We have decided to delay the full renovation of the barn – saving up more money to do it right. But the 120 year old structure needs some loving attention in the interim so I have started on a new plan.
I will remove everything from the inside – all the junk, the treasures, and even the floor boards in the hayloft – and strip the old corregated iron cladding off the front.
We’ll end up with a timber outline of a barn and the roof high overhead. And then I will hire my favorite tradesmen to help me shore up the dangerous bits, level the floor with gravel, and run some electrical for lights and outlets. This will give us a useable, covered outdoor space. Will it be a theater? A picnic area? We’ll see.
I began clearing things yesterday. It is an overwhelming mess, so I picked a corner and moved everything I could. I even demolished an old cabinet of dubious vintage. That alone opened up the space so that you can see through to the back stall and out the side.
In the photo above, you can see one of the large ceramic plum pots. There are several and they are full of very old pickled plums. I will dispose of the contents – though they may still be edible, they will be very squishy – the pots will stick around, though.
There are also 4 cases of homemade liqueurs to dispose of. I believe most are plum, but I found two bottles of mamushi-shu. This is rather gruesome, as it’s made by dropping a live pit viper into a bottle and then drowning him in alcohol. Apparently there are medicinal benefits to drinking venom cut with alcohol. I may set these aside as curiosities but I am not going to drink them.
I pulled out a cabinet from 1932. It’s marked with the date 昭和７年５月, someone’s name, and “88 year old man” but I don’t know if it was built by an 88 year old or a gift for one. It has an association name on the back, too. It’s a wreck, but it was clearly a big deal and its rather pretty, so I will try to fix this up and use it.
I also set aside some “farm junk” like wooden barrels and slightly broken baskets. We’re part of a flea market in April and maybe I can sell them for a few hundred yen to someone from the city!
Here’s a weird mystery. Do I have 20kg of EMX ceramic? EMX ceramics are sort of “out there” on the spectrum of trustworthy science. They have been “fired with effective microorganisms causing them to emit far-infrared rays and to affect the structure of the water around them… also causing them to have extremely high anti-oxidization properties.” They are touted for water-purification, pest control, water softening, improving soil, and a wealth of other snake oil claims.
But these small black balls in the box might not be EMX, as the current product photos show things that are white and tubular. Knowing humanity’s penchant for practical reuse of boxes, the contents could be something quite different. It’s probably charcoal pellets; I’ll see if Mrs Kawasaki knows.
After sorting out the odd things and separating recyclables and plastics, I burned all the paper, boxes, a few crappy books, burlap bags and other trash. One day down, about 30 more to go…
