Equipment upgrade (and asparagus and Cho-on-kan event)
It came the time when our wwoof host entrusted me with the job of weeding using the weeding machine. It is actually not a complicated machine to use, but it definitely cuts down weeds by the masses.
There are just two simple principles to abide by. 1st: Cut deep by pressing down the rotating blades to the ground, so that the weeds are well-cut out and have less chance of regrowth. 2nd: Swing it! When there is a weed hard to cut or alot of weed piling to one side, don’t just forcefully push your blades to cut them. It actually was better when I just kept to the swinging way. Even if there is a thick trunked plant, just do it slowly and swing. In short, get to the ground and swing. I think i can follow them for my life.
Abit menacing-looking, i feel
Long after this, using the weeding machine became one of my main job in this wwoof farm. And the weeds just keep coming back only after a few weeks! Worse when there are plenty of nourishing rain on days. However, even though Bruce Wayne said in Batman vs Superman, “Criminals are like weeds. Pull one up and another grows in its place”, continuous weeding does help to ensure the fertilizer’s nutrients flow only to your crops and not to the weeds. Besides, keeping things tidy and neat makes one more wanna visit the farm, right? 🙂
Before/After. Call now 1800-CUT-WEED for your 1st free trial and consultation
We also carried out what was probably one of our most strenuous task eve: Shoveling a huge pile of compost onto a small lorry, and then shoveling them to distribute around a plot of land to fallow the soil. It was really good training though…
Don’t be deceived by the smile, we are super tired
Our wwoof host gave us some asparagus to savor. We say savor because he told us asparagus takes very long to grow asparagus; about 2 – 3 years to grow! But! the most wondrous thing is that once you grow them well, you can harvest them every spring for years to come, like 20 – 30 years~ Really?!
But you need to grow them well, it seems. First of all, the planting area must be totally weedless which can be difficult to achieve, those weeds… Same goes for not planting other plants with asparagus. This is something I learnt too during my research which is adding phosphorus for your first asparagus planting can promote strong root growth. This addition makes sense as you are expecting a plant to be harvested for years. Lastly, lots of water in the first few years of growth.
Try not to harvest too much asparagus in the 1st year and so, to allow the plants to grow their base stronger and have more energy reserves. As for harvesting, cut the asparagus spears about 12 – 15 cm above the soil level to leave their stubs. After 6 – 8 weeks of harvesting, stop when the spears become too skinny, like a pencil. Thereafter, the leaves or fronds of the plants will grow. When they turn yellow, cut the fronds an inch above ground level and wait for the next harvest! So simple?
As we didn’t cook our harvested asparagus immediately, we refrigerate them as it can prevent tough fibers from forming at the base of the spears due to the cutting.
(info credit: http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/growing-asparagus/7343.html?SC=XNET9464, https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-asparagus/
It seems our farm host wasn’t worried about the weeds..
Exposed-ragus
Lovely asparagus sold at the local supermarket
We witnessed our very first event at Cho-on-kan, which was a musical debut showcase by a Okinawan girl groups. Okinawa has a very distinct musical style that strongly gives you the island vibe and this particular girl group further enhance this vibe by using the traditional Japanese instrument called the Shamisen. There were also other performers who came, including a violinist and a guitarist who came from a very very remote island, called Kikaijima.
As the event took place during dinner time and we couldn’t use the kitchen to cook our meal, our wwoof host decided to treat us dinner~~~ Weee~ He recommended us to this awesome okonomiyaki shop, Ken-taro, that is very near the Kagoshima train station. Oh man…to be able to add unlimited bonitok flakes, oko sauce, mayo and seaweed flakes…. Itadakimasu!!
Eating Okonomiyaki together with our farm host (condiments not added yet)