Sleep, that is...cumulative. I feel blessed that I'm assembling coherant sentences. 2 days ago I traveled about 8 hours on local trains to Hiroshima, then took a 5 hour night bus back to wander the temples and streets of Kyoto, canceled my last wwoof host and had a lot of trouble booking a hostel, decided not to worry about it and went to Mt. Kurama (where reiki was developed), met a very kind Japanese woman at the onsen (mmmmmm, Japanese hot springs....) who drove me to her house in Yokohama...they predicted it would be a 6 hour drive, but we stopped off at Mt. Fuji to watch the sunrise (phenomenal, btw. Until dawn, she was shrouded by clouds, then as the morning sun warmed the atmosphere, the clouds parted and Fuji's immense shadowy profile emerged overhead. Gradually, the light poured through enough to illuminate the volcano's flanks and show the reddish green hues of her summer/autumn flanks. We snapped a few pictures, exclaimed 'sugoi' again and again under our breath, commented on the cold, and as soon as it came through, the clouds closed again and the miracle was hidden again), we arrived at her house at about 7am, 12 hours later...wow. Her mom is a reflexology healer! She fed us a yummie vegetarian breakfast of raddish and greens soup, tomato and salad, soft-boiled eggs, bread, and amazing Japanese peaches for dessert. I told them I was hoping to go to a kimono shop for a souvenier and she said her friend just closed a kimono shop and she gave me about $300-500 worth of silk! whoa, mama!! It's been an amazing few days. Today, I went to see the biggest Buddha in Japan and came up to Nikko, though it was dark here when I arrived. I'm off the beaten path up in some woods near a stream, for sure. And a 5 minute walk brought me to a delicious little onsen in the forest with $4 admission for as long as you want (one visit) to soak in a hot indoor pool or a hot outdoor pool nestled in a tiny Japanese garden alternating with cold showers. Yummie!! I soaked about 2 hours and walked home in a refreshing light drizzle with a goofy grin on my face. Tomorrow morning, it looks like I'll be the only one in the daily morning yoga class led by the Buddhist Monk Vegan Chef. I missed the $18 zen vegan dinner tonight, which was one of the main reasons I came, but oh well. I wasn't ready to leave Kamakura this morning in time to get here for it anyway. Tomorrow, I head for the World Heritage Park to see scale models of the world's great wonders. I also hope to get in a waterfall hike and maybe swim? Then back to Saitama to my first wwoof farm to sort through my stuff and say good bye to my friends there.
I should be home 8/30. See y'all soon!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Marinichi Blueberry Farm
Before:
After:
Clearing the sweet corn field. Enjoying the blue skies after a nice cloudy morning of weeding and an afternoon typhoon rain. Lightening, thunder, sheets of water pouring from the sky, calm at the eye of the storm (to emerge from the neighbor's green house where we took shelter and make the 2 minute walk home in relative dryness...), and another torrential wave crackling and booming overhead. Powerful, this mother nature.
After:
Clearing the sweet corn field. Enjoying the blue skies after a nice cloudy morning of weeding and an afternoon typhoon rain. Lightening, thunder, sheets of water pouring from the sky, calm at the eye of the storm (to emerge from the neighbor's green house where we took shelter and make the 2 minute walk home in relative dryness...), and another torrential wave crackling and booming overhead. Powerful, this mother nature.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
reiki
getting attuned to do reiki and learning reflexology foot massage were two of the coolest things I did in Thailand. Sooo helpful everywhere I go. I am currently visiting a friend of a friend in Japan and her husband's family had some injuries I was able to help with. He says now I have a second family. I told him it would be more like number 19 at this point, but thank you so much. I am honored to be counted in his family. What beautiful people. They run a little local grocery store/catering business with big smiles on their faces. I want to go home, study Japanese, and come back. There are so many cool stories here. Like the old nun at the temple. I want to learn Japanese just to talk with her....
ah well. Tomorrow, I'm off for a 5 hour train/train/train/subway/subway/bus/bus journey to the boonies of Aichi-ken to work on a blueberry farm for 3 or 4 days. Yippee!
ah well. Tomorrow, I'm off for a 5 hour train/train/train/subway/subway/bus/bus journey to the boonies of Aichi-ken to work on a blueberry farm for 3 or 4 days. Yippee!
Zen temple recomendations
www.smzc.net Sonoma Mountain Zen Center Gengo-ji: Piotr's teacher's temple in CA
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Bukkokuji Photos
The graveyard
My and the pink lotus in front of the hondo where we do morning and evening chanting, report to the teacher, and hold most ceremonies
Some neighbor's houses and their rice fields
Me and Middle Field, the main garden for Bukkokuji (we have 4 small fields, this is the biggest and the only one protected by an electric fence. The others are subject to random attack by wild pigs and monkeys as evidenced by the ripped up sweet potato stems and the half-eaten cucumbers...). I work here almost every day. Sortof assistant care taker. It's fun.
Another graveyard shot. During the hot season (ie the whole time I've been here), we go around every day and pour the water out of the flower arrangements at every grave, pour in fresh, and put the flowers back. It feels really good to help take care of these ancestors. Graveyards used to really freak me out, but I feel peace here now.
My and the pink lotus in front of the hondo where we do morning and evening chanting, report to the teacher, and hold most ceremonies
Some neighbor's houses and their rice fields
Me and Middle Field, the main garden for Bukkokuji (we have 4 small fields, this is the biggest and the only one protected by an electric fence. The others are subject to random attack by wild pigs and monkeys as evidenced by the ripped up sweet potato stems and the half-eaten cucumbers...). I work here almost every day. Sortof assistant care taker. It's fun.
Another graveyard shot. During the hot season (ie the whole time I've been here), we go around every day and pour the water out of the flower arrangements at every grave, pour in fresh, and put the flowers back. It feels really good to help take care of these ancestors. Graveyards used to really freak me out, but I feel peace here now.
Clearing the river of consciousness
An image came to me when I was first meditating in Thailand about 2 years ago (has it really been 2 years???): a really polluted river full of muddy water, garbage, junk food wrappers, and televisions playing TV shows and movies I'd wasted my time watching over the years. My distinct feeling was this river was my connection/contribution/reception of the flow of universal consciousness in the world. Kindof dissappointing, really. The good news is, it's mostly cleared up! My mind still wanders all over the place while I'm meditating in the Zendo, but when I see that river of consciousness flowing through, the water is clear and there's no more garbage in it. Yeah!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Interesting zen blog
This is not my temple, but I like this person's blog, and there are some pictures that may give you a taste...
http://endlessknotcushions.com/blog/
http://endlessknotcushions.com/blog/
Daily life
Temple life is so amazing here. Up at 4:40 (ish...), optional running time 4:50-5:10, exercise 5:10-5:30, zazen 5:40-6:20, morning chanting 6:20-7, breakfast at 7 (and what a process meal time is...that's gotta be a blog entry in itself!), tidy up the temple for 15 minutes, then break till samu (work time) at 8:50, tea time at 10 with various juices, teas, and snacks, then free time till lunch at 11:30, then more free time until afternoon samu 1:30 and afternoon tea at 3 (the Japanese love their tea time!). Then evening chanting at 4, supper at 5 (an interesting change from no dinner in Thailand...my body is still not sure about temple life with dinner...I am getting closer to learning to stop when I am full), then three 40 minute rounds of zazen from 6:20-7, 7:20-8, and 8:20-9. Then everyone who needs it (often most of us...) takes a shower (sometimes we have to share for expediency's sake), and then it's bedtime.
I love temple life. Sitting is not always easy--mind is mind...I want to be here, I want to stay forever, I don't understand the purpose of life, I want out of here!, ah, isn't this peaceful, I hate mosquitoes, judgement, judgement, descrimination, criticism, meta, loving-kindness to all beings, love, hope, joy, sorrow, regret (too heavy...recognize and set them down), All this is the flash of an eye or over the course of a week. And the second round of the evening is always a mosquito fest. I wanted to run from the zendo screaming the other day because of the bites...now I sit with a blanket wrapped around my lap. It's a lot easier to deal with the sensation of dripping sweat than becoming a mosquito pin cushion... I feel the practice of emptiness suits my mind a lot better than constant noting like they taught me in Thailand. I wish I had kept up a daily mindfulness/sitting practice. I feel like I'm sitting in front of Einstein trying to learn my multiplication tables...d'oh.
I'm not sure this is the lineage I want to profess homage to forever, but I am grateful for this chance to practice now. Yesterday, two people metioned I can ask for a jukai--a dharma name. There is a woman from Tokyo who will ask in a few days, I think, so maybe we can ask together? yet another name...*sigh* I'm a little tired of new names. Like the rabbi said in Teasdale, the name of the person is the name of God. I already have my birth name (Marabeth--house of bitter waters), the nick-name half I am using now (Mare--female horse, or ocean), my capoeira name (Docura--sweet), my french name I took in high school (Renee-Christiane), and my Pali name from Thailand (Siritaree--one who maintains one's merits). Well, I guess if they want to give me one and the master thinks it is the right time...my heart will know if it is right. Whatever I am called, I am still just this one part of universal consciousness.
