❃❂❀❄Yoroshiku Kisetsu❄❀❂❃~日本の留学: Farming in Kamogawa

Apologies again for the delayed update. Time flies when not managed properly!

A lot has occured since Golden Week ended, but this entry I will just fill in the details of my trip to Kamogawa.
Again, rural Japan is very pretty (obvious statement) and Kamogawa was no exception.
My friend and I made it to our host residence successfully, purchasing hats and omiyage, or a present for our host before arriving.

Upon arriving we were greeting by a relatively portly but nevertheless jolly-looking man with a ponytail. He drove us to the premises, where we found rice paddies, a couple of buildings and plenty of chickens. This area also had a restaurant, although the menu consisted mainly of beverages. There was plenty of ceramics sold as well, as the farm produces their own crafts.

One of the main differences between Apple Mint and this farm, Sasagayama, was that Sasagayama emanated this artistic, rustic feel. The craft studio at Apple Mint was certainly artistic in it's own right, but this location furnished us with a bedroom housed in what felt like an art gallery--with the structures first level consisting of pottery and a dirt floor while the second level displayed various paintings and art supplies. Of course, there was a tatami room with T.V. and futon in which we stayed and slept with various insects (and probably mice).

We met three other WWOOFers, but this time they were all Japanese girls. One of the girls left the day we arrived, but she seemed interested in the craft aspect of the farm, having made a bracelet which was sold along with the other handicrafts and pottery. One of the other girls was in her thirties; she had traveled extensively and seemed to possess a wide range of knowledge (and patience). She had WWOOFed at this residence previously for around a month and had just returned after spending a week away.
The last WWOOFer became good friends with us. She, like us, had come to spend Golden Week at the farm hoping to learn about nutritional issues and cooking healthy meals with home grown vegetables. She was rather younger, but had impeccable English as a result of spending years around her Australian boyfriend. Her sense of humor was also influenced, I believe, as she seemed to be more relaxed and open (and thus slightly more interesting) than most Japanese.

For our total of 4 days, we weeded and planted rice-- by hand. This seemed vaguely primitive to me, as modern convenience generally lends itself to automated devices that cut weeds and plant rice in significantly less time. When I had WWOOFed previously, I was informed that there is a special rice planting machine/tractor that is used (which I had the chance to operate during my farming practice course) so I had expected that this time would be similar. But it is somewhat relaxing to spend a day slicing weeds with a kama, or scythe, spending hours just thinking about nothing (in my case, daydreaming about raising a garden, in our friend's case, wondering whether or not certain weeds are edible).
Rice planting was also relaxing work to do by hand. We spent hours poking little plants into muck barefoot (as we did not own boots suitable for working in marshes).
Of course, these tasks get rather monotonous, but breaks were ample.

Genki genki in the fabulous weather!

This time we were expected to cook all of our meals using ingredients provided in one of the houses designated primarily for WWOOFer usage. As there were several people, this was not a big deal, and we took shifts preparing meals. We were also expected to tend to the three children to some degree, although it the youngest was spoiled to some degree. Again, the oldest WWOOFer's patience was admirable, as she unremittingly obliged the child's requests (perhaps out of an attitude of gratitude?)

Among the other residents of this area was a temporary worker who lived about an hour away but commuted to the farm every day to assist with the labor. He was incredibly knowledgeable about Japanese traditional culture, religion and history, and often engaged us in endless conversations about Shintoism, Buddhism, Japanese and foreign mythology, the opening of Japan to foreigners, economics; he had a host of knowledge on basically any topic that one could think to inquire about.

In the end, we ended up cutting our stay a day short, partially because we had wanted to take a day of rest before returning to school. On the second to last day, we had a mochi-tsuki, or mochi-making party. After giving the steamed rice numerous whacks with a mallet, we dressed up our mochi with nori (seaweed) and cheese, kinako (soybean powder), sesame dressing, natto (fermented soybeans), and soy sauce. And the next day, we bid our new friends farewell after exploring a nearby shrine and terraces of rice paddies rented out by companies across Tokyo.