend will tell. So far, it has snowed every Saturday in February, which means that every day we have opened the bakery, it has snowed. This makes it seem pretty mean to make customers stand on the doorstep to buy bread, but we haven't finished (or begun) building the store. Happily, our fantastic new tent, emblazoned

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-23655434195979793132008-02-11T07:58:00.000+09:002008-02-11T13:00:30.973+09:00

Shuzo is a much, much better blogger than I. He updates his blog nearly every day. And he includes pictures. The blog he writes, however, is in Japanese, so I cannot read it. Yet. Someday I shall. But in the meantime, maybe you can? Or maybe you want to see the photos. In any case, here is the link:http://pototokitu.seesaa.netThe bakery also has a blog. It is not a blog in the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-66053691601115404222008-02-11T07:50:00.000+09:002008-02-11T07:55:59.730+09:00

Saturday we opened the bakery to the neighborhood. Despite the snow and cold (this is the second time it has snowed while I baked, and the fourth snow of the winter - what is this?) enough neighbors and friends came out that at the end of the day we had two slices of raisin focaccia and one kuromame pan - sweet black bean bun, and some white sandwich bread left. We were about an inch from selling

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-31470850098427340622008-02-05T21:41:00.000+09:002008-02-05T22:01:18.400+09:00

We are officially a bakery. A week or week and a half ago we had a visit from the health department or what-have-you, and the lovely woman walked in with a clipboard, noted that we have a fridge, sink, oven and a few other necessities, answered our questions about packaging and such like, and declared us a bakery. That was pretty exciting in and of itself, but we have since had our first event, a

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-29583337738682265522008-01-05T20:40:00.001+09:002008-01-05T21:18:14.502+09:00

My sister says she checks this blog every day. So, I thought I would post something, just for her, even though I am on the computer without pictures so there will not be much exciting to look at. So, lets see, what is new around these parts? Well, the bakery is functional and very nearly ready top be licensed. One more door frame needs to be completed, and we would like to get some coat and apron

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-65039882382289302932007-12-09T15:09:00.000+09:002008-01-05T21:49:20.944+09:00

Hmm...look at this post I actually wrote some time back but failed to post. oops! Since I have little to write about at the moment, I"ll put it up anyway.Here we are, practically mid-December already! Oh my! Things progress with the bakery - last Friday was the second baking in the bakery, and tomorrow the new mixer arrives. That will mark the end of the major purchases - hoorah! Some time in the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-2128409229869746322007-11-23T17:39:00.000+09:002007-11-23T19:13:36.200+09:00

Look at me, posting again. It must be the early sunset - it is too dark outside to work there, and too cold inside to want to leave the office (the only insulated room so far).We made bread in the bakery today! We couldn't actually bake it in there, as the over does not get here until next week, but we did mix int and knead it and bulk ferment it and shape it and proof it. I also forgot to add

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-24704402672272094832007-11-19T21:02:00.000+09:002007-11-19T21:04:27.671+09:00

We are expanding! One of the neighbors has agreed to let us take over at least two, possibly three of the fields behind our house. They are bigger than our present fields, so all three would nearly double our area. The fourth behind-our-house field has been fallow for just over a year now, so we are considering asking permission to use it too. Moving on up! If I can find good picture of the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-39450860094330372702007-11-18T21:48:00.000+09:002007-11-18T21:48:28.168+09:00

Clearly this picture should have gone at the beginning, but as it is all uploaded, I am not moving it. This truck with a crane attached was much, much too big to fit comfortably in our neighborhood.Look - a log house! No roof yet, though. The funny blackness around the window is yakisugi - one common finish for wood is to burn it. It seems the bugs don't like it so much that way. I spent several

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-76952346154974554372007-11-18T20:14:00.000+09:002007-11-18T20:35:33.262+09:00

Yeah, so the log house is up, has been up for a while, and yet, I haven't posted any pictures. Here is my excuse, if you care to hear it - we moved all of the pictures to I-photo, but the computer has trouble running both Classic and I-photo at the same time, and Classic is necessary to the internet connection. But, yippee, only for a few more weeks! Construction of whatever infrastructure is