I hope everyone is healthy and happy and peaceful. I'll try to send you guys some pictures, but I haven't had the nerve to borrow a digital camera here yet. Blessings!
I love temple life. Sitting is not always easy--mind is mind...I want to be here, I want to stay forever, I don't understand the purpose of life, I want out of here!, ah, isn't this peaceful, I hate mosquitoes, judgement, judgement, descrimination, criticism, meta, loving-kindness to all beings, love, hope, joy, sorrow, regret (too heavy...recognize and set them down), All this is the flash of an eye or over the course of a week. And the second round of the evening is always a mosquito fest. I wanted to run from the zendo screaming the other day because of the bites...now I sit with a blanket wrapped around my lap. It's a lot easier to deal with the sensation of dripping sweat than becoming a mosquito pin cushion... I feel the practice of emptiness suits my mind a lot better than constant noting like they taught me in Thailand. I wish I had kept up a daily mindfulness/sitting practice. I feel like I'm sitting in front of Einstein trying to learn my multiplication tables...d'oh.
I'm not sure this is the lineage I want to profess homage to forever, but I am grateful for this chance to practice now. Yesterday, two people metioned I can ask for a jukai--a dharma name. There is a woman from Tokyo who will ask in a few days, I think, so maybe we can ask together? yet another name...*sigh* I'm a little tired of new names. Like the rabbi said in Teasdale, the name of the person is the name of God. I already have my birth name (Marabeth--house of bitter waters), the nick-name half I am using now (Mare--female horse, or ocean), my capoeira name (Docura--sweet), my french name I took in high school (Renee-Christiane), and my Pali name from Thailand (Siritaree--one who maintains one's merits). Well, I guess if they want to give me one and the master thinks it is the right time...my heart will know if it is right. Whatever I am called, I am still just this one part of universal consciousness.
I hope everyone is healthy and happy and peaceful. I'll try to send you guys some pictures, but I haven't had the nerve to borrow a digital camera here yet. Blessings!
A bit of Roshi Sama's life history
A few days ago, the zen master at our temple officated over a disagreement some women are having about our shared living space. We are 8 women sharing a tatami mat room about 30' x 30' with 3 thin sliding dividers and curtains separating the shared space. There are 2 toilets outside and one shower down the hall past the central meditation room. Unfortunately, curtains do not keep mosquitoes out. One woman has a lung problem and needs air circulation and another woman is having trouble sleeping because of the mosquitoes. hmmmm...well, the master (Roshi Sama is his name) said ego ego ego is the problem of all of us. Practice Zazen, see the truth, we are all one. we are all one (his words for this phenomenon are actually: Everything myself. One truth. Heaven and Earth one root. Everything myself.).
Then he told a long story beginning with how his mother gave her life to give him birth. I cried from the her conviction and the tenderness of this sacrifice. His mother found out she had cancer 5 or 6 months into her term, and the doctors and her family begged her to have a surgery to save her life. They said this child would forgive her, but she would not listen. She waited to have the surgery till after she birthed him, her 4th child. It was too late for surgery and 3 months later she died.
As he was speaking, he realized it was the anniversary of her death (not the exact month, but the day of the month), so no wonder he wanted to speak about her. I was so touched.
He also shared about his teen years as a special forces agent in the Japanese army. He was a kamakazi pilot. 30 minutes before he was to fly his mission--bomb loaded on the plane, mind fixed on his purpose--the emperor announced that Japan had surrendered. They had lost the war.
He was devastated. All his seniors were dead. They had thrown their lives away and he was still alive. Grief. Agony. Despair. He was so intent on this goal, he had volunteered to join the special forces at 17, one year earlier than you are supposed to be allowed to enter. I thought of my grandfather in the marines at 17 at Pearl Harbor...
Shortly after this agony, Roshi Sama met his teacher, one of Japan's strictest zen masters at the time. This man told him True life is eternal. Birth and death are one. All things are one. This is the truth. Practice Zazen and see, so he did. He practiced exactly as the Roshi taught him and realized satori in about a year and a half, a very short time (and I have a month...right.). When he felt this one-ness, his fierce master cracked a small smile. Good, he said. Now the practice begins. yikes...sartori is where it begins!?!??
What a blessing to be here. Thank you thank you thank you to all who have supported me along the way.
I love you so much.
PS- I can come out from the temple on bath days, the days of the month that end in 4 or 9 (ie the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th), but I really want to practice a lot, so I may not always come to town.
Then he told a long story beginning with how his mother gave her life to give him birth. I cried from the her conviction and the tenderness of this sacrifice. His mother found out she had cancer 5 or 6 months into her term, and the doctors and her family begged her to have a surgery to save her life. They said this child would forgive her, but she would not listen. She waited to have the surgery till after she birthed him, her 4th child. It was too late for surgery and 3 months later she died.
As he was speaking, he realized it was the anniversary of her death (not the exact month, but the day of the month), so no wonder he wanted to speak about her. I was so touched.
He also shared about his teen years as a special forces agent in the Japanese army. He was a kamakazi pilot. 30 minutes before he was to fly his mission--bomb loaded on the plane, mind fixed on his purpose--the emperor announced that Japan had surrendered. They had lost the war.
He was devastated. All his seniors were dead. They had thrown their lives away and he was still alive. Grief. Agony. Despair. He was so intent on this goal, he had volunteered to join the special forces at 17, one year earlier than you are supposed to be allowed to enter. I thought of my grandfather in the marines at 17 at Pearl Harbor...
Shortly after this agony, Roshi Sama met his teacher, one of Japan's strictest zen masters at the time. This man told him True life is eternal. Birth and death are one. All things are one. This is the truth. Practice Zazen and see, so he did. He practiced exactly as the Roshi taught him and realized satori in about a year and a half, a very short time (and I have a month...right.). When he felt this one-ness, his fierce master cracked a small smile. Good, he said. Now the practice begins. yikes...sartori is where it begins!?!??
What a blessing to be here. Thank you thank you thank you to all who have supported me along the way.
I love you so much.
PS- I can come out from the temple on bath days, the days of the month that end in 4 or 9 (ie the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th), but I really want to practice a lot, so I may not always come to town.
Growing Zen
Twelve hours not enough
To blog Bukkokuji life.
Library? One hour.
Strunk and White be with me now, oh brevity and clarity...
To blog Bukkokuji life.
Library? One hour.
Strunk and White be with me now, oh brevity and clarity...
Shiso Juice
At the temple, they make this really yummie juice from purple shiso:
1kg purple shiso leaf (Japanese herb...kinda like Basil)
1 cup (110 g) sugar
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup lemon juice
3 cup water
1) Wash the leaves and drain.
2) boil water, cook leaves in small batches until they turn green
3) remove leaves
4) squeeze the juice out of the cooked leaves
5) put sugar and honey into the hot juice and dissolve
6) cool down and add lemon juice
7) store in sterilized bottle
This makes a concentrated syrup you can dillute to make yummie juice for tea time! yeah!!
1kg purple shiso leaf (Japanese herb...kinda like Basil)
1 cup (110 g) sugar
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup lemon juice
3 cup water
1) Wash the leaves and drain.
2) boil water, cook leaves in small batches until they turn green
3) remove leaves
4) squeeze the juice out of the cooked leaves
5) put sugar and honey into the hot juice and dissolve
6) cool down and add lemon juice
7) store in sterilized bottle
This makes a concentrated syrup you can dillute to make yummie juice for tea time! yeah!!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Miracles
My Zen master was a special forces agent in the Japanese army in WWII. 30 minutes before he was to fly his kamakazi mission, the emperor announced Japan had surrendered.
I listened to him share some of his life story this morning and I wept. So many parallels between his mother and my own. Between his teenage years and my grandfathers. His way of being in the world and the world view I believe in my heart to be true.
I am not so keen to come home...love you all! internet time is short. I'm only allowed out of the temple every 5 days (except for emergencies)...better get back.
I feel like flying into a million pieces, but I know I already am in a million pieces and the million pieces are One.
Zen does this to you, I guess.
I listened to him share some of his life story this morning and I wept. So many parallels between his mother and my own. Between his teenage years and my grandfathers. His way of being in the world and the world view I believe in my heart to be true.
I am not so keen to come home...love you all! internet time is short. I'm only allowed out of the temple every 5 days (except for emergencies)...better get back.
I feel like flying into a million pieces, but I know I already am in a million pieces and the million pieces are One.
Zen does this to you, I guess.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tokyo Ｓｈｉｎｊｕｋｕ "Ｍａｎ－Ｂoo Internet Cafe"
wow, I gotta run pretty soon to catch my bus to Kyoto to catch a train to tsuruga to transfer to a train to obama to get to the temple I'll be meditating at for the next month, but I had to blog this: 200 yen (just shy of $2) just bought me a hot shower, unlimited tea, coffee, soda, and/or juice, and internet/TV/DVD use for an hour! They should have these in the states...plus a huge manga comic book library and a ton of magazines. I'm just happy to get a shower, as I began traveling at about 2 this afternoon and I will not arrive in Obama until almost noon tomorrow...and it's hot here. Tokyo was 31 C today...and muggy. happy to shower. Off to the bus!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Temple clothes and reservation miracles!
