Announcement of the 2nd Umi Freai Farm Event in the new fiscal year

The event will be held on the 1^st of May. The onions, which we planted in last year’s autumn, have finally reached their time to be harvested. After performing the field activities in the first hour, we will make a cultivation plan about which vegetables we are going to plant this year at the meeting place in Shoujidake. Afterwards, we will have lunch together where we are going to make use of our freshly harvested onions. Please sign up in advance if you want to participate.

 Overview

        Date and Time: Sunday 1^st of May 2016 from approximately 10:00 to 13:00 o´clock.                                         The event will take place regardless of the weather.

        Location:     Umi Freai Farm (Kasuya District Umi-town Shoujidake south 2-chome,15)

        Fee:               300 Yen (children are free) – includes food and organizational expenses

        Subjects:     harvesting onions                                                                                                                                           taking care of other vegetables (covering with earth, removing buds)                                                making a ridge and planting summer vegetables                                                                                     creating a cultivation calendar for the upcoming year

 

Intern report: 17th Flowerpot planting activity

On Saturday 16^th of April, Groundwork Fukuoka held the 17^th Flowerpot planting Activity which was conducted in 1996. On that day we started quite early in the morning to prepare everything until the event starts. We expected about 100 participants this year so there were a lot of things to do beforehand. Therefore we brought most of the necessary stuff we needed to the flower gardening park the day before, so that we only had to setup everything on the next day.

At 9:30 a.m. the people started gathering and after everyone was done with the accreditation, the event began prompt at 10 o´clock. It started off with welcoming the people and thanking them for participating. Furthermore a little instruction was given so that everybody knew how the course of the activity looks like. Then all the participants started to re-pot the seedlings one by one which were carefully grown by Midori no Machizukuri no Kai in Koga city.

During this time I helped to provide for everyone’s needs and arranged the re-potted seedlings by flower type and the participant’s group name. At approximately 12:30 o´clock all the seedlings were planted into new pots. It was surprisingly how fast and what volume of work can be achieved by working together. About 7000 pots in total were made. After thanking them for participating and for their great work the event was officially over and everybody searched for their name tags to take home the amount of planted seedlings they ordered. When everybody was done and left, we started to clean up the place.

All in all, the entire event was a success. The activity was accompanied by a sunny weather and everyone had a great time. Consequently the meaning of this activity to connect people by gardening and planting together and learn to understand and accept each other was definitely conveyed.

Written by Marcel

Intern Report: Event in Asakura

On Saturday 9^th of April, Groundwork Fukuoka held for the third time a spring event in the Miyazono district of Asakura Kurokawa. The meaning behind this event is to bring people from the local and urban area together by harvesting, cooking and eating wild edible plants together.

The city is about a 1 hour car ride away from Fukuoka, so we left the city quite early in the morning. We arrived about 9:00 am at the event´s place to prepare and set everything in place before the first people arrived. We all were really looking forward to this event because the sun was already smiling at us which showed promising to be a beautiful, sunny and warm day.

At around 10.00 am about 30 people in total gathered to participate in today’s activities. After welcoming everybody we separated into two groups to do different tasks. The first group was leaving to look for wild edible plants around the local area. The second group stayed at the venue and was helping, under the guidance of the professional cooking coordinator Ai Kanetaka, to prepare the Italian dishes.

I took part in Group A to explore the countryside in Japan. We collected wild edible plants like such as bamboo shoots, cod, parsley, aralia, bracken, butterbur and more. It was interesting to see how rich of wild edible plants the Japanese countryside is. After returning back we handed over our harvest and prepared everything for lunch. Since the sun was shining we sat outside to enjoy the warm weather.

Around 1:30 the food was ready and we ate together. Group B prepared several different dishes with wild boar and dear and as well with the wild edible plants Group A harvested. I tried as many as possible and I have to say that the food was very delicious. During lunch everybody enjoyed the meal and was proud of the work we accomplished together. At around 3:00 pm we started cleaning up the place. Due to the help of each other we were done pretty fast and were back in Fukuoka around 6:00 pm.

The day was quite long and exhausting and I felt immediately asleep when I got back home. Nevertheless, it was an awesome experience I was able to make and I had a really great time by exploring the countryside and talking to the people.

Written by Marcel

Umi Freia Farm Event Report

On Sunday 3^rd of April Groundwork Fukuoka held once again their monthly event in the town Umi.

As usual we picked up all the necessary stuff from a members private house and prepared everything at the field. Around 10 a.m. About 14 people in total gathered and helped to fulfill today’s tasks.

First we started with cleaning the field from weed followed by planting broccoli and cabbage. To protect the growing vegetables we netted a bug net over the planted part of the field.

                    In the meantime some people mixed again the soil of some other part of the patch which I did last time. The soil was now ready to grow new vegetables and we planted radish seeds into the ground. At last, like the last time, we planted again Livingstone Daisy Flowers which were prepared by us one month ago. After planting and cleaning up the place we were done about midday.

Though the event was over, there were a few small tasks left which were done only by Groundwork Fukuoka. In the afternoon we bought potato seedlings at the gardening center and planted them next to the radish seeds. Furthermore we collected some older potato seedlings from another vegetable patch to grow them in the same place like the new ones. At around 4 p.m. we were finished with everything and went home as well.

Even though the weather was cloudy, it was still pretty warm and only a few light rainfalls occurred during the day. Thanks to the support from everybody the work was done pretty fast and we all enjoyed the time together.

Written by Marcel

Announcement of the Umi Freai Farm Event in April

This week on Sunday, Groundwork Fukuoka will hold the first Umi Freia Farm Event of this year’s fiscal year. This event is a place where it gives you an opportunity for a multigenerational exchange (from children to adults) through various farm activities. While learning from each other we grow vegetables with organic pesticide and non-chemical fertilizer. Why aren´t you coming and enjoying the field activities together with us?

Date and Time:        Sunday 3^rd of April

Location:                   Umi Freai Farm (Kasuya District Umi-town Shoujidake south 2-chome, 15)

Access:                        Just a few steps from the Nishitetsu “Shoujidake” bus stop

Subject:                      planting of spring vegetables

To bring with:           towel, something to drink and motivation to work