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-82303833999814842942007-10-16T10:26:00.000+09:002007-10-16T10:50:38.227+09:00

Let us pretend that the lapse of time between my last post and this was a deliberate writing technique to keep you on the edge of your seat. Now, you are just dying to know what the logs look like, right? My tactics have worked!Anyhow -Look, here are some logs. They were delivered by a large truck that was driven by a truck driver who primarily drives his big truck on the expressway. It was not

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-21845625695792960682007-10-08T15:20:00.000+09:002007-10-08T17:07:01.135+09:00

Okay, plenty of time has passed since taking this picture! There is a construction company headquartered not far from here, so we had them build us a foundation. This is the first time we have had large scale professional work done. The only other people we have paid to do work on the house or farm so far has been the gas company and the electrician. The foundation involved quite a few people and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-6666431186530400422007-10-08T13:48:00.000+09:002007-10-08T13:52:56.894+09:00

There is now one log house here. It is all put together. The kit was delivered last Monday, the building was up by the end of Tuesday, and roof on by the end of Thursday. I have pictures, and will be back shortly with a cup of coffee to put some up. However, with the way the computer and internet have been acting lately, I cannot promise that I will succeed. In the meantime, I thought I would

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-35986383475516467512007-08-24T10:38:00.000+09:002007-08-24T13:15:56.576+09:00

Okay, well not being a poet, I've not actually got an ode, but just nice things to say about running water. 'Cause the way the water started coming out of the tap all brown and spluttery gave me a pretty good scare and visions of weeks without running water. As it was, we got the water back within a day, but are being very careful with it and hauling water from the neighbors house for drinking.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-75088211547902754322007-08-15T14:10:00.000+09:002007-08-16T17:40:50.838+09:00

Construction has officially begun! Early mornings and evenings the last few days have been devoted to building a low stone retaining wall along the property line, the first step in the bakery construction. Hooray!Shuzo did the actual building and the attendant moving of stones. I was responsible for the mixing of mortar. Here is Shuzo with his part of his big pile of big stones. And here he is

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-37343745615036527812007-08-01T14:28:00.000+09:002007-08-01T14:53:17.200+09:00

oops, July just slipped away from me in haze of rainy season rain, mud and mold. Actually, this year we were much better about keeping things clean and mold-free, having learned a few tricks since moving in, but still the rain and the bing stuck inside much of the time were tiring. We used the time to work on the bakery plans, though, and progress has been made. There is now no going back, as we

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-12851399625999193912007-06-13T07:24:00.000+09:002007-06-13T09:18:02.913+09:00

The rice is in the ground (okay - it started in the ground, but now it is in OUR ground, not the nursery bed at the neighbors house). The actual planting only took a few hours, but getting them out of the nursery bed...much longer. We got a TON of weeds sprouting up inthe nursery bed, and digging them up and sorting the rice from the weeds (especially the hie - a kind of millet, I believe - which

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-11532673792221983952007-06-07T13:42:00.000+09:002007-06-07T20:21:06.229+09:00

Life proceeds much as usual here. We are weeding furiously, harvesting peas daily, eating lots of peas, fava beans, radishes, lettuce, carrots, cabbage and onions, watching the progress of the tomatoes and summer squash with anticipation, tying up loose ends in the blueberry field and tidying the yard with a view to keeping the weeds down and various creepy crawlies at bay. We have harvested

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-67324253776414643122007-05-25T10:54:00.000+09:002007-05-25T11:30:39.109+09:00

Finally, a rainy day to allow a bit of a break from manual labor. It is a very satisfying feeling to see all that we have accomplished at the end of a very physical day, but...a break every now and then is good too. Recently we've been putting a lot of time into the blueberry field, as well as the never-ending spring/summer chores of weeding, weedeating and for Shuzo, tractoring. In the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-11505131384710299182007-05-14T17:06:00.001+09:002007-05-25T11:27:12.433+09:00