Yeah, about manifestation? wow...Keiko made me a pair of black pants for the temple! They're simple and gorgeous and I love them...She has a bunch of fabric at her house(being a weaver and cloth craftperson), and she said cotton would have been better for these pants, but she looked and looked and could not find any...so she made them out of silk!! They are from a recycled kimono. How awesome is this!! She also gave me Lansen's old black field shirt (finally washed for the first time in a couple months, probably?). The outside is sunfaded with a really cool suspender cross on the back, the inside looks nice still and the seams are well sewn, so I think I'm gonna bring it and wear it inside out. I think long sleeves would be better, so I'm still gonna check around in Tokyo, but this is so awesome. I get to wear free/reycled clothes to the temple!
Also, the bus I was hoping to book last night was full, so I was a bit bummed, but decided I'd just call another company in the morning (there are over a hundred highway bus companies in Japan, I guess...) and not worry about it. Well, I made a small prayer that a seat would miraculously be available this morning and bingo, there it was. I rushed out to get Keiko's cell phone number (required for a reservation here!), huriedly typed in my cc info, and viola, I have a seat on the night bus from Tokyo to Kyoto for $39. Compared to $45 or 50 on the cheaper end, and $85 on the more expensive, I'm a pretty happy camper. Then I will need to find a connection from Kyoto to Obama (yes, Obama is where I'm going to meditate for a month. lol, I read online there are many signs around town up there that say Obama for Obama!) and I think that train connection runs about $25. Yeah!
Also, the bus I was hoping to book last night was full, so I was a bit bummed, but decided I'd just call another company in the morning (there are over a hundred highway bus companies in Japan, I guess...) and not worry about it. Well, I made a small prayer that a seat would miraculously be available this morning and bingo, there it was. I rushed out to get Keiko's cell phone number (required for a reservation here!), huriedly typed in my cc info, and viola, I have a seat on the night bus from Tokyo to Kyoto for $39. Compared to $45 or 50 on the cheaper end, and $85 on the more expensive, I'm a pretty happy camper. Then I will need to find a connection from Kyoto to Obama (yes, Obama is where I'm going to meditate for a month. lol, I read online there are many signs around town up there that say Obama for Obama!) and I think that train connection runs about $25. Yeah!
One month down, two to go
Heheheh...they let me drive the wheat combine! As a baker, this was a very cool experience. Probably one of the funnest farm jobs I've done here, though my knees barely fit between the driver's seat and the steering wheel...which was really a pair of sticky levers you pull on one side to go left and the other to go right...and instead of braking, you hit the clutch and the machine quickly grinds to a halt. The tractor is the same. Very strange.
After 2 days of sifting chaff and picking out rotten grains and sneaky wheat-sized weed seeds, 3 days of rinsing and soaking (at which point I found out bad wheat floats...would have made the sifting much simpler!), I mashed the softened, sadly unsprouted kernels with my bare hands and sortof kneeded the gooey result until gluten strands began to form. Fun. There were some pretty rancid smells in the rinsing and kneeding process, but I had faith (or at least hope). The bread was definitely soured...reasonably tastey though.
Victory, it's edible!
Julia from Finland didn't think so, though...this is breadman, whom she made from a wadded up ball of the slice she didn't want.
I have spent a wonderful month WWOOFing on Keiko's farm in Saitama prefecture, learning to spin wool and weave, care for sheep, goats, chickens, and aigamo ducks, expand my Japanese cooking abilites (a little, anyway), weed, harvest, plant, drive a tractor and wheat combine, bake bread from wheat I harvested...It's been really great. The woman who owns the farm is so awesome. What a blessing to know her.
I decided a few days ago to look for a temple to study zazen. Mostly, what I was finding from google/internet searching was short stays--$150 for 4 days or so...I don't want just a taste like this. I want to study. With a little help from bi-lingual Masaru and a contact from a friend of the Salt Lake Zen Center, I have made a reservation at a temple in Obama, Fukui (Bukkokuji). I should be arriving there Tuesday before lunch time and I hope to stay a month. My plan for now is to take a bus Monday night from Tokyo to Kyoto and connect somehow,probably a train. The journey will take about 12 hours and cost about $70, plus $10 to get from Keiko's farm to Tokyo. This is about what I've spent in the last month, including a spree I went on yesterday to buy Japanese ninja farmer shoes and split toe socks to wear with them. I'm still planning to WWOOF a little once I finish my temple stay. Tomorrow morning I will pack for the journey and figure out what stays here at the farm for my return to pick it up and what I will lug with me on the next leg of my journey...
I feel woefully underprepared in Japanese temple ettiquette. I feel like I should bring a gift of some sort but I really don't know what to bring. Maybe some organic veggies from the farm?? I also don't have proper meditation clothing (loose fitting black pants and long sleeve shirts). I have one pair of light weight black pants I bought in Thailand and a black tee-shirt Keiko bought for Lansen that he didn't take with him (too many shirts, he said...one, two, three...waaaaay too many shirts! lol...). It had a small silver playboy bunny embroidered on the front which I had to cut out. Unfortunately, the shirt emerged a bit scathed...patching is on the agenda tonight...hopefully, I can find some cheap clothes or at least a black bedsheet at a recycle shop in Tokyo or Kyoto tomorrow/the next day?
On the other hand, I am now the proud owner of my very own pair of Japanese ninja farmer shoes! They have an indigo colored liner and are about 10" tall, except that's really hot, so I folded them down when I wore them for the first time this evening. That made them look more like Elf shoes, which is potentially a bonus, depending on my mood? I love em'!
Blessings everyone. My heart and prayers go out to everyone wherever you may be on your journey. Much love!
After 2 days of sifting chaff and picking out rotten grains and sneaky wheat-sized weed seeds, 3 days of rinsing and soaking (at which point I found out bad wheat floats...would have made the sifting much simpler!), I mashed the softened, sadly unsprouted kernels with my bare hands and sortof kneeded the gooey result until gluten strands began to form. Fun. There were some pretty rancid smells in the rinsing and kneeding process, but I had faith (or at least hope). The bread was definitely soured...reasonably tastey though.
Victory, it's edible!
Julia from Finland didn't think so, though...this is breadman, whom she made from a wadded up ball of the slice she didn't want.
I have spent a wonderful month WWOOFing on Keiko's farm in Saitama prefecture, learning to spin wool and weave, care for sheep, goats, chickens, and aigamo ducks, expand my Japanese cooking abilites (a little, anyway), weed, harvest, plant, drive a tractor and wheat combine, bake bread from wheat I harvested...It's been really great. The woman who owns the farm is so awesome. What a blessing to know her.
I decided a few days ago to look for a temple to study zazen. Mostly, what I was finding from google/internet searching was short stays--$150 for 4 days or so...I don't want just a taste like this. I want to study. With a little help from bi-lingual Masaru and a contact from a friend of the Salt Lake Zen Center, I have made a reservation at a temple in Obama, Fukui (Bukkokuji). I should be arriving there Tuesday before lunch time and I hope to stay a month. My plan for now is to take a bus Monday night from Tokyo to Kyoto and connect somehow,probably a train. The journey will take about 12 hours and cost about $70, plus $10 to get from Keiko's farm to Tokyo. This is about what I've spent in the last month, including a spree I went on yesterday to buy Japanese ninja farmer shoes and split toe socks to wear with them. I'm still planning to WWOOF a little once I finish my temple stay. Tomorrow morning I will pack for the journey and figure out what stays here at the farm for my return to pick it up and what I will lug with me on the next leg of my journey...
I feel woefully underprepared in Japanese temple ettiquette. I feel like I should bring a gift of some sort but I really don't know what to bring. Maybe some organic veggies from the farm?? I also don't have proper meditation clothing (loose fitting black pants and long sleeve shirts). I have one pair of light weight black pants I bought in Thailand and a black tee-shirt Keiko bought for Lansen that he didn't take with him (too many shirts, he said...one, two, three...waaaaay too many shirts! lol...). It had a small silver playboy bunny embroidered on the front which I had to cut out. Unfortunately, the shirt emerged a bit scathed...patching is on the agenda tonight...hopefully, I can find some cheap clothes or at least a black bedsheet at a recycle shop in Tokyo or Kyoto tomorrow/the next day?
On the other hand, I am now the proud owner of my very own pair of Japanese ninja farmer shoes! They have an indigo colored liner and are about 10" tall, except that's really hot, so I folded them down when I wore them for the first time this evening. That made them look more like Elf shoes, which is potentially a bonus, depending on my mood? I love em'!
Blessings everyone. My heart and prayers go out to everyone wherever you may be on your journey. Much love!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Happy Sweet-Sixteen, Emiko!
