For several days, Mo was nowhere to be seen at dusk. In the morning, she would come out to eat, and then disappear again. Bea was quacking and quacking, non-stop. The only way to stop her madness is to find Mo. So, I secretly stalk her after one meal, and… see her stealthily ducking under the raspberry thicket! I wait until dark, and go find her.
Ones damaged by insects, ones that are too small, and ones with blemishes (for example, bitten by the sheep that busted into the garden) alone are more than I can possibly eat.
Three kinds of lettuce, kale, chard, mustard, parsley, cilantro, and green onion… freshly picked, cut into bite sizes, and tossed together, filled a bucket. This should be enough salad for a few days.
最近ハマっているのが、‘ドラゴンボール’ 。（Dragon Bowlです。孫悟空ではありません。）
At the moment, I am hooked on the ‘dragon bowl.’ (do not mistake it with dragon ball – not Goku)
Take some steamed rice, top it with your favourite fresh veggies, dress it with this magic sauce (olive oil, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, and nutritional yeast), and it’s ready. It is so good, I could eat second’s and third’s… and more. The BEST summer meal, ever!
Only if I learned to grow the rice, this would be totally home-grown, home-made (aside from the dressing ingredients, of course). Let me add that to my life’s list. Cows, and rice…
柴くんは、このご飯には興味がなさそうです。
My dear Shiba does not seem to be interested in this meal.
It’s Kitsu-day, again. After supper, as I was getting ready to lounge, Kitsu was becoming restless…. This is a signal for a walk. Fine, let’s go to the forest.
この実はなんだ？
What is this berry?
食べてみよ。
Let me try one.
美味しい。。。もういっこ！
It’s good… one more, please!
裏山を仲間と走り回ったあの頃を、思い出します。
This reminds me of good old days when I was running around ‘Urayama’ with my friends.
足元は草履。
On my feet are flip-flops.
お供は柴犬。
And, my companion Shiba.
３３年前のあの頃と、なにも変わっていません。
Nothing has changed, since that time 33-years ago.
Who, from where, decided that today was the day? Why is there Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, but no Days for anyone else? All the burning questions set aside… Thank you to all the Fathers out there.
By the way, I have many ‘fathers.’ If I were to call each one of them today, it would take the whole day. Let us ignore this made-up day, and let’s thank them ordinarily on ordinary days.
‘mikka-bouzu’ (continuing something for only 3 days before quitting) can turn into 30 days, if you do it 10 times; into 300 days if you do it 100 times. There is no sense in wasting time, moping around. Let us move on!
この前もらってきた牛乳がどうなったのか、気になっていませんか？
So, that milk we picked up the other day… Aren’t you curious what happened to it?
上に溜まっているクリーム（加工されていないと、こう分離します）を掬いとって。。。
The cream is separated on top (this happens when milk is not homogenized) – scoop this up carefully…
(The rest of the milk will become kefir. Of course, you can drink the milk as is, but lactose can be hard to digest; so at our house, we leave it to the kefir grains. If you want to know more about kefir, try googling it.)
このクリームの入った瓶を、YouTubeでも見ながらシャカシャカ振ること１０分。。。
If we shake this jar of cream, while watching YouTube, for about 10 min…
黄色い塊が分離します！
Yellow lump appears!
これがバターだ！固めず、ふわふわのまま。。。
This is THE butter! Soft and fluffy…
友人が焼いてくれたパンに、たっぷり塗って、いただきまーす。
Lather a slice of fresh, home-made bread with it, and ‘Itadaki-masu.’
‘The tigers running round and round a tree, until they turned into melted butter…’ While reminiscing about that story book, one bite leads to another, one slice leads to another. The hand keeps on slicing the bread.
Once again, our weekly Kitsu day has arrived. Shel and Neo are both out on their sleep-overs. Kitsu really likes these weekends, when he gets to be the only-dog (I think).
畑仕事の合間に、隣の隣町の友人の家へ出かけます。週に一度の習慣です。
Taking a break from the garden work, we drive out to our friend’s house in the next next town. This is our weekly routine these days.
農業仲間のファームから届く、牛乳を取りに行くためです。
We are there to pick up a bottle of milk from our fellow farmers’ cow.
ほぼほぼペットの様に裏庭でヌクヌクと暮らしている、ジャージー牛の生乳です。
It is the fresh raw milk from a Jersey cow, who spends her days in a comfy backyard, like a family pet.
In our society, where countless poisons are legally sold and bought, why is it the raw milk that is dangerous? The real reason must be elsewhere, but we will not go there now…
Unreasonable rules are meant to be broken – that is the Shiba principle. I think that I am capable of deciding for myself, and at my own risk, what I eat and not eat. So that’s that.
そしてその友人の家の前の海辺を、キツと散歩します。
And then, we take a walk on the beach in front of her house.
This spring was slow to warm up, and the outside garden was not ready, yet; so they ended up in the corner of the greenhouse. 3 months later, this happened.
We hurried to that big tree, and hid under it for a little while. It was surprisingly dry under the canopy. But, the lightning and thunder were showing no signs of stopping, so we ventured out into the storm towards home. We were about 2 km away.
幸い、うちの柴たちは雷が平気です。雨だって気にしません。
Luckily, our Shibas are not scared of the thunder. They don’t mind the pouring rain, either.
Just in the few minutes of the downpour, the trails turn into creeks. The raindrops covering my glasses stop me from seeing what’s in front of me. I walk straight into a deep puddle, and sink up to my ankles. With that, there is no more caring about getting wet or dirty. I am invincible.
頭から爪先まで、びっしょびしょ！柴たちは泥だらけ。
Absolutely drenched from head to toe. The Shibas are covered in mud.
Garden-fresh green onion and home-made ‘natto’ on top of steaming rice. On the side, miso soup packed with shungiku, and a drop of duck egg. In the end, there is no feast that can beat this.
Right beside Uncle Colin’s Garden, is the farm’s grazing land. These cows are so excited today because they were just moved to a new pasture… with fresh grass!! They are all munching away at mach speed.
I love cows, always, and I feel comforted by their presence near me. But, these ones are here as beef cattle. I have to be careful not to get too close with them. Too bad!
This little one, is my current favourite. Is that his mom beside him?
He had the cutest chubby face as a baby, that stood him out from the rest. He is supposed to stay on the farm as a bull. If so, is it okay to become friends with him, just a little bit?
Being around these animals, I always ponder if the culture of eating meat could end some day. But in that world, I would not even get to meet these cows that were born to be beef. What do we do – it is a paradox.
このお母さん牛たちは、ニオに興味津々です。ニオは何もわからないまま、よって行きます。仲良しなの？
These mother cows are so interested in Neo. Neo naturally gravitates towards them. Are they friends?
No matter what fate they are facing, it is fun to share this time with them, here and now. One day, some day, spending my life with cows again, is one of my goals for this life.
そんな日を夢見て、今日も一日がんばりましょう！
Dreaming of such a day, let us have another great day!
