Changes after the Storm

The storm stopped trains in Tokyo and grounded planes. From a distance it looks like the fields out here in west Tokyo came through the storm okay.


Some of the netting was blown off,

but there was also some damage. It could have been worse.


This idea worked well.


The vegetable stand man and his wife have taken down the boards and are back to work. See this post to see the preparations for the storm.

Changes in the Field

Our vegetable stand man usually covers some young plants with plastic to protect them.


This morning he was putting nets over the plastic for more protection. A big storm is coming toward Japan.



It is a lot of work! (The patch of green in the right foreground is broccoli that has been harvested, so he's not protecting it.)


The farmer of the other field had help. They put nets down to prevent the plastic from flying away. This is the first time I have seen them do it.


Work continued as usual after all the net was laid out. By 10:00 AM the wind was already picking up a lot. Fortunately, the nets were holding everything down.


After lunch, the vegetable stand man and his wife closed up for the day. They hammered boards to the end of the stand to protect it from the strong winds that may come our way.

This Hakusai Gets a Chair of its Own

150 yen for a full head of Chinese cabbage! Direct from the field.

Click to enlarge the photo and you'll see another, bigger hakusai on the bottom shelf. Can you see the farmer in the shadows? He's minding the store while his wife is home cooking lunch. She left earlier with a cabbage in her bicycle basket. He's in the fields all day except at lunch time and late afternoon when his wife is making dinner. He is 86!

Tools of Field Work

Our vegetable stand man uses a machine to till his soil.

But most of the work he does by hand

and foot

and hand tools.

End of Summer Planting

From our roof garden, I see our vegetable man is sowing seeds for fall vegetables.

Afterwards, he scoots down the row pushing dirt over the seeds with his feet.

He pats the dirt down as he walks back.

That's a big bag of seeds! I walked past his fields later in the day. He was hoeing around the plants on the left. I asked him what the plants were. He said, "Broccoli." I told him, " I will wait for them." That's taro, satoimo, in the background.

I forgot to ask what he had planted earlier in the day. Let's wait and see if we can guess what it is after it sprouts.