Monthly Archives: April 2019

Life In Japan: Planting Soybeans

Posted on April 18, 2019 by johnrachel

Fasten your seat belts. The excitement builds fast as we make a hole, then insert greenhouse-grown seedling, push the dirt back in the hole, wait, read a book, build an atomic submarine in a bottle out of old match sticks, wait some more, fertilize the plant a couple times in the summer, keep waiting (patience is very important in farming), as things on the soybean growing scene keep gathering momentum. Then finally sometime in October it all builds to a final earth-shaking, rib-rattling, jaw-dropping finale. Continue reading →

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Life In Japan: Planting Rice

Posted on April 5, 2019 by johnrachel

Preparing the soil to plant rice is a wet, muddy, mucky mess. l know because I’ve watched them prepare the fields directly in front of my house several years on and off. It’s astonishing how quickly the rice grows. Soon our entire valley is an intense, vibrant green, going from almost incandescent lime to the rich, deep emerald of a mature plant. Maybe I have too much time on my hands and too little excitement, but when I ride my bike through the fields of viridescent rice, I’m struck by the incredible beauty of it all. Continue reading →

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