Last night we threw a surprise sweet 16 birthday party for the 60 year old boss's assistant and the 60 year old boss. They've been best friends for 40 years! It was really fun. I made a robot pinata (and wrote ROBOTO-SAN on him! He had 4 faces and dangly arms and legs) and stuffed him with home-made carrot cookies and home-made dollar store (aka 100 yen shoppe) tennis ball poi we got to play with (Lansen has been giving me and Masaru poi spinning lessons--I feel like I'm getting a lot better). There was also a music jam session with the bamboo instruments Lansen's been making and I freestyle-sang a song about life WWOOFing on Keiko's farm (featuring the slicer machine I love so much, even though it cuts me...I think the real name is mandolin slicer? it has adjustable width cutting blades and adjustable slice thicknesses. a couple days ago making potatoes (we have so many potatoes...), I took off a pretty good chunk of my index finger tip. Had to tape it to go to work out of the "nightengale set-o" which is Japanese-English for first aid kit. Challenging to finish frying the potatoes without bleeding into them...doh). Emiko (the un-birthday girl) and I had a little song duel and I sang my favorite aria--Con te Partiro. It was fun to sing again, though I'm a bit out of practice without Wendy's lessons and kirtan...then we sang Happy Birthday in both Japanese and English and had chocolate cake, rubarb jello-ish stuff, soy-chiffon cake, and hagendas ice cream. It was a feast.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Mixed meditations
I try to keep up with at least 20 minutes meditation everyday. Sitting still in the body is a lot easier than sitting still in the mind. And of course, that is the point of practicing, I just keep spending my meditaiton time wondering what I should be doing (ie vipassana, or samatha, or anapanasati, or big mind/big heart, non-grasping mind...) instead of picking one. Maybe I'll start sitting by setting an intent to do one practice at least for that specific sitting.
Mini-supervisor
I've been at Keiko's farm for nearly a month now, and two new WWOOFers just came today. A german woman (23) and a french guy (21). Since I pretty well know my way around now, I get to help teach the new guys as part of my work. It's kinda fun being a mini-supervisor.
New photos have been taken, but Lansen's memory card won't fit in this computer's reader...perhaps in the next couple days. Saturday, we're planning to throw a random sweet sixteen birthday party for one of the farm workers (she's actually 60 and we have no idea when her actual birthday is, but she's a really cool woman and Lansen thought it would be fun to throw her a birthday party). I spent my post-lunch break taping cardboard scraps into a robot pinata and Masaru got some water balloons at a dollar store near his school, so we're gonna play water-balloon volleyball. I'm also making some poi for spinning lessons and there will probably be a music jam/dance party. Random fun stuff...I'm gonna miss Lansen when he's gone. He's another american and he's super cool. I laugh myself into tears at least weekly with him around...and we've had a couple serious conversations about life the universe and everything. Not quite to the same depth as I get into with the integral folks in Wayne co, but along similar lines. It felt like dusting the cob-webs off a cordoned off section of my brain. Good to do.
I renewed my WWOOF membership and I'm waiting for my new WWOOFer card. I'll probably start thinking about the rest of my summer here pretty soon. Other WWOOF hosts I'd like to try, other places to go, what to do, people to track down and visit. I'm also interested in finding a temple stay for a month-ish. I called a few while I was in Tokyo, but the English speaking was a bit slim, and they only do open retreats annually or semi-annually... I might find what I'm looking for if I head north? It is just so easy to keep on with the daily grind. It's hard to believe a month has gone by already! (Happy almost 4th of July, btw!)
New photos have been taken, but Lansen's memory card won't fit in this computer's reader...perhaps in the next couple days. Saturday, we're planning to throw a random sweet sixteen birthday party for one of the farm workers (she's actually 60 and we have no idea when her actual birthday is, but she's a really cool woman and Lansen thought it would be fun to throw her a birthday party). I spent my post-lunch break taping cardboard scraps into a robot pinata and Masaru got some water balloons at a dollar store near his school, so we're gonna play water-balloon volleyball. I'm also making some poi for spinning lessons and there will probably be a music jam/dance party. Random fun stuff...I'm gonna miss Lansen when he's gone. He's another american and he's super cool. I laugh myself into tears at least weekly with him around...and we've had a couple serious conversations about life the universe and everything. Not quite to the same depth as I get into with the integral folks in Wayne co, but along similar lines. It felt like dusting the cob-webs off a cordoned off section of my brain. Good to do.
I renewed my WWOOF membership and I'm waiting for my new WWOOFer card. I'll probably start thinking about the rest of my summer here pretty soon. Other WWOOF hosts I'd like to try, other places to go, what to do, people to track down and visit. I'm also interested in finding a temple stay for a month-ish. I called a few while I was in Tokyo, but the English speaking was a bit slim, and they only do open retreats annually or semi-annually... I might find what I'm looking for if I head north? It is just so easy to keep on with the daily grind. It's hard to believe a month has gone by already! (Happy almost 4th of July, btw!)
Beansprout
A few days ago, over breakfast, we were talking about the three Japanese alphabets--Kanji (which has 4000-5000 characters!), hiragana (about 50), and katagana (or something like that, with abouth another 50). Hiragana and katagana were developed to write foreigner's names phonetically, but Keiko decided to try to figure out Kanji symbols for Lansen and me. Lansen's name means Battle Royale, which we all had a good laugh over. His dad is in the military, but he's a pretty darn peaceful soul from what I've seen. The kanji they chose for Mare means Blossom that develops from a bud. I thought that was super cool. Better than House of bitter waters, which is the biblical derivation for my full name. They went through a few iterations to arrive at our kanji names, and one for Lansen involved a character that looked like the number 4, so he dubbed himself Funky Fresh Four, and since my name is a whole sentence, he shortened it to Beansprout. It makes for a fun inside joke. My name in katagana (I think?) looks like XP, so that's another possibility, but beansprout seems to be sticking better. I dig it. My mom used to call me peanut, so perhaps I'm finally germinating in life? lol
I'm a wheat combine driver!
They let me drive the combine! That was fun. Especially as a baker, to get to harvest the wheat and then clean the machine was way cool. I hope to sprout some of the grains I harvested and make some bread out of it. The only thing cooler would be if it was wheat (or some other grain) I had planted and cared for.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Pizza night!
Tonight, Lansen and I made pizza from scratch and it was AWESOME!!! Pix below. The crust was wheat flour and water to make a dough, then kneed in some salt, sugar (optional), and baking powder (I think soda would have been better, but you use what you gots, ya know?), rosemary, and a generous amount of olive oil. I kept asking Lansen how much of each thing to add--he lived in Italy for 4 years, so he oughta know, eh? He kept saying whatever you feel. I cook a lot of things by feel, but I usually use recipies for a framework when trying something knew, and it's been a long time since I made pizza dough...
With a little prodding, Lansen gave a little more direction and I rolled out two beautiful pizza crusts. I contemplated tossing the dough to thin it out (for the full pizza making experience, you know), but since our baking pans were little Japanese rectangles for the little Japanese oven, I just squished and pressed with my palms, knuckles and finger-tips. Over the crust, we brushed an oil, garlic, basil, oregano, and salt mixture (the oil helps seal the dough and keeps it from getting soggy under wet toppings or drying out around the edges). Over the oil, we poured tomato sauce on 3 and left one just oiled. He did 3 with cheese and various toppings. I did one with no cheese and tons of veggies. I've made a similar pizza without cooking the toppings and it came out rather al dente...not my intent, so I stepped over to the frying pan and seared some thinly sliced zucchini (of course! though it's almost the end of the season, I think...), eggplant, onions, carrots, and spinach which I then arranged over the tomato sauce.
Masaru made a delicious potato soup in the pressure cooker (I've never seen soup made in the pressure cooker before), I threw together a salad with red lettuce, iceberg, raisins, grapefruit, and carrots shredded in the slicer machine I love so much, and viola! Feast your eyes on this (quite possibly the best pizza I've ever tasted):
With a little prodding, Lansen gave a little more direction and I rolled out two beautiful pizza crusts. I contemplated tossing the dough to thin it out (for the full pizza making experience, you know), but since our baking pans were little Japanese rectangles for the little Japanese oven, I just squished and pressed with my palms, knuckles and finger-tips. Over the crust, we brushed an oil, garlic, basil, oregano, and salt mixture (the oil helps seal the dough and keeps it from getting soggy under wet toppings or drying out around the edges). Over the oil, we poured tomato sauce on 3 and left one just oiled. He did 3 with cheese and various toppings. I did one with no cheese and tons of veggies. I've made a similar pizza without cooking the toppings and it came out rather al dente...not my intent, so I stepped over to the frying pan and seared some thinly sliced zucchini (of course! though it's almost the end of the season, I think...), eggplant, onions, carrots, and spinach which I then arranged over the tomato sauce.
