August 9-13, 2009: Farming for the First Time in Rankoshi. What can be so hard about putting on a Straw Hat and pulling a few weeds?

Now I am on a farm in Rankoshi, as a WWOOFER (check out http://www.wwoofjapan.com/). I took the JR local trains for 4 hours, not including the 48 minute pit stop in between trains. When I arrived, Wataru Shimojima was waiting for me at the station. He was the only person standing and waiting, so I knew it had to be him. He introduced himself in English, and I responded by introducing myself in Japanese. He was amazed I could speak the language. At first it was a little awkward: getting into a stranger’s truck and driving through an unfamiliar town for 20 or so minutes. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My New York City, trust-issue instincts kicked in and I imagined the worst. But this was only temporary. These thoughts dissolved with the tranquility of the open road.

The town is surrounded by mountains everywhere and is beautiful during the day and even when the sun sets. The jobs I have been doing on this farm seem more like play than work. I have had way too much fun to call it any kind of work. The past few mornings we have been making anything we want out of wood. There are 2 other WWOOFers on this farm that were here a few days before I got here. Sam is from England, Miriam is from Canada. They both teach English in Tokyo. Sam and I made a sunflower out of wood. Miriam made a wooden person. I made a bunny rabbit and a really bad owl. Sam made a bench. Sam and I made a yellow and blue octopus with red glary eyes. I’m glad to have met such interesting people. But, any more days and I would have picked up a British accent (just kidding).

On my first day here we rafted down the river together. I jumped in the water from the raft the first thing, but then couldn’t get back in the raft and was dragged for a while until they helped me back in. I think they were scared that I might be able to overturn the raft and then we’d all be in the water. That would have been fun, though.

We have been harvesting potatoes (purple ones!) and onions, chopping wood (my favorite job), picking chamomile, and some white and red raspberries. We also have been weeding. I found some wild raspberries near the river today and brought them back because I wasn’t sure if they were edible. Wataru said we could eat them, and so we did. It was yummy. Small and tart, but fresh. All the veggies here are so delicious. They don’t use any pesticides and grow it all themselves. I saw pictures of what the place looked like 5 years ago, and it was as barren as a desert, thus they called it Sulfuric Acid Mountain. Now, they are surrounded by lush greenery, colorful flowers, and all sorts of mushrooms, fruit and veggies. Shimojima-san and his family worked so hard to transform this place into such a welcoming forest. I am so impressed. It must be amazing to see all your efforts materialize into such a paradise. No wonder his family is so lively and happy. One day I want to do the same: create everything out of nothing.
Usually we would work from about 9:00am to a little before 12:00pm. Then we would have lunch, and work from 1:30pm till about 3:30pm or 4:00. The best thing is, I forget about the time. However, some days are cut short, I guess because there is not that much work to be done. One day they drove us to the beach for the afternoon, another day we were driven up a mountain to see the sunset. They also took us to an onsen. I felt so refreshed and pampered afterwards. The last day we finished fairly early in the morning and had lunch on top of a mountain with a breath-taking sight of each town on either side. Pictures don’t even come close to capturing its beauty. But the wind was so strong, I almost blew away. I lost my balance many times and almost slipped down the side of the mountain. Just imagine: the Melissa you knew would have been no more!

I haven’t seen any crows here in Rankoshi, but there are a lot of bugs here and they might just be as noisy as the crows. In the night, instead of hearing NYC traffic, I hear the bugs hissing. I hate the buzzing sound they make near my ear, and they love to follow me around. There are some aggressive horseflies. I got stung by a horsefly (in Japanese: abu) on the forehead the first day, and it swelled up but I’m fine. I think I got stung again in the same area a few days later. I also have a lot of mosquito bites all over. At least I think they are mosquitoes bites. What can I say, I have some sweet skin; I’m delicious. I have seen things I have never seen before: bugs of all sizes and shapes, a fox, a Japanese crane, and interesting fruit/vegetables. I sleep in a cabin in the middle of the forest, although the last night I slept in a tent outside near the pumpkin patch, nearby their house. As I heard the rain pour down on my tent, and the occasional howls of some mysterious creatures, I felt at peace and fell asleep.

Indeed, it has been an adventure so far. I wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, I live for novelty.