Hello. I’m Haratake, a part-time farmer.
Mornings have gotten quite a bit cooler compared to August. While many say global warming is progressing and autumn has practically disappeared, I feel the morning temperatures are clearly and gradually dropping. Morning chores are now almost sweat-free. Well, maybe they’re not exactly hard labor, haha. In places like Hokkaido, the lows are already in the single digits by early October. And in places like Kitami, it gets down to minus 20 degrees in the dead of winter. What kind of world is that? I’d love to experience it once.
This time, it’s Field No. 2. As always, only the okra is thriving, producing new pods one after another. Before I knew it, they’d grown taller than me, changing the harvesting method to: ① pull the stem, ② grab the pod with my left hand, ③ cut the pod at the base. Adding this step ① adds a tiny bit of time, but it significantly impacts the overall work time. It’s like increasing the takt time in manufacturing.
(Photo: Field No. 2 this morning)
Now, about the potatoes and Chinese cabbage I planted the other day. The potatoes are starting to grow a bit. Not as many as I planted, though. Probably because I didn’t cover them with enough soil, birds or animals came to eat them… There’s no sign of them being dug up, so I’m still unsure why. As for the Chinese cabbage… hmm, the sprouts just won’t come up.
(Photo: Potato sprouts)
Finally, the edamame. I’ve been saying for ages that the pods aren’t filling out, but looking closely today, some are indeed getting bigger. Generally, the spots where the pods are growing larger are where I applied extra leaf mold. So, maybe without enough fertilizer, they just don’t grow big… I decided to stick to natural farming methods and avoid chicken or cow manure, but perhaps there really is a difference in energy. That said, they did grow larger with leaf mold alone. However, providing sufficient leaf mold—if purchased—comes at a significant cost. Even though some edamame pods have grown larger, it’s probably only about 20% of the total crop. As the TV news mentioned, the lack of rain means edamame is a poor crop this year.
(Photo: Edamame with larger pods)
Until next time~
