Farming

Monday the 11th is Adult Day, the day to celebrate turning twenty years old in Japan. Those who will turn 20 this year attend a ceremony in their hometowns led by local officials who welcome them into the adult world. It is also the day girls get to wear their first real kimono although fewer choose to do so and just dress up. The holiday is on Monday but most of the ceremonies actually took place yesterday. It won't affect us until next year when my first baby turns twenty!

Taka rolled over the wheat some more - this time not plowing but just crushing the plants with the big rollers.

The farmers met over the new government policies forcing farmers to either join the local co-op or give up their rights to government support/subsidies. Of course, membership in the Ainokumiai is "voluntary" - you just don't have much of a choice! We pay our fees and have the "right" to use the mutually "owned" equipment, most of which is much larger and more efficient than our own, but we do not have the right to operate the equipment. We are obligated to pay the local rep to run the equipment at his convenience. This co-op is just lots of fun.

The co-op also tells you which crops you can grow and which chemicals to buy, but to their credit, their recommendations for chemical use are much lower than the government's. At the beginning of each growing season, we have to draw up a contract telling how much of which crop we will sell to the government and then adhere to that agreement. It allows us to sell the "harvest for personal use" privately for a greater profit as long as it doesn't look suspicious. This year is full of changes as the city takes over our local government and the union takes over the farmers. We will see...we will see.