How to Hazagake

Hazagake (or hazakake, or hasakake), a way to dry rice under the sun, has become our company's yearly event in autumn. "Haza" (or hasa) means the equipment with which the reaped rice is hung over and "gake" (or kake) derives from the verb "kakeru," or "hung" in English.

Hazagake had been popular until 1970. The scenery of hazagake, known as pastoral autumn landscape, could be seen all over Japan. After 1970, however, hazagake was replaced by the more efficient way of rice production; harvesting with a "combine" and drying with a machine.

To produce hazagake rice, the rice should be reaped with stems and bundled. We use the "binder," a special machine for reaping and bundling. A combine is not usable because it functions only to reap and threshed the rice simultaneously.

A Binder is useful but needs tips for operation.

The silver poles are contemporary Hazas

From our experience, the biggest problem with hazagake is machine troubles. The special machine "binder" often doesn't work. Engine troubles, sudden freeze in mud, or malfunction of binding mechanism is not rare. Smetimes 3 or 4 hours are spent to tackle with such troubles, when completing one rice paddy of hazagake normally takes a day with 5 people (for us). If the rice falls down because of rain and wind, it should be raised for the machine to work efficiently.

Sometimes binders are not useful because of troubles

When a binder doesn't work, we produce hazagake by hand. The rice is reaped with sickles and bundled one by one. This is the traditional style of race harvesting. While the binder operation needs sufficient skill and hands, hazagake by hand takes much more time and human power.

Make bundles using straws.

After about 7 to 10 days, hazagaked rice is threshed with a combine harvester. The whole process of hazagake therefore takes 8 to 11 days. This process is reduced to only a day if combine harvester is used from the beginning.

Rice Harvesting Season

Golden rice paddies and rice harvesting is distinctive autumn scenery in Uonuma. From the mid-September to early October, farmers work busily to harvest their rice, completing one rice paddies after another. The golden landscape is gradually turned to right brown.

Most farmers today use special machines called "combine" to reap and thresh rice immediately and dry rice with a special drying machine in a few hours. This is the typical harvesting scene.

a combine harvester doesn't need lots of human power

Jiyujin's staff, however, do not use such machines. We've been working with farmers and trying farming in a more traditional and natural way. We reap rice with old-fashioned machines called "binder," which are used to reap rice and make sheaves at one time, and hung the sheaves under the sun.

a binder needs much energy compared to a combine

Like car driving, "combines" doesn't need much human power. "Binders," on the other hand, should be carried and operated by hand. Operating binders looks easy and efficient compared to reaping and bundling rice by hand, but the operation in reality requires much energy and is as tough as hand work for us young girls!!

To be continued...

Weeding

The rice is growing in Jiyuden, where barnyard grass too is growing rapidly.

Weeding has become our routine now. We go into the rice field and weed by hand.

The work is progressing slowly but steadily.

The ridges are filled with barnyard grass

In spring, we got 15 mallards, helpful partners for weeding in our weed-killer-free rice field.
Mallards eat vermin and get the water muddy, for weeds not to grow rapidly.

But 2 mallards died soon after they flew into the rice field, and some escaped, some escaped again, and the number has reduced to zero the other day.. (We are still in search of them)

Runaway mallards

We will continue weeding until mid-August.

Rice Planting

We planted rice in our rice-field "Jiyu-den".

In recent years, we've been trying to grow organic rice by ourselves.
The farming is basically carried out in traditional agricultural ways, such as planting rice by hand, removing weeds without agrichemicals, drying harvested rice under the sun.

The first step of planting rice is to set the field ready for farming.
Plowing makes the soil soft and easy to absorb water.



Then pour water into the field.

Before planting by hand, we rolled a special tool on the field.
It marks lines on the muddy field and we can plant rice straight following these lines, though it doesn't work when there is too much water...

pastoral landscape..

Planting was very hard without a planting machine.
It took two days to complete two small rice fields, which may be reduced to just 3 to 4 hours with a machine.

Planting 3 to5 lines at one time.

Finally put a net around one of the fields, where we will feed wild ducks.

Straight? Almost.

to be continued...

The Latest Issue

The latest issue of Jiyujin "the Basics of Vegetables" is on sale now.



This is all about vegetables...vegetable menus from Michelin starred restaurants (Les Creations de NARISAWA, Daigo, Eventail, Hishinuma, Hei Fung Terrace, Splendido, Hermitage de Tamura), medical benefits of eating vegetables, home-cultivation of organic vegetables, vegetable Q&As, anti-cancer potency of vegetables, and so on.

What we recommend is "the Perfect Guide of Vegetable Restaurants," which introduces 161 restaurants in Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, with detailed information about vegetables used in dishes and the usage of chemical seasoning. A guide for healthy veggie life!

Last week we visited a backcountry route of Tsugaike to report for the SPRAY, Jiyujin's separate volume.



This area is a part of the Tsugaike nature park, where spread marsh and wild flowers in summer.

The word "marsh" sounds as if the land is rather flat and easy to ski, but this area is in the middle of what we call the Japan's Northern Alps and some parts are very steep and exciting for skiing.




We headed for Tenbo (observation) marsh deep into the nature park.

The snow condition was not perfect. Some parts were very slippery but some parts were not, and even sturdy participants tumbled many times. But such a lot of snow at this time in April was amazing.

A brace of gouse!

Reported by Hirasawa

Spring News

It's been getting wamer and wamer these days.

Fukinoto

Spring vegetables and flowers are shooting up.
Fukinoto is one of the most popular spring vegetables in Japan.
It is a sort of edible wild plants, which spontaneously appears on fields in spring.
We cook Fukinoto with Miso (soybean paste) or deep-fry and enjoy the spring taste!

Katakuri (left) / Koshinokobaimo (right)

Katakuri is a kind of wild flowers, well known as spring flower in Uonuma region. When snows gone, it comes out through dry grasses with pretty dawncast appearance.