Ohayo. Ohayo. New Jersey.

When I first arrived here, my little house had a small garden in my backyard.  Unfortunately, I didn’t do a very good job of tending to it and it quickly devolved into disarray.  From what I remember, there were tons of peppers, cherry tomatoes, some parsley looking stuff, and Japanese eggplant.  In fact, one of the first things I noticed about my town was how practically every home had a decently sized garden.  Even my neighbor in the duplex had converted the yard completely into a garden and had a couple rows (!) of corn and various other vegetables.  I think this is a trait indicative of small town Hokkaido.  Everyone has their corn, edamame, tomatoes, and cabbages growing right in their yard.  Although just ten minutes away in Kitami, I had difficulty spotting any sort of garden amongst the tightly packed neighborhoods.  With the coming of spring and the busy gardening season, I’m thoroughly excited about the prospect of growing some of my own food.  Windowsill herb garden…what what!?

 This recent spike in my gardening interest owes its development to two things.  First, I’ve befriended a couple of folks who are vegan.  I look forward to meals with them as I know that they eat creatively and utilize many of the weird vegetables at our fingertips in the Japanese supermarkets.  You couldn’t pay me to eat vegetables when I was a child, but now, there isn’t much I won’t eat (although brussel sprouts and cauliflower are still on my shit list).  My favorite thing about my dabbles in vegan fare is that I’ve had to learn how to make things from scratch since many processed foods have milk products or eggs in them.  The second beacon in my food and gardening renaissance was the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  While she is known primarily for her fiction, such as The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, I have found her non-fiction to be equally enticing.  Barbara (yep, first name basis) was a biologist before she turned author and her writing is reflective of her scientific background.  She also has the added perk of a wit similar to Gail Collins’ motherly crass.  The book is a memoir of a year her family successfully spent growing as much of their own food as they could and eating locally in rural Appalachia.  More than anything, I loved how she talked about the culture of food.  For anyone that has known me for a year or two, they should know that I LOVE to talk about food.  Per Jon Stewart and Seth Rogan, the way I talk about food could make me Jewish.  Anyways, the book has its underpinnings around food culture and bringing back the importance of the kitchen.  She underscores using produce that are fresh, local, and in season, and helped me develop a newfound appreciation of local farmers’ market.

 These two factors have combined, in a Captain Planet sort of fashion, to give me a vegetable fascination that makes me giddy with excitement about the upcoming growing season.  Here in Hokkaido, we certainly aren’t short on farmland and farmers.  In fact, one of my Eikaiwa (English conversation group) members is a full-fledged farmer—you can buy her produce at the supermarkets!  Unfortunately, one of the things that I am uncertain about here is the concept of a farmers’ market.  Back in Seattle, we had the omnipresent Pike’s Place Market, but also had dozens of neighborhood markets (oh man how I miss Tiny’s peaches).  So far, I don’t know of any farmers’ markets as it seems that most farmers deal directly with supermarkets or the behemoth JA (Japan Agriculture) entity for distribution.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for any markets if they exist out here.  However, the abundance of home gardens might negate the necessity for a farmers’ market, at least out here in the boonies.

 My town has a large community garden where you can rent 35 square meters for about $40 a year.  This would probably be more than enough space to feed me throughout the year, however that might be a tad ambitious for someone with limited gardening experience.  I think I’ll stick to my windowsill herbs and small backyard plot.  I’ve made a great list of things I want to grow…they are a bit of a reach given that my little plot of land isn’t that big.  I’ve got lettuce and spinach aplenty. I’ve kale and zucchini to boot.  Want edamame?  I’ve got twenty.  But who cares…da da da dah…I want more…sorry…Little Mermaid moment.  But seriously, it’s going to be great.  There are some big plans for some cilantro and maybe sunflowers.  It’s pretty exciting.  Oh, and did I mention that asparagus grows wild here?  Giddy up.

 *update.  Yes, my town does have a farmers’ market, but I’ve been warned that it’s tiny and only on Saturdays and Sundays.  It starts toward the end of May, so we’ll see if I can find any gems.