***now, updated with pictures! or at any rate, a link to pictures (click on the title), so you can see what a mukade is and how big they get. ick!***Eeewwwwwwww!!! Really. I do not think I am too very squeamish ordinarily, but - eeewwwwwwww! The bug season is here, as announed by the icky icky MUKADE IN THE SINK! Mukade being, for those of you who do not live in Japan, centipedes. Poisonous

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-60701158028364072752007-04-15T08:35:00.000+09:002007-04-15T08:44:01.824+09:00

We've finally gotten around to making this year's miso - we're several months behind schedule on it - I'm pretty sure any self-respecting miso-making wife would have had it done in January, but hey, better late than never, right? Step 1: We spent several evenings by the woodstove shelling the soybeans. We think we may not have dried them on the plants long enough, and as a result, they didn't all

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-74386170062688476542007-04-02T21:28:00.000+09:002007-04-02T22:17:15.062+09:00

The other day, as we were picking up tools and tarps and empty peatmoss bags, delighting in the fact that we had nearly finished planting our 100 blueberry plants, our formerly-a-chemist-now-an-organic-carrot-farmer neighbor dropped by to see if we could come over to his house and help put up a bamboo dome. Quite nicely, he also offered some advice on irrigating said blueberries, and, less

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-10121617468786629172007-03-27T15:58:00.000+09:002007-03-27T16:13:01.617+09:00

Do you know the smell of propane gas in the US? No? Well, in order to help ensure that a gas leak is quickly detected, an extra scent is added to the gas (I think someone once told me it was supposed to smell like garlic? though I do not think that it does). Well, now that it is all springy and warm here, I step out of the house to pick some parsley, say, or some greens for dinner, enjoying the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-59228853934416344282007-03-23T07:48:00.000+09:002007-03-23T08:31:42.242+09:00

March is drawing to a close already, oh my! Spring is officially here, the blueberries are going in to the ground this week or next and we've been planting greens for several weeks now. After a surprisingly mild early and mid-winter, we've been hit with a cold snap and for a week or more have been waking up to temps of -4 and -5, so we are anticipating the spring rain forcasted for this weekend

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-45019308055038050352007-03-22T08:16:00.000+09:002007-03-22T08:42:51.267+09:00

(huh - I can't make this picture stand up the right way and I've got to go to work now - just tilt your head a bit and it'll all work out, 'kay?)We got a new camera a few weeks back and it is cool! The one we had before was 2 years old, and I thought it was pretty cool but this new one - TV quality movies and other fancies that I haven't explored yet. Plus it fits in a pocket much more neatly

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-89846047542207253572007-03-10T07:18:00.000+09:002007-03-11T07:49:33.242+09:00

The weather is warming up, the ume (Japanese plum) is flowering, weeds are popping up and, of course, the hay fever season is setting in. A great thing about spring is that some of my favorite wild vegetables come into season. Last year, after a very harsh winter, we had very little left in the garden and picked up this book to help us keep out of the supermarket.While out walking the dog, I

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-54807523545792546032007-03-04T07:45:00.000+09:002007-03-04T08:01:54.059+09:00

Much (most?) of the agricultural land around here has been (very laboriously) turned into tambo, terraced rice fields. In order to pool water and create a wet, muddy field, people grow rice in fields with a layer of clay under the topsoil and build up a rim around the field. These are then flooded and dried at strategic points in the rice-growing cycle to encourage maximum growth of the rice

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-7972312067621607222007-02-27T08:49:00.000+09:002007-02-27T08:57:31.391+09:00

I have two triumphs of self over technology to report - one, I've realized that I can enable comments so that they pop up on the blog instead of zooming into my mail box and two, I've figured out how to change the links section from a list of "edit-me" links to one that has blogs for all to see. So, I've added Kaori's food blog (Kaori being, if you don't know, Shuzo's sister and a mean chef of

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-84647256791984497602007-02-26T15:06:00.000+09:002007-02-26T15:46:34.010+09:00

Finally, we have gotten around to taking down the shed. It has been leaning at a worrisome angle for some months now. The first, and most exhausting, step was to clean out the shed. Before New Years 2006 we disposed of a large truckload of garbage from the main part of the shed (years worth of junk had been stashed inside), but there was still the entire second story room to clean out (you saw