Masaru made a delicious potato soup in the pressure cooker (I've never seen soup made in the pressure cooker before), I threw together a salad with red lettuce, iceberg, raisins, grapefruit, and carrots shredded in the slicer machine I love so much, and viola! Feast your eyes on this (quite possibly the best pizza I've ever tasted):
Sushi lessons
What a culinary experience Keiko's farm has provided so far! Not that I'm surprised, since it was my belly that brought me here. :)
Somehow, after near-nightly dinner photos, we neglected to take shots of the sushi we had two days ago! argh!! but it was scrumtous, I assure you. Since I'm vegetarian, Keiko asked me what I put in sushi, so I told her. Avacado, cucumber, carrot (carrot??? she made a shocked face), tofu (tofu???), spinach, green onion, nuts (what!?!)...I really threw her for a loop, but give her credit, man, she let me do what I wanted and she was the first to try it! Pretty good, she said. She asked where I learned to make sushi with a hint of respect in her voice. I shrugged...the back of nori packages? Some from browsing sushi books in bookstores, some from the internet, some from paying attention to sushi chefs and restaurant menus. It was fun sharing sushi knowledge with a Japanese person! And I guess she used to be a sushi chef (is there anything this woman hasn't done???), so she gave me some tips on rolling and slicing.
I usually press my sushi rice firmly onto the nori paper with the rice spatula. Keiko suggested just softly sprinkling it on with damp finger-tips (to avoid excessive sticking). Add your choice of filler ingredients and then roll it up and press it into a square, instead of the circle I'm used to. Let the squares sit seam-side down for few minutes. As it sits, moisture from the rice goes into the nori and it contracts into a circle! cool to see. Then the rice is compressed naturally and each roll becomes a lot faster to make. The slicing I didn't get very good at. It's a sortof gentle upward stroke towards you on the top far side of the roll to cut the nori just a little, then a strong decisive stroke down through the whole roll, like Mr. Miagi teaching Daniel-san how to hammer nails. Wipe the knife (preferably a square-ish near butcher-knife sized blade) on a damp cloth between cuts to prevent sticking. I like my gentler sawing method with a knife dipped in water between strokes better, still...hard to break from what you're used to sometimes.
Somehow, after near-nightly dinner photos, we neglected to take shots of the sushi we had two days ago! argh!! but it was scrumtous, I assure you. Since I'm vegetarian, Keiko asked me what I put in sushi, so I told her. Avacado, cucumber, carrot (carrot??? she made a shocked face), tofu (tofu???), spinach, green onion, nuts (what!?!)...I really threw her for a loop, but give her credit, man, she let me do what I wanted and she was the first to try it! Pretty good, she said. She asked where I learned to make sushi with a hint of respect in her voice. I shrugged...the back of nori packages? Some from browsing sushi books in bookstores, some from the internet, some from paying attention to sushi chefs and restaurant menus. It was fun sharing sushi knowledge with a Japanese person! And I guess she used to be a sushi chef (is there anything this woman hasn't done???), so she gave me some tips on rolling and slicing.
I usually press my sushi rice firmly onto the nori paper with the rice spatula. Keiko suggested just softly sprinkling it on with damp finger-tips (to avoid excessive sticking). Add your choice of filler ingredients and then roll it up and press it into a square, instead of the circle I'm used to. Let the squares sit seam-side down for few minutes. As it sits, moisture from the rice goes into the nori and it contracts into a circle! cool to see. Then the rice is compressed naturally and each roll becomes a lot faster to make. The slicing I didn't get very good at. It's a sortof gentle upward stroke towards you on the top far side of the roll to cut the nori just a little, then a strong decisive stroke down through the whole roll, like Mr. Miagi teaching Daniel-san how to hammer nails. Wipe the knife (preferably a square-ish near butcher-knife sized blade) on a damp cloth between cuts to prevent sticking. I like my gentler sawing method with a knife dipped in water between strokes better, still...hard to break from what you're used to sometimes.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Weaving lessons continue
I continue to spin wool in my spare time (when I'm not mediating, blogging, or biking around...). I have soaked my spun yarn in warm water and stretched it to dry (the skeins are on the floor to the left next to the weaving book and the mini-rug Keiko made). Next I will string my first loom and attempt a small weaving. I wanted to learn weaving in the native american style, which Keiko can teach(!), but she loaned me a book on it in English (which she can't read, but she can follow the pictures) and I got intimidated...start slow, grasshopper...
More photos
Lansen harvesting bamboo from the neighboring forest.
Lansen in his impromptu workshop. So far, he's made a marginally functional regular flute, a very functional didge, a pan flute set, a rain stick, and an awesome marionette (ok, so that's not musical, but someone's gotta dance, right?).
This is Lansen. WWOOFing was cool before, but it's even more fun now!!
hehe, they let me drive the tractor! Peace, brothers and sisters!
This is the onion drying rack Masaru, Jean, and I built when I first got to the farm. It doubles as monkey bars, it's that strong.
Lansen in his impromptu workshop. So far, he's made a marginally functional regular flute, a very functional didge, a pan flute set, a rain stick, and an awesome marionette (ok, so that's not musical, but someone's gotta dance, right?).
This is Lansen. WWOOFing was cool before, but it's even more fun now!!
hehe, they let me drive the tractor! Peace, brothers and sisters!
This is the onion drying rack Masaru, Jean, and I built when I first got to the farm. It doubles as monkey bars, it's that strong.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Pensive reflections
We were rockin' out to the Beatles while washing dishes this morning (right?? these guys love the Beatles...the 11 year old guest who visits during the week in the summer studied them in school!), and I looked out the kitchen window, past the old, dilapidated outdoor latrine into the neighbor's bamboo forest.
I errupted into laughter--you know my belly laugh...something like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman? This is my life. I'm washing tea cups and rice bowls and serving plates and chop sticks and spoons and frying pans and listening to the beatles at 9AM after the morning harvest and preparing the food...
I think of my friends back home, tied to their jobs, debts, fears, loves, stuff...I think many of them would love to be here. How many people have told me they admire my courage for striking out on my own and following my heart and trusting the universe to provide along the way. I am so fascinated to watch the thought seeds planted in my mind years ago coming to fruition in the most unlikely ways...learning to weave, make bagels, share music, meditate, calm my mind, use my body, teach yoga, be a healer. Studying AP European history in high school, I wanted to be a Renaissance woman--to speak 5 languages fluently, be a master craftsman, carpenter, painter, sculptor, geographist, mathematician...I thought it was impossible, but I'm perceived as the everything woman here.
A few mornings ago, I ripped out a piece of the thin ply-wood wall and replaced it with a corrigated plastic roofing panel while the other american wwoofer made french toast out of the cinnamon raisin challa we'd baked the night before. Keiko and friends got a good laugh: the woman carpenter and the man cook. I also sing, cook, speak a little Thai, teach yoga, and pretty much any farm chore they've given me, I've done: daijobe, mon dai nai...everything ok, no problem/no worries. :)
Anyone can do this.
Anyone can do this.
I believe.
I errupted into laughter--you know my belly laugh...something like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman? This is my life. I'm washing tea cups and rice bowls and serving plates and chop sticks and spoons and frying pans and listening to the beatles at 9AM after the morning harvest and preparing the food...
I think of my friends back home, tied to their jobs, debts, fears, loves, stuff...I think many of them would love to be here. How many people have told me they admire my courage for striking out on my own and following my heart and trusting the universe to provide along the way. I am so fascinated to watch the thought seeds planted in my mind years ago coming to fruition in the most unlikely ways...learning to weave, make bagels, share music, meditate, calm my mind, use my body, teach yoga, be a healer. Studying AP European history in high school, I wanted to be a Renaissance woman--to speak 5 languages fluently, be a master craftsman, carpenter, painter, sculptor, geographist, mathematician...I thought it was impossible, but I'm perceived as the everything woman here.
A few mornings ago, I ripped out a piece of the thin ply-wood wall and replaced it with a corrigated plastic roofing panel while the other american wwoofer made french toast out of the cinnamon raisin challa we'd baked the night before. Keiko and friends got a good laugh: the woman carpenter and the man cook. I also sing, cook, speak a little Thai, teach yoga, and pretty much any farm chore they've given me, I've done: daijobe, mon dai nai...everything ok, no problem/no worries. :)
Anyone can do this.
Anyone can do this.
I believe.
Awesome Japanese English
At the 100 yen shop today I found a couple cool Japanese English tidbits:
on a tiny notebook (ie 2"x4") with a pink and red and black and white striped pokadot pattern, it says
Sensing a touch of love.
When you shine ultimately.
lol. I bought this to be my Reiki distance healing notebook. Please let me know if you would like me to write your name in my book. This way, I can send distance healing to everyone at once by giving reiki to the book. Awesome.
Some postcards I found with little doves and bamboo pictures on the cover says
Are you happy?
Sometime it's better just to let go.
and finally (my favorite), on a tiny spiral note book (think 2.5"x4") with a red cover and big silver letters it says Super sparkle, and in tiny silver letters,
Sparkle Soul
I study for a future aim every day and
do an effort to think about it. Believe
a lucky sparkle fantastically.
I laughed and laughed. Today at Lunch, the other american wwoofer and I were discussing the grammar differences between English and Japanese (it is sooooooo nice to be able to discuss again! We can use words like juxtapose and ubiquitous and bonafide (and fo shiz...) and trust that the other probably understands what we're talking about! What a blessing). In English, the fundamental sentence structure goes subject, verb, object. In Japanese, it's subject, object, verb, with a bunch of filler words that mean something to locals but seem to change randomly to me at this point. I don't know yet where to put adjectives (maybe at the end?), but I can now string together a few basic questions correctly and everyone around me gets very excited. It's so cute to see their eyes light up when I ask what the cat's name is (there are 4 and I keep forgetting one of them...).
