June 2010

Companion planting, white eggplant and basils

Wow! That rock flew out of Mt Fuji!!!

Our neighbor Watanabe-san was digging away with his tractor, bringing up rocks to sell for stone wall building, and one day the tractor was stopped for a few hours so I went to see what was up. I found him in this 5m hole with a hammer and chisel, breaking up this behemoth by hand! These local boys know how to get it done. I think he is secretly planning a pyramid.

1 Day Mini Farm House

At the Solar Cafe Farm we have 2 new interns, Jane and Marc, agricultural and business students from a university in southern California have joined us for a three month program. We have 5 interns now and a lack of rooms, so we decided to put up a quick summer home with materials on hand. The 19mm greenhouse arches will hold a large blue-sheet tarp which will make a large waterproof roof to extend the living space around the tent. We will fill in the walls with “yoshi-zu” a bamboo reed curtain to give privacy, wind block and provide shade. All together we are spending about $60. the used tent was $20, the pipe connectors $15, and the tarps and rope about $25.

Our stage, ready and waiting.

The warm weather on Mt Fuji has us getting ready for a busy summer season at the Solar Cafe. The event space is available for rental. Contact us for bookings.

Organic Mint Chocolate Strawberry Tofu Cheesecake!!!

New on the Solar Cafe menu….this cake is made with organic mint and strawberries grown on our own farm, and fair trade organic 100% cocoa powder from Alishan. The “cheese” cake is made with tofu instead of cheese, so it is waaaay healthy too!

Companion Plants. Our salad lettuce and carrots together again!

Eco-Greenhouse & Earthships Building Workshop

This summer we will build a passive solar Earth Ship greenhouse that can be used as a living space or for growing plants year round.

Earth Ships are built largely with recycled materials, most of which are easily available and free for the asking. Used, steel-belted automobile tires, packed solid with earth, become giant 400- pound bricks that create sound-proof, fire and earthquake resistant, fortress- like walls.

Once built, Earth Ships collect rain water from potable roofing material into water storage tanks that provide an abundant source of water, even in areas with minimal rainfall.

Dates: July 28 to August 1, 2010 (tentative)
Cost: ¥ 48,000 (weekend only: ¥20,000)
Location: The Earth Embassy Solar Café and Farm, on the foot of Mt. Fuji.
Contact: info@earthembassy.org

The Experience Includes:
• Classroom overview of Earth Ship building and its environmental advantages. Discussion in English with Japanese support.
• Hands on experience building an Earth Ship. We will line a 4m x 8m hole with earth-packed tires and build a roof and south-facing wall designed to function as a passive solar greenhouse.
• Farm tour and organic farming activities.
• Hike to nearby Ice caves.
• Three home-cooked meals a day prepared with locally grown organic foods.
• Lodging in the Earth Embassy Guest House.

Companion Planting; Organic Rice, Wheat and Soy Beans

We planted our first rice paddy today! The organic rice “ine” (seedlings) are especially adapted to thrive with the cold weather we have been having this year. We planted about 125 tsubo (410m2) which should yield about 200kg of rice come harvest time in November. Seven Earth Embassy farm staff and interns did this in about 2 hrs. Thats 100kg an hour! We also helped local farmer Hirata-san plant soy beans in between rows of wheat, which will help control weeds and fix nitrogen in the soil as a fertilizer. Looking forward to home-made bread, beans and rice come fall. Hope you can join us for a meal.

The Solar Shower is heating up!

The solar shower at the Solar Cafe & Guest House catches rainwater from our roof, which is stored in 3 (200litre) tanks in an insulated box which heats up in the sunlight. The building itself was done with recycled floor boards from the Shojiko High Village house second floor. The boards are over 150 years old, with the original ax marks still showing where they were hand hewn long before advent of power saws, and the natural coating of creosote was layered on over years of smoke from the fireplace, and are thus the wood is naturally water resistant and will last for another 150 years. THAT’S sustainability baby!

Our Fruits are almost Ripe ALREADY!!!!

Despite a chilly spring, all of our fruits and berries are already coming! The strawberries will be ripe within the week, the blueberries are getting some size to them, and the peaches are already starting to get a little yellow around the edges. It is going to be an amazing year for pies and shakes at the Solar Cafe. We also just perfected the recipe for our own HOME-MADE graham cracker crusts ( we make them from scratch with organic graham flour!) But come early and come often, because good homemade pie waits for no man, woman or beast!

Solar Cafe’s Spiral Kitchen Garden, fresh for the pot!!!

Shojiko Kitchen – Classic Japanese meets Ikea

Reforming this kitchen was the biggest adventure of the whole house. We pushed out the south wall into the garden, and added big windows to let the light in and a deck next to the pond. The heated cherry floors were the only place in the house where we used imported wood; every where else is Japanese cedar. The real charm was when we exposed the beams above the drop ceiling that had been added. We polished them up and had to configure the new room to leave them visible. I really didn’t want to use wall-board behind the counter, so we ended up doing plaster by hand and added a piece of glass we recycled from an old pinball machine above the stove to catch the grease and be easily cleanable. We also wanted to keep a traditional country feel, but make the kitchen easy to use, so we added Ikea cabinets with all the special shelves inside for pots and cutting boards, etc, and an electric induction range with a grill built in for fish and toast. The final touch was the cedar splash board which we custom fit under the windows and gave 4 coats of varnish to make it last.

The treehouse

Basil and Rasberry canes in pots, open for business….

Top Sercet – Basil Pesto Pizza!

Wild Strawberries and Wild Dogs

These strawberries are actually a man-made variety that has grown wild in our home garden. They have been unattended for over 10 years, but are still growing strong, complete natural farming. We simply go in once a year and pull out some of the weeds around them. Even our animals help! Nora-chan, a wild dog from the village who adopted us last year, loves eating grass and was a big help with the weeds. The before and after pictures show the strawberries with a few weeds pulled out to let in the sunlight, and then piled along side for mulch.