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1170419454663777782007-02-02T17:25:00.000+09:002007-02-02T22:03:10.953+09:00

Around the house, the most striking changes these days are the nearly completed dirt road leading up to the blueberry field and the shrinking of the shed next to the house. Shuzo has been hard at work building an edging to hold the road in place, pounding in stakes to support logs laid end to end and filling in the space next to it with sandy soil. This road ought to make readying the blueberry

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1169168267956631122007-01-19T09:42:00.000+09:002007-01-19T13:10:24.113+09:00

So, the kitchen is split-level, with the lower portion tiled, as seen in the previous post, and the higher portion made of wood. There is about 30 cm of hieght increase, making it an easy step up and yet leaving room for a layer of sand topped by a moisture barrier and airspace below the subfloor. We used wool insulation - much nicer to touch during installation than fiberglass.Here the floor is

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1166520834914235922006-12-19T17:12:00.000+09:002007-01-14T21:04:19.400+09:00

Okay - phase one of the kitchen was tiling the lower part. We mixed "floor mud," or a very dry cement and sand mix. We laid this about 2 inches thick on top of the existing concrete slab. Mixing this was seriously hard work! The next step was a bit delayed when we discovered that the tile mortar we had bought was not what we needed, and we spent a few days scouring the internet for proper "thin

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1166487640201860292006-12-19T08:14:00.000+09:002006-12-19T20:48:09.470+09:00

And so, what have Sara and Shuzo been doing since the rice harvest, you ask? Why, building a new kitchen, of course! The old kitchen was a dim, 3 meter square, damp-cement-floored, drafty room of unpleasantness, furnished much as a camp kitchen might be. The new kitchen, on the other hand, is spacious, bright, has a partially tiled, partially raised-wooden floor and is home to a large double

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1163895746520230052006-11-19T08:48:00.000+09:002006-11-19T09:24:19.666+09:00

This year, we have a new toy. Steel inoshishi that is a rice harvesting binder, which cuts the rice and makes neat bundles. Making bundles is actually quite time consuming and we were excited when our neighbor told us about his old binder, sitting in his shed for the last 10 years. We called the farm equipment guy and he fixed it for 5 sen yen.That's me trying to make the inoshishi walk straight.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1161562510301822852006-10-23T09:02:00.000+09:002006-10-23T09:15:10.333+09:00

Our experiment was successful! The wall has held up pretty well, though we had a few sprouts spring up from bits of grain that must have been in the straw, and there was a little mold, which Shuzo took care of by running the flame thrower over the wall. In the picture above, Shuzo is putting up a rough coat of plater. It's a mix of clayey soil and chopped straw. We found that small pieces of

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1160539835111087872006-10-11T12:43:00.000+09:002006-10-11T15:46:55.846+09:00

We do grow stuff here, despite the fact that I've only been posting pics of work on the house lately. Above was a photo of Shuzo with some freshly dug gobo, or burdock root. And here's one of the view of our main veggie field from the roof. Shuzo took this last month. We have been having fun experimenting with different grains - we've grown amaranth, takakibi (sorghum, I think), barley, rye and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1160529438122167292006-10-11T10:02:00.000+09:002006-10-11T11:20:50.876+09:00

Who'd've thunk it would work? Certianly not me, after the first day of wall-making, but we have, in fact, now got a light straw-clay wall on the west side of the house. The really cool thing about it is that the straw is homegrown - last year's rice, rye and barley straw have changed from bundles of stuff in the way to a surprisingly stable (but non-load-bearing) and insulative wall. See:This was

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25703663.post-1157934982923409602006-09-11T09:04:00.000+09:002006-09-11T12:29:28.740+09:00

Last week's project was replacing the back roof. Our house is a one story building that has a main roof (thatch covered with tin) surrounded by tile roof on three sides. Our next door neighbor, who has spent all of his eighty something years in the neighborhood, tells us that he has never seen the tiles changed. Is it any wonder, then, that the roof was leaking? The back bit of roof, which was

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13586886044893384452noreply@blogger.com0