The Morning After the Typhoon

 Mt. Fuji looked like this.

I could see the damage to the corn from the roof. This is ground zero.

The corn looked like this before the typhoon.

Yesterday, the zucchini in another farmer's field was curved.

Today, it's twisted.

His corn is a little bent, but still standing.

Our vegetable stand is open today.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, carrots and onions made it to the shelves. Bags of edamame, too. Some of their stalks were flattened and muddied.

A little more damage in the next post.

These photos were taken with a Panasonic Lumix 10x.

Taking the Nets Home

Our vegetable stand man is taking a rest before he heads home.

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!

Transplanting

This 85 year old farmer transplanted some broccoli seedlings today. At least I think it's broccoli. I didn't interrupt him to ask. I just watched him dig up the seedlings in one area of his field to transplant here.

He made a hole with one hand,

placed the seedling in the hole with the other hand,

and pressed the dirt around it with both hands.

When the tray was empty he went back to get more. He stopped along the way to look at other vegetables.

Using a hand tool, he dug up more seedlings to transplant. He used this tiller to prepare the soil, but he has touched every seed, seedling, plant and vegetable in his field. He does all the work himself. His wife sometimes helps in the field. She usually stays at the vegetable stand.

He transplanted this whole section. He covered up the tiller at the end of the day.

He still has more seedlings to transplant.

Note the shape of his footprint. Click on the photo to enlarge it. When these vegetables are ready in the winter, he will sell them at his vegetable stand. Click on "vegetable stands" in the labels to see other posts. Click here to find out what it really is.

Vegetable Stand Loses a Wall

Workers tore down the house, the garden wall and the trees next to the vegetable stand. The vegetable stand lost its side wall.

Doors from the old house were salvaged. The vegetable stand man nailed them on the side of the stand.

Now the stand has a wooden wall. Click here to see its old wall.

Cabbage!

This cabbage was grown by our vegetable stand man.

Cutting Cabbage

Our vegetable stand man walked along this row squeezing the heads of these cabbages. He chose one and cut it off at its base. Then he cut some of the outer leaves away from the head.

He put it in his basket along with another kind of cabbage to take to his vegetable stand to sell.

But first he stopped to check the broccoli.