One Life Japan in November

I have a customer who ordered a customized budget self-guided bike trip from here to Hiroshima or Kyushu if time allows. The estimated one-month trip will have her camping out in parking lots and parks for much of the journey

I just received a message from her telling me she is spending the night in a McDonalds, as she lost the map I sent with her and ended up in a very urban area with few tent-friendly locations. Of course, when riding across Japan, a great strategy is to stay in small villages such as my own, and look for small shrines.

If one happened to be passing through our hamlet, and for some reason couldn’t or didn’t want to stay at our home, you could sleep very soundly the shrine in these photos (just one of four) small shrines with unlocked doors and tatami floors. It would keep you out of the wind and rain, and it is only a ten minute walk to a great hot-spring.

Reruns of the year’s rice photos can only mean one thing… Yes, its rice selling time again! While we grew less than last year, we still have surplus of our almost organic, sun-dried, sandy soil, low-footprint fresh shinmai brown and white rice for sale.
2kg – 1,500 yen + shipping*
3kg – 2,000 yen + shipping*
5kg – 2,800 yen + shipping*
10kg – 5,000 yen + shipping*
30kg – 15,000 yen + shipping*

We only have a limited supply this year, so place your orders as soon as possible. Just send me an email [email protected] with your address, amount, and type of rice you would like. I will send you bank-transfer information.

* Shipping price will depend on amount and location.

ABOUT OUR RICE

Koshihikari / コシヒカリ: Koshihikari is the most popular strain of rice in Japan.

Almost Organic: The only chemicals used in growing our rice is a small, one-time mandatory dosing of a preventive medicine on the roots of the rice shoots prior to planting them in May. This was to prevent an epidemic which would wipe out not only our rice, but all the neighbors’ rice as well.

100% Shinmai・新米 (New Rice): I never knew what a difference freshness could make until we started growing our own rice had our first batch of shinmai. It is so noticeably amazing that we find that we have to cook twice as much because it just tastes so frickin awesome and we end up eating twice what we are used to.

This year was no exception, and the brown rice was especially good. Rice purchased in the super-market is usually mixed with a certain percentage of older rice, and unless you are in a rural area, or purchase from a trusted farmer on-line, it can be difficult to find true 100% new rice.

Tenpiboshi・天日干し (Sun Dried): Sun dried rice tastes better and is said to be healthier due to the pace at which it is dried. Unlike high-heat quick drying, the slow process of sun drying while still on the stalk allows time for the “evasive action reaction” triggered when the stalk is cut, to send as much of the remaining nutrients and starch into the kernel. The slow, low-heat drying process then creates ideal conditions to activate amylase enzymes which break down the abundant starch into sugar, effecting the sweetness and umami (savoriness) of the rice.

Sunachi-mai・砂地米 (Sandy Soil): Our rice is grown in wide open fields on the flood plains of the Chikuma River. Regular flooding deposits nutrient rich sandy soil in which rice thrives. Sandy soil also drains faster and dries better durring nakaboshi – a period in rice production when water is drained to provide more oxygen to the roots of the rice.

Low Footprint: Our rice is grown, harvested, and processed with more sweat, and less fossile fuel. This year we ratcheted it up a notch and, in addition to planting, weeding, some tilling, harvesting, bundling, and hanging, we also did the threshing and winnowing by hand as well with a traditional pedal-powered thresher.

Fortunately for our customers, if we were to include man-hours in the price, only the infamous 1% would be able to afford it, so in support of the 99%, this year we will donate all of our sweat and tears for free 🙂

As stated above, we only have a limited supply this year, so place your orders as soon as possible. Just send me an email [email protected] with your address, amount, and type of rice you would like. I will send you bank-transfer information.

Momi, Brown, or White?

Momi / 籾 Momi is rice with the husk remaining. This what the rice
looks like right off the stalk. Momi stays fresh the longest. While all of our rice is hulled and polished immediately prior to shipping, to ensure freshness, some people prefer to polish immediately before eating with a small household polisher.

Brown Rice (genmai / 玄米) Brown rice is produced by removing only the outermost layer (the husk) of a grain of rice. It has a mild nutty flavor, and is chewier and more nutritious than white rice, however it also spoils more quickly.

White Rice (hakumai / 白米)
To produce white rice, the next layers underneath the husk (the bran layer and
the germ) are removed, leaving the starchy white core most people are used to.
Several vitamins and dietary minerals, such as Vitamin B1, Vitamin B3, and iron,
are lost in this removal and the polishing process.

NOTE: With both the white and brown rice, you may notice some small dark spots at the end of the rice. This is left after an insect has fed on the germ. This is completely natural and does not effect the flavor of the rice, but some people consider it unsightly, prompting most farmers to use pesticides.

Not sure how it happened, but I seem to have completely missed the peak of fall colors here. Partly I was busy trying to look busy for our helper John. It was tough (in a good way) because I didn’t want to look lazy, so I had to keep both he and I busier than I usually am when I am working alone, but when you have two people working on something that usually takes a full morning, it gets done in a half-morning and then you have to find some other chore to fill the gap that you would normally use to just take a nap.

Here are a few shots from nearby the house on Sunday morning.