Yesterday, the sunshine finally came back. I thought it would be a pleasant day, but by evening the rain returned once again. In Shikoku and Kyushu, some places are still suffering from a serious lack of water. Here in Nakanojo, however, the rainy and unsettled weather just keeps going.
Even so, the rice fields never forget the season. Now they are turning a deep golden color, and the harvest has begun in the neighborhood. Our own field also looks good. A small part has some fallen plants, but overall the rice has grown better than I expected.
Today, I decided to drain the water from the field. In about ten days, we should finally reach the long-awaited harvest. Still, I cannot relax. The work is not finished until the tracks of the combine roar through the field.
The vegetable field is a different story. It has been one surprise after another.
The lack of sunshine is hitting hard. The cucumbers and pumpkins I sowed at the end of August are growing poorly. On top of that, the grasshoppers and crickets are unusually active. Even though I covered the daikon and the Chinese cabbage with nets, their leaves have been eaten so badly that they look miserable. For the daikon especially, things are not looking good at all.
I had planned to sow onion seeds at the end of September, but with this strange weather, I decided to sow them ten days earlier. Sometimes you have to move first before the weather moves against you.
In the middle of all these troubles, the green beans are doing surprisingly well. The vines have started climbing strongly, so today I put up a net for them. When I remember their sweet, rich taste, I cannot help looking forward to the late-autumn harvest.
The green onions stay in the field all year. Weeding, adding soil, moving the plants — small jobs, but they never end. This year, a new member joined the field: Shimonita green onions. They have safely produced their first tiny shoots.
The rice field is steady. The vegetable field is full of surprises. Farming does not follow a perfect plan. When nature is in charge, a schedule is only a rough guide.
And so, today again, I put on my boots and step into the field — doing what I can, one small task at a time.