But basically, a sentence like
Yesterday, I visited a big, beautiful, house in the country.
translated into Japanese and direct translated back becomes something like
I yesterday by the country big beautiful house visited.
No wonder they wind up with phrases like Oh, it's convenience! and Do an effort to think about. or Believe a lucky sparkle fantastically...
Laughter is a blessing to the world, eh?
on a tiny notebook (ie 2"x4") with a pink and red and black and white striped pokadot pattern, it says
Sensing a touch of love.
When you shine ultimately.
lol. I bought this to be my Reiki distance healing notebook. Please let me know if you would like me to write your name in my book. This way, I can send distance healing to everyone at once by giving reiki to the book. Awesome.
Some postcards I found with little doves and bamboo pictures on the cover says
Are you happy?
Sometime it's better just to let go.
and finally (my favorite), on a tiny spiral note book (think 2.5"x4") with a red cover and big silver letters it says Super sparkle, and in tiny silver letters,
Sparkle Soul
I study for a future aim every day and
do an effort to think about it. Believe
a lucky sparkle fantastically.
I laughed and laughed. Today at Lunch, the other american wwoofer and I were discussing the grammar differences between English and Japanese (it is sooooooo nice to be able to discuss again! We can use words like juxtapose and ubiquitous and bonafide (and fo shiz...) and trust that the other probably understands what we're talking about! What a blessing). In English, the fundamental sentence structure goes subject, verb, object. In Japanese, it's subject, object, verb, with a bunch of filler words that mean something to locals but seem to change randomly to me at this point. I don't know yet where to put adjectives (maybe at the end?), but I can now string together a few basic questions correctly and everyone around me gets very excited. It's so cute to see their eyes light up when I ask what the cat's name is (there are 4 and I keep forgetting one of them...).
But basically, a sentence like
Yesterday, I visited a big, beautiful, house in the country.
translated into Japanese and direct translated back becomes something like
I yesterday by the country big beautiful house visited.
No wonder they wind up with phrases like Oh, it's convenience! and Do an effort to think about. or Believe a lucky sparkle fantastically...
Laughter is a blessing to the world, eh?
Bread for breakfast
This morning,we made bagels and chiapatta with eggplant/pepper stir-fry and curried potatoes. We also shared the last of the 4 challa loaves--delicious home-baked bread morning. Then we weeded and harvested and transplanted in the cool morning drizzle, had pot-stickers from scratch for lunch (most with meat and some reserved veggie for me!), and took the afternoon off to go shopping at the 100 yen shop (aka dollar store).
I think next week I may try to start weaving the wool I've been spinning. This is so awesome... and the farm owner said as long as I keep giving her foot massages, I can stay as long as I want! ;) Right now, another american wwoofer is making a bunch of bamboo instruments--so far we have a didge I can play pretty ok, a rainstick, and some improvised marimbas. We're planning a concert. Keiko's Farm Orchestra. Poi spinning will also be involved, and maybe some juggling? Or puppeteering?? It's gonna be awesome...don't know yet who we're gonna play for. Maybe the handicapped group that helps out?
I think next week I may try to start weaving the wool I've been spinning. This is so awesome... and the farm owner said as long as I keep giving her foot massages, I can stay as long as I want! ;) Right now, another american wwoofer is making a bunch of bamboo instruments--so far we have a didge I can play pretty ok, a rainstick, and some improvised marimbas. We're planning a concert. Keiko's Farm Orchestra. Poi spinning will also be involved, and maybe some juggling? Or puppeteering?? It's gonna be awesome...don't know yet who we're gonna play for. Maybe the handicapped group that helps out?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Photos of the food!
A pretty typical dinner. Everyone gets their own rice bowl and soup bowl and a little plate. We eat family style, which means you just dip your chop sticks into the big serving plates in the middle and pile a bite or two onto your little plate or into your rice bowl. There is a distinct flow to this way of eating. It feels like being on a freight train...no one eats until everyone is on board, in the beginning, it's polite to hold back a bit, a few bites here, a few bites there, contemplating the taste and texture. I tend to go mmmmmmm, oishi! a lot, but I think it's more polite to just enjoy in silence. How much you take of a given dish shows whether you like it or not. After the initial tasting, there's kindof a shoveling momentum that builds up as the meal-train gets going. As the food dwindles, there's an energetic shift and everyone begins to take bites more slowly, eventually devolving into occassional listless picking. The last few bites are offered around (whether you want something or not, it's polite to offer it to another (it's rude to just take the last few bites...possibly worse to take the secondto last bite, cuz that forces someone else to take the last if they are still hungry. This is a bummer) and wait hopefully for someone to offer to you). Then the tea is poured (we drink tea 5 times a day! so weird...) as the last stragglers finish their food and no one gets up until everyone is finished with their tea. All the together time took some getting used to. A few days ago, I didn't feel like drinking anymore black tea or eating anymore sweets and I wanted to meditate for a while, so I asked to take afternoon tea in my room. Keiko said ok (well, she said "er, er, er" emphatically while nodding her head), so I did. When I came out, 3 people approached me and asked if I was ok with sincere concern. The other American WWOOFer and I decided we need to put up some hammocks so we can rest at tea time where they can still see us. The collective energy is so tangible here...
I digress, here's the food:
A feast for 11 farmers:
Solstice celebration! Challa and stuffed zucchini a la Mare :)
Our happy farming family:
I digress, here's the food:
A feast for 11 farmers:
Solstice celebration! Challa and stuffed zucchini a la Mare :)
Our happy farming family:
Tough times? Try WWOOFing!
In two weeks here at the farm, I've spent less than $20--$13 in luxury groceries (chocolate, raisins, extra rice crackers, fruit, etc...) and $4 for "dinner" at AMPM (yes, they have AMPM here! and 7-11, which sortof rhymes in Japanese, too: hachi-ju ichi (almost as cool as jet sip-et in Thai! though they just called it seven eleven, which disapointed me)). It was about $10 for the train to get here and maybe $2-3 to call from the lame public phones to coordinate a ride from the train station.
If the global shit hits the fan, so to speak, I think working here on this organic farm is a pretty sweet place to be! We eat so well...fresh organic veggies, eggs picked the day before, bread from an organic bakery across town we trade veggies with, rice from the farm owner's friend...lunch today was home-made udon noodles and tempura. It was amazing.
Japanese traditional Udon noodles:
1) mix the desired amount of flour with 40% more water (ie 500 grams flour and 200 grams water) and a pinch of salt.
2) kneed until dough is supple and fairly dry.
3) let dough ball rest for about 30 minutes in one bowl covered by another, then both covered by a damp cloth.
4) roll out the dough gently on a floured surface, like a pie crust
5) dust with starch powder (we used potato starch) and fold like a z-rest ground pad to the length of your knife
6) let rest again under a newspaper (or maybe a dry cloth?) for maybe 30 minutes? (it was unclear if this step was necessary, or just for convenience while we rolled out the other dough ball for the second batch)
7) slice to desired thickness (traditional Udon is about 1/4" maybe?)
8) unfold noodles and dust with more starch, set aside.
9) boil a big pot of water.
10) shake excess starch off the noodles and drop them into the pot.
11) stir with extra-long cooking chopsticks and boil about 6-10 minutes.
12) take them out of the water and serve hot or cold, in soup or plain.
13) enjoy! (we dipped ours in a bowl of diluted soy sauce (at least I think that's what it was))
Yum.
If the global shit hits the fan, so to speak, I think working here on this organic farm is a pretty sweet place to be! We eat so well...fresh organic veggies, eggs picked the day before, bread from an organic bakery across town we trade veggies with, rice from the farm owner's friend...lunch today was home-made udon noodles and tempura. It was amazing.
Japanese traditional Udon noodles:
1) mix the desired amount of flour with 40% more water (ie 500 grams flour and 200 grams water) and a pinch of salt.
2) kneed until dough is supple and fairly dry.
3) let dough ball rest for about 30 minutes in one bowl covered by another, then both covered by a damp cloth.
4) roll out the dough gently on a floured surface, like a pie crust
5) dust with starch powder (we used potato starch) and fold like a z-rest ground pad to the length of your knife
6) let rest again under a newspaper (or maybe a dry cloth?) for maybe 30 minutes? (it was unclear if this step was necessary, or just for convenience while we rolled out the other dough ball for the second batch)
7) slice to desired thickness (traditional Udon is about 1/4" maybe?)
8) unfold noodles and dust with more starch, set aside.
9) boil a big pot of water.
10) shake excess starch off the noodles and drop them into the pot.
11) stir with extra-long cooking chopsticks and boil about 6-10 minutes.
12) take them out of the water and serve hot or cold, in soup or plain.
