Harvesting Bamboo for Tomato Trellises » Natural Farming Japan » Ōmishima, Imabari, Ehime
Happy to say that we finished our first bamboo construction project, using only wild-growing bamboo that we harvested ourselves. This is our "bonus" field, behind Benton Guesthouse, now planted in Mexican tomatoes and tomatillos!
The large poles were harvested from a lonely, abandoned citrus grove that is slowly being overgrown. The thin poles were harvested from a hilltop overlooking our neighborhood, where some of the street dogs live.
We decided to use a tripod design for stability. The plan is to continue to add horizontal bars as the plants grow, and loosely tie the plants for support. The two unplanted rows will be pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects and contribute to the local ecosystem.
The video also shows a look into our daily lives, as we juggle many responsibilities: guesthouse, farming, akiya renovation, future business developments, and settling into countryside Japan life.
自分たちで伐採した野生の竹のみを使用して、最初の竹建築プロジェクトを完了できたことを嬉しく思います。 これはベントン ゲストハウスの裏にある私たちの「おまけ」の畑で、現在はメキシカン トマトとトマティージョが植えられています。
大きなポールは、徐々に生い茂りつつある、孤立した放棄された柑橘類の果樹園から収穫されました。 細い棒は、野良犬が住んでいる近所を見下ろす丘の頂上から採取されました。
安定性を考慮して三脚設計を採用することにしました。 今後も植物の成長に合わせて横棒を追加し、植物をゆるく結んで支えていく計画だ。 植えられていない 2 列は受粉植物となり、有益な昆虫を引き寄せ、地域の生態系に貢献します。
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We are two foreigners living in Japan! We received a 6-month Startup Business Visa in cooperation with Imabari city, which then earned us a 1-year Business Manager Visa. This essentially allows us to sponsor our own residency in Japan via our small business: Benton Homestead. We have an akiya-turned-guesthouse and small natural farm. It's been challenging, but nothing is impossible!
Japan has an estimated 10-12 million 'akiya' abandoned houses, and we've purchased * two * of them! The first house was purchased for ¥1 Million ($7,500 USD) and abandoned for 10 years, which we've now renovated into Benton Guesthouse. The second house was purchased for ¥2.8 Million ($18,000 USD) and abandoned for an estimated 40 years. This one was a former 'ryokan' inn, and came with two pieces of nearby farm and forest land, sitting unused longer than anyone can remember. I’m documenting everything. If you’re curious to see life behind-the-scenes, please subscribe to our channel for daily "shorts", or find us on social media for daily "stories".
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The chirping of the nightingales and birds is wonderful。
A true sign of springtime! Lots of lovely songbirds around here, and the pheasants who sound like someone squeezing a rubber chicken.
Great video but needs more Ponkan!
You're absolutely right! Now if I could just get him into the harness, we could take him to the field with us.
Nice Sign!
Ahh, thank you! It took a lot of hours to get it just right. Lots of little things I wish I could fix, but, that adds character right? I haven't done any hand-lettering since college, and never with a paint brush!
Great job! I'm really looking forward to next weeks coconut radio episode. 😉
Thanks! Glad you got the joke 😅
Good to see the progress everyday! Evan san's "Ossan" T-shirt looks really nice!
Thank you Mizobuchi-san! There's always something new to do. We are getting ready for our first small honey harvest, which might be much earlier than expected.
The trellises look awesome👏 So cool to see all the progress you guys are making!
Thanks so much! We're getting some rain this week, and the plants are exploding with growth. Perfect timing to get them in the ground.
@@bentonhomestead Yayy! It’s going to look so beautiful 🥰
Seems your neighbors definitely approve of seeing a young vigorous couple putting in the sweat to really build something nice that adds to the community. The definitely have respect and affection for you literally putting down roots. They get to watch you learn every day, and the land being used and preserved and beautified. Oh, one more thing! the bundle of metal, canvas, and rope, might have been a tent/vendor's stand at one point?
Thank you, that's really nice of you to say. I like to think that's how they feel, so it's good to know that's how it comes across. Also, that's an interesting thought, about the vendor tent! I'll have to look again at the old photos I found yesterday. The wife grew award-winning flowers, and there were some photos of some sort of stall setup... you might be on to something! Although there's a lot of fishing on the island too.
Very cool what you guys are doing
Thanks so much!
This time next year you guys are going to be pumping out honey and veggies!
Hopefully much sooner than that! We might start selling veggies by Golden Week. And our first small honey harvest will be soon. Just ordered labels and jars :)
@@bentonhomestead you'll definitely be doing it sooner, I just meant really into full production everywhere by this time next year 💪👍
Remind me (privately if you want) when your trip is? We'd love to come visit your place sometime. But not sure how it'll work with the schedule.
I am hoping my tomatillos grow if not will be stopping by for some!
How are your seedlings doing?
😅well I think I killed them when I transplanted them 😢
@@cocolenchojapan Oh nooo! It happens to the best of us. We'll bring you more 🌱
Need a bigger machine!!
For sure! Thankfully, we only plan to till the soil this year, then we will move to a no-dig method :)
Did you feel any shaking with the recent earthquake in Ehime area?
Oh yeah, it shook hard enough to wake us up, and lasted a long time. The village earthquake alarms went off. But it was quite a distance away, and thankfully no damage!