We`ve got peaches! And lots of weeds!
Welcome to Inukai farm, easily accessible from the forested hills and just a hop skip and a jump from the craggy river bed. We`ve got peaches, rice, apples, strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, onions, garlic, leeks, potatoes, watermelon, sunflowers, pears, peanuts, soy beans, grapes and tobacco all within a five minute bicycle ride. And weeds!
I met Shigeru Inukai two years ago while he was busking with his contra-bass in front of a downtown city bank in Matsumoto (Japan) on a starry Sunday. We played music together in a coffee shop and in his music studio. Often, his very talented pheoncae will play her ukulele too. When I was preparing to leave Japan for my trip through Asia he invited me to come back and live on his farm for a while if I found the time.
So here I am, up to my neck in mud and weeds, surrounded by a green dream. He doesn`t use chemicals or plastics so we have to fight extra hard against overgrowth. Tired, full of green tea, My mind is easy as the clouds floating though the shallow valley. Clean country air is slowly washing away the metro smell that was stinking up my life.
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Shigeru and his family live on a piece of land formerly used to operate a sizable mushroom factory. Their family mushroom business was driven out by a conglomerate a few decades ago and the former storage and processing shed became a store room for generations worth of odds and ends. In the former factory are several large walk in coolers, each approximating the size of an average bedroom. Two have been transformed into music studios for rehersal and recording. Awesome and diverse musicians play there and I get to hear them all (whether I like it or not!). I`ll take a recording next time and put up a video.
Even with the development of the two rooms, there is still tons of space just collecting clutter. He allowed me to transform two of the rooms formerly used as offices into living space. I even got to use tatami (!) for the floors. He has everything in that factory...somewhere. The other day he pulled out a bucket of miso paste, a gallon of homeage plum wine, a table, a mountain bike, an electric guitar and some plastic bowls from some dark corner. Anyways, here is the living room, the bedroom is just a tatami floor with my futon and clothes.
And the pantry:
Shigeru is quite busy with a full-time job, keeping his veggies at market and playing with two performing bands so it is nice that I can help out with some of the more time consuming chores (i.e. weeding the jungle AKA `kuso kusa` which is my pidgin Japanese that translates to: `Shit...weeds.`) Its really a great place, and the farming pace is so healthy. Rising early, eating fresh vegetables, sleeping when it rains...
I will spend the rest of my time in Japan based here with a few possible trips to the Japanese Alps. It`s an oasis for my spirits, the boost I needed after the grey and dreary soul-sucking outlet mall of Metropolis.
I`m charging my engines for another flight across the equator coming up midway through August when I`ll be headed back to Oceania.
Nothing deeps to say :) I`m just happy to be here.
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That`s kind of the feeling.