13) enjoy! (we dipped ours in a bowl of diluted soy sauce (at least I think that's what it was))
Yum.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Lessons from a week on the farm
So far at Keiko's farm, I've harvested zucchini, potatoes, green beans, lettuce, strawberries (leftovers after season), mulberries, spinach, rubarb, cucumbers, Japanese radish, cabbage, and broccoli. I've packaged spinach, greenbeans, potatoes, and onions for customers. I've learned to card and spin wool into thread using my fingers, the top of my thigh, a drop spindle, a navaho spindle (who knew I would learn to weave with a native american tool in Japan!), and a sleeping beauty-esque spinning machine. I can speak a little (scochi!) more Japanese than a week ago and I've learned some cool new ways to cook stuff (they saute their veggies in sake a lot, which is a bummer for me), like coating the bottom of a frying pan with finely chopped cabbage and steaming it for a few minutes then cracking eggs on top individually, adding water and covering for a few more minutes. You wind up with quasi-basted eggs in thier own little cabbage birds nest. Top with a yummie sauce (we used some brown stuff in a bottle with pictures of veggies on it...soy sauce would probably also be good, or maybe holandaise sauce, if you're a fancy pants...).
I also helped build an onion drying rack, put up 100m of electric fencing around a rice field, dug up and helped change about 20' of clogged drain pipe at the house, watched a combine machine harvest wheat, taught three yoga classes, gave three foot massages, and tonight I taught two woofers and a houseguest (she does basically what we do, but she pays Keiko!) wool spinning 101. Fun!
I also helped build an onion drying rack, put up 100m of electric fencing around a rice field, dug up and helped change about 20' of clogged drain pipe at the house, watched a combine machine harvest wheat, taught three yoga classes, gave three foot massages, and tonight I taught two woofers and a houseguest (she does basically what we do, but she pays Keiko!) wool spinning 101. Fun!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Stepped on a nail!
This weekend, 50 of Keiko's organic food customers (as best as I can understand, Keiko distributes her food directly to customers--maybe like a CSA? She rarely goes to public market) came to the farm to plant the rice. Many farmers do this by machine, now, but Keiko still does it by hand. What a cool process...at least I assume it was, because a few days ago while cleaning up the farm before they arrived, I stepped on a rusty nail and it went through my rubber boots! yikes. Fortunately (thanks to the cat that bit me in Thailand...), my teatnus vaccine is current and I washed the small puncture right away (regretting leaving my irrigation syringe behind...), applied some anti-biotic cream, and bandaged it with my second favorite traveler's friend (right after my sarong (because of course I travel with a towel!)), duct tape!
Keiko saw my bandage and made me take it off so she could see. She wanted to cut it open a little more to squeeze out the possible infection and I said nononononono!! I had already squeezed it and washed it...it's good. Mondainai--no problem. Everyone else tried to scare me by showing how big my foot was gonna swell to, but I stuck to my guns: no Japanese farm-style surgery for me! Too bad I punctured my foot the day before rice planting...I took the day off while everyone else finished up. The next day, I did get to walk around in the paddy with one barefoot and one foot in my borrowed big rubber boots to help install an electric fence. Wet and squishy for about 6 inches, but then solid clay soil. very difficult to walk in in boots, no problem barefoot.
The fence is to keep the agaimo (sp?) ducks in the paddy. They arrived today, and the babies are sooooo cute! They will eat the worms and bugs that would otherwise eat the rice plants, and after the rice harvest, Keiko and friends will eat them! It all goes round in a circle...
Day Off #1 photos
Me and Yoniko, just chillin', peace-style, you know! (Representing the California Certified Organic Farmers! Thanks, UC Santa Cruz Earth Day, 2002!)
Mare struggles to count to ten in my new language...ichi, ni, san, shi, go...uh...roku! nana, hachi, kyu, ju! yippee!
Cycling around town on my day off, the fireman forman yelled something to me three times before I figured out he wanted to talk to me. I stopped and we chatted for a bit. Three other excited firemen came out of the station woodwork, smiling, but a little disapointed that I couldn't speak Japanese. We had a fun chat and they let me take a ton of pictures. Here's one with me trying to look as bad-a#$ as they do! lol
Tea time with Alex, a German guy who WWOOFed at Keiko's farm in the past. Notice the eyes I taped to the tea pot cuz it reminds me of a penguin...
Post shaved head in a borrowed tee-shirt, doing one of the things I do best...My cookies are very popular! These were zuccini, potato, onion, curry cookies with no sugar. A little chewy, but still delicious. (and handy, as zuccini is in season and I work on a farm...)
Mare struggles to count to ten in my new language...ichi, ni, san, shi, go...uh...roku! nana, hachi, kyu, ju! yippee!
Cycling around town on my day off, the fireman forman yelled something to me three times before I figured out he wanted to talk to me. I stopped and we chatted for a bit. Three other excited firemen came out of the station woodwork, smiling, but a little disapointed that I couldn't speak Japanese. We had a fun chat and they let me take a ton of pictures. Here's one with me trying to look as bad-a#$ as they do! lol
Tea time with Alex, a German guy who WWOOFed at Keiko's farm in the past. Notice the eyes I taped to the tea pot cuz it reminds me of a penguin...
Post shaved head in a borrowed tee-shirt, doing one of the things I do best...My cookies are very popular! These were zuccini, potato, onion, curry cookies with no sugar. A little chewy, but still delicious. (and handy, as zuccini is in season and I work on a farm...)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
life and death
There is a lot more killing in farming than I realized...I ripped out a whole row of perfectly good strawberries a coulple days ago, just because there were too many. Millions of ants are now rebuilding their homes because of me...I was mindless and set my hand down for balance while I did something else and they clearly communicated their displeasure to me by biting the crap out of my left wrist. oops. I still have the itchy welts to show for it. and then I tilled under a bunch of perfectly good lettuce...bummer.
On the up side, I shaved my head to 10 mm yesterday and I feel so free! pix soon.
On the up side, I shaved my head to 10 mm yesterday and I feel so free! pix soon.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Farm animals
Just chillin', you know.
Baby goats are soooooo cute!!
Before shearing this past april. Bummer I missed that event, but maybe I can wash the wool before I leave?
Me and the babies.
Baby goats are soooooo cute!!
Before shearing this past april. Bummer I missed that event, but maybe I can wash the wool before I leave?
Me and the babies.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Haiku realization
I was singing a very logical song today while washing potatoes in the rain, and I realized something:
Singing in the rain
what a glorious feeling
I'm happy again.
It's a haiku!! How cool is that? :)
I think farmers must be excellent meditators. I thought so in Thailand watching the shepards out in the fields with their cows, but now that I'm part of a working farm in Japan, I'm pretty sure. There's just so much time of being in the present moment, just with what you're doing. It's a great training to watch the mind. Who needs zazen when you can harvest potatoes? lol...
Singing in the rain
what a glorious feeling
I'm happy again.
It's a haiku!! How cool is that? :)
I think farmers must be excellent meditators. I thought so in Thailand watching the shepards out in the fields with their cows, but now that I'm part of a working farm in Japan, I'm pretty sure. There's just so much time of being in the present moment, just with what you're doing. It's a great training to watch the mind. Who needs zazen when you can harvest potatoes? lol...
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Let the WWOOFing begin!
I have arrived at my first wwoof farm after last night at my first couch surf. Nice so far. The couchsurf was in the north of Tokyo in a place I would not otherwise have visited. The woman owner runs an English school with tea and conversation every saturday evening and I felt compelled to be there. It was fun. I got my first Kanji lesson (Japanese script), which I've already mostly forgotten. This morning I woke up at 4AM, just before the trains began to run for the day (one drawback of awesome train service is living next to the tracks...), and decided to stay up and start my day with some yoga, meditation, and soba noodles at home. Then I set out around 6am to try to find a temple to meditate at, but no luck, so I just walked. Around 7:30 (the only Japanese people I saw at this hour were out walking thier dogs, pretty much. A few heading to work...), I found a shrine/temple looking building, so I wandered over. The gate was open and I went in and saw a 20' tall statue of the Bodisattva of compassion. The building was locked, but from the porch I could see a bunch of tightly packed grave monuments, granite stone blocks stacked together with wooden paddle-shaped sticks sticking up in back scripted in kanji. I assume well-wishes for the dead?
Towards the end of my circuit around the grounds, I found a ginko biloba tree (they are everywhere here!) 4' in diameter!! That was awe-inspiring.
Then I walked over the bridge across the train tracks that divde this part of town and into the main park where I sat by the pond in the zen garden and tried to learn from the fish and the turtles and the birds. A man cycled up to me and we shared a few minutes of conversation in broken bits and pieces of each other's languages. Pretty cool.
I walked back to my room at the english school, ate some more, packed up and headed for the train. I am far enough from Tokyo in a small enough town that the train stations on the ticket price chart are no longer labled in English. Fortunately, my next stop is a central one, and they are in bigger boxes and I recognized the script on my English and Japanese language Tokyo train map (which is a ridiculously useful piece of paper), so I got that one right. One train from Kura-Utawa to Omiya, change train lines and go to Kawagoe, change train lines and go to Ogasaki (I think that's the wrong city, but it starts with an O...) and stay on that line but change trains to go to Obusuma (it's a pretty small station towards the end of the line, so not many of the trains run this far. We sat in the train for about 10 or 15 minutes while 2 or 3 other trains from Tokyo came in and people trickled onto our train.
