Archive for October, 2008

Quiet October

Written by: adekun on 26 October, 2008 10:54 pm - Filed under: blog — No Comments »

Sorry it’s been a good while since posting. Not much has happened. It has turned wintry and rained. The winter jinbei and paraffin stove have been broken out. Over the weekend the usual Halloween party was held at HiHighs. A bunch of us dressed as the main characters from Reservoir Dogs. Mr Pink didn’t fell too well the next morning, but managed some raw fish for lunch.

Tags: weather

Winter veg 08

Written by: adekun on 17 October, 2008 11:49 am - Filed under: garden — 5 Comments »

The last of the sweet potatoes have been harvested. Amen. Previously the bulk of the winter vegetables were planted. Despite the principles of permaculture, natural farming, amongst others being of great interest, the plants were laid down in bland uniform rows:

• Chinese cabbages
• Brussels sprouts
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Lettuces incl. mizuna
• Spinach

Even with a very limited understanding of the subjects, the understanding of others may be more the trouble if they were to look upon an experiment. Continue reading

Tags: garden, garlic, sweet potatoes

Kento’s first camp

Written by: adekun on 14 October, 2008 3:33 pm - Filed under: blog — 8 Comments »

The three of us, along with my sister-in-law went camping over on the Shimane peninsula. Instead of bringing smaller tents, we hired a spacious six man tent. I guess all along the coastline it can get pretty windy. The afternoon we arrived was no exception. One of the many jobs I was tasked with was erecting the tent with a set of Japanese instructions. The two pregnant females looked on while Kento ran off with the mallet and the flysheet turned into a parasail.
With darkness soon approaching, the next challenge was to turn an assortment of mismatched foods into an agreeable dinner, in a gale. I pictured myself being on the set of Ready Steady Cook. Continue reading

Tags: japan, kento, off the beaten track, travel

Early sweet potato harvest

Written by: adekun on 10 October, 2008 10:26 pm - Filed under: garden — 6 Comments »

In an effort to beat the bugs, the sweet potato harvest has been brought forward. Three fifths have been lifted. Working from the outside rows inward, the third row didn’t bear much. In addition to timing and lack of feed, it could be the rows were spaced too closely together or that I’ve been a bit too heavy handed on earlier pickings. However, those that were harvested were of good size. Continue reading

Tags: garden, sweet potatoes

Soy bean ruin

Written by: adekun on 5 October, 2008 10:02 pm - Filed under: blog — 2 Comments »

I’ve found a chore that far surpasses the tedium of weeding. For some time, is has been apparent that the soy beans were riddled with holes and unlikely to produce much of a crop. Instead of harvesting them early for edamame, I hoped to leave them and harvest daizu. Rather than wait and see, I decided to ‘cut’ my loses. Each pod seemed only to hold disappointment; a vivid green caterpillar or black purée. Continue reading

Tags: compost, garden, harvest, legumes