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Moonlight walks with cats
Maura’s wearing an Elizabeth collar since his Christmas day vet visit and can’t safely go outside by himself. The doctor prefers him not to go out at all, but that’s not practical; his litterbox is the big wide world. And he gets salty and destructive when his freedom is impinged. Fortunately (and unexpectedly) Maura seems…
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Monkeys in the backyard
The Japanese macaques are stealing fruit from our trees and eating it in the garden. It looks like they were enjoying themselves while I was out of the house today.
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Nengajou jollity
Today I sent out our nengajou, the holiday cards that are delivered on January 1 in Japan. I am not 100% sure that’s going to work properly for my cards this year. I didn’t buy the special pre-franked cards the post office sells, instead drawing my designs on postcards I already had on hand. So…
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Two fewer inoshishi
Living in the countryside is not for the faint of heart. Neither is this post; turn back if you don’t like death. After writing here yesterday that the inoshishi weren’t getting into the trap, I woke this morning to find two of them in it. And one on the outside. He sensed me, snorted loudly…
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Wildlife: inoshishi
Inoshishi are wild boars. They are agricultural pests with a price on their heads – or their tails, as the city pays for every tail you bring them. We have some that live in the hills and vales surrounding 555. Wild boars eat roots, bulbs, grubs, and worms. They get into rice fields and roll…
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The barn is next
It’s been three months since we moved into 555. Next week I have a meeting with Sasaki-san about renovating the 120 year old barn that sits next to the house. It was a dairy barn for generations, but its been out of use for decades. The floors are still dirt and mud, but there’s no…
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Turmeric Harvesting
I have a jungle of turmeric growing in my hatake garden plot. It’s all volunteers from the Kawasakis old garden. I didn’t do anything to call it forth, it just arrived in its own time. Turmeric is a beautiful broad leaf plant with exotic white flowers. Over the summer it was lush and green. When…
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Garden planning for climate change
I started writing this in August, but decided I was too novice to publish anything about garden planning. However, this week the USDA updated their plant hardiness zone map in the US and winters are skewing warmer, pushing areas into new Zones. So what I wrote is definitely correct. I have been vindicated, and here…
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Containerless
When we first looked at 555 in March of 2021, there were four shipping containers on the property. They were being used as storage sheds for household stuff, tools, and farming materials. Two were disassembled before the build started. One came down this summer when I wanted to use stones underneath it. This week, the…
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Simian Stirrings
This morning as I stood on the East Road with my coffee, waiting for the sun to show me what sort of day we will have, I heard rustling in the treetops on the ridge. Monkeys. I couldn’t see them but I observed the treetops for a quarter of an hour and heard the monkey(s)…
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