At Obusuma station, I called my WWOOF host to confirm my ride and she said she's never heard of Obusuma. yikes, what??? I slowly realize as we communicate and try to sort out our confusion that she speaks a lot more English than she seemed to when I called her to check in from Kawagoe 90 minutes ago...it dawns on me: I dialed the wrong number! This is my couch surf host from last night! duh...a couple minutes and a dollar later, I dial the right number, drop another dollar coin into the phone and connect with my ride. Huzzah!
A few people arrive at the station to buy tickets or ask a question or get dropped off by loved ones and I stand and greet them expectantly and briefly feel like a fool (or an ignoramus, anyway) each time. A few minutes pass, but not more than 15, and two exuberantly smiling people drive up, wave and hop out of their car to greet me. They wear muddy boots and shoes and have dirty clothes and I like them both immensely right away. We re-arrange the back seat of their little boxey SUV/minivan (think of a Honda Element put through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids machine), drop my daypack in the back, and we're off. I can't remember anything to say, so I pull out my Lonely Planet Japanese phrase book (LAX bookstore, baby--only $8 new...I didn't think that was too bad) and study it carefully for about 30 seconds. I figure the driver is the farm owner, Keiko, but I don't know the guy in back, so I ask his name in Japanese. They both laugh (that's what I was hunting through my little book for?) and I find out Masaku is a 17 year-old half-Japanese, half-Nepalese guy who lives at Keiko's farm. He speaks pretty good English and I get very excited. From Keiko's emails, I was expecting to learn a lot of Japanese really fast or sink in the tempestous sea behind the language barrier. Masaku's language skills are a pleasant surprise.
Before I know it we're at the farm, Masaku marvels at how small and light my pack is (hehe-oh yeah!), shows me to my house and introduces me to my housemate, Jean, a Taiwanese woman about my age who also speaks very good english. Awesome.
Jean shows me around the house, including the outdoor washing machine and indoor pit toilet (go figure), then takes me to the kitchen to see the schedule and where the food is. I cook myself some lunch--cabbage, carrots, eggs, oil, vinegar, and curry with 3 slices of different kinds of whole-grain bread, about as good as what I bake at home! Yum. During lunch, I meet one of the other farm workers and we chat and visit using her moderate English skills and an electronic dictionary (maybe I won't feel so language impaired after all!).
Turns out I arrived smack in the middle of lunch break and chores start again at 2:30. Jean and I are to begin the afternoon by watering the chickens and collecting the eggs, so we pedal over to the hen houses, which are on Keiko's property down the road about 5 mintues on classic Japanese bikes: single-speed girl's bikes with racks on the back and baskets in front. Did I mention there are 700 chickens? Yeah, that's a lot...
Then we cut cucumber leaves to try to stop a tiny-bug infestation, then we weeded the strawberry patch (it's just past strawberry season, so Jean said I could help myself! I liked that job.), and finally we put the sheep into their night pens and fed them kitchen scrap vegetables and fermented sheep feed? I don't know what it was...corn, rice, or soy byproduct, maybe?
Keiko and another farm worker prepared dinner and we came in to help set the table, make tea, and partake. Family style. yum.
After dinner I stretched a little (much needed!), helped Jean with some translation stuff, and gave Keiko a reflexology massage. She fell asleep, so I think she enjoyed it. lol.
Thus concludes this entry chapter in my journey into WWOOFing in Japan.
Blessings!
Towards the end of my circuit around the grounds, I found a ginko biloba tree (they are everywhere here!) 4' in diameter!! That was awe-inspiring.
Then I walked over the bridge across the train tracks that divde this part of town and into the main park where I sat by the pond in the zen garden and tried to learn from the fish and the turtles and the birds. A man cycled up to me and we shared a few minutes of conversation in broken bits and pieces of each other's languages. Pretty cool.
I walked back to my room at the english school, ate some more, packed up and headed for the train. I am far enough from Tokyo in a small enough town that the train stations on the ticket price chart are no longer labled in English. Fortunately, my next stop is a central one, and they are in bigger boxes and I recognized the script on my English and Japanese language Tokyo train map (which is a ridiculously useful piece of paper), so I got that one right. One train from Kura-Utawa to Omiya, change train lines and go to Kawagoe, change train lines and go to Ogasaki (I think that's the wrong city, but it starts with an O...) and stay on that line but change trains to go to Obusuma (it's a pretty small station towards the end of the line, so not many of the trains run this far. We sat in the train for about 10 or 15 minutes while 2 or 3 other trains from Tokyo came in and people trickled onto our train.
At Obusuma station, I called my WWOOF host to confirm my ride and she said she's never heard of Obusuma. yikes, what??? I slowly realize as we communicate and try to sort out our confusion that she speaks a lot more English than she seemed to when I called her to check in from Kawagoe 90 minutes ago...it dawns on me: I dialed the wrong number! This is my couch surf host from last night! duh...a couple minutes and a dollar later, I dial the right number, drop another dollar coin into the phone and connect with my ride. Huzzah!
A few people arrive at the station to buy tickets or ask a question or get dropped off by loved ones and I stand and greet them expectantly and briefly feel like a fool (or an ignoramus, anyway) each time. A few minutes pass, but not more than 15, and two exuberantly smiling people drive up, wave and hop out of their car to greet me. They wear muddy boots and shoes and have dirty clothes and I like them both immensely right away. We re-arrange the back seat of their little boxey SUV/minivan (think of a Honda Element put through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids machine), drop my daypack in the back, and we're off. I can't remember anything to say, so I pull out my Lonely Planet Japanese phrase book (LAX bookstore, baby--only $8 new...I didn't think that was too bad) and study it carefully for about 30 seconds. I figure the driver is the farm owner, Keiko, but I don't know the guy in back, so I ask his name in Japanese. They both laugh (that's what I was hunting through my little book for?) and I find out Masaku is a 17 year-old half-Japanese, half-Nepalese guy who lives at Keiko's farm. He speaks pretty good English and I get very excited. From Keiko's emails, I was expecting to learn a lot of Japanese really fast or sink in the tempestous sea behind the language barrier. Masaku's language skills are a pleasant surprise.
Before I know it we're at the farm, Masaku marvels at how small and light my pack is (hehe-oh yeah!), shows me to my house and introduces me to my housemate, Jean, a Taiwanese woman about my age who also speaks very good english. Awesome.
Jean shows me around the house, including the outdoor washing machine and indoor pit toilet (go figure), then takes me to the kitchen to see the schedule and where the food is. I cook myself some lunch--cabbage, carrots, eggs, oil, vinegar, and curry with 3 slices of different kinds of whole-grain bread, about as good as what I bake at home! Yum. During lunch, I meet one of the other farm workers and we chat and visit using her moderate English skills and an electronic dictionary (maybe I won't feel so language impaired after all!).
Turns out I arrived smack in the middle of lunch break and chores start again at 2:30. Jean and I are to begin the afternoon by watering the chickens and collecting the eggs, so we pedal over to the hen houses, which are on Keiko's property down the road about 5 mintues on classic Japanese bikes: single-speed girl's bikes with racks on the back and baskets in front. Did I mention there are 700 chickens? Yeah, that's a lot...
Then we cut cucumber leaves to try to stop a tiny-bug infestation, then we weeded the strawberry patch (it's just past strawberry season, so Jean said I could help myself! I liked that job.), and finally we put the sheep into their night pens and fed them kitchen scrap vegetables and fermented sheep feed? I don't know what it was...corn, rice, or soy byproduct, maybe?
Keiko and another farm worker prepared dinner and we came in to help set the table, make tea, and partake. Family style. yum.
After dinner I stretched a little (much needed!), helped Jean with some translation stuff, and gave Keiko a reflexology massage. She fell asleep, so I think she enjoyed it. lol.
Thus concludes this entry chapter in my journey into WWOOFing in Japan.
Blessings!
Friday, June 6, 2008
First full day
This morning I woke up at about 5am I think, but I couldn:t find my clock, so I stayed in bed until about 6...got up, warm shower (step up from Thailand in that regard!), and off to see the local temple. I meditated for about an hour in one of the halls. The sweet scent of the bamboo tatami mats was a nice sensory input to sit with. Trying to remember to stay in Big Mind, Big Heart and just let it all unfold.
The scale of the temples here is huge, yet somehow the altars seem less austentatious. There is just as much gold on the altars, but the statues are much more subdued--generally about 3` high?, bronze and often contained within their own curtained box instead of 8` high, gold plated, front and center.
Perhaps tonight I:ll go soak in my first onsen (hot springs bath)? Something just happened to my left foot and it really hurts...might also be self-reiki time...
The scale of the temples here is huge, yet somehow the altars seem less austentatious. There is just as much gold on the altars, but the statues are much more subdued--generally about 3` high?, bronze and often contained within their own curtained box instead of 8` high, gold plated, front and center.
Perhaps tonight I:ll go soak in my first onsen (hot springs bath)? Something just happened to my left foot and it really hurts...might also be self-reiki time...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
I'm here!
I've arrived safely! much love all. Internet is very expensive at the airport (10 cents a minute!), so more soon.
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