Pumpkins and a Turkey

We can't believe another week has gone by. This means that the participants study tour is coming to an end--they will be back tomorrow night! It also means my sister, Katie, will be here in less than 4 weeks! We are beyond excited about this...  :)

There are lots of things to share so let us get started:

Recent Harvests

This past week we harvested:

Persimmons 

Kiwis

Carrots 

Carrots

And more carrots!

The "good" carrots, ones that are an average size and typical shape, have been taken to a factory to be made into juice. ARI will then sell the organic carrot juice for income generation. It is actually one of the highest income generating projects that ARI has. So this work is very important! The good carrots that the factory cannot process into juice go the kitchen, and the "bad" carrots go to the pigs, yum!

Day Off

We took a substitute holiday this week and went into town. We pretty much went on a biking food tour, stopping at bakeries, coffee shops, and supermarkets to try new treats and also to enjoy old favorites. We took a picnic with us and ate on a nice grassy knoll along a side street. It was nice to get off campus for a bit and discover more about the town we are living in.

Blueberry danish

Green tea mochi with red bean paste

Supper at Sensei's

Friday night, Otsu-sensei, director of ARI ("sensei" is an address meaning "teacher"), invited everyone to his house for dinner. He had nabe set out in three different rooms (nabe is a kind of stew/soup, usually cooked at the table, eaten during cold weather season). It has become quite cold at ARI, so this nabe was a real treat! Also, Kathy (staff member form America) made cheesy garlic biscuits, they were the bomb.

Nabe

Excited about dinner!

Pumpkin Fest

We got a little bit pumpkin happy this weekend and made quite a pumpkin feast. Kikuchi-sensei, a former director of ARI, invited a few of us to cook pumpkin-something for residents at a local retirement home. He had a large pumpkin from his porch that he donated to the cause. I unfortunately was not able to get a picture of it, but it was about the size of a small child, maybe a 4-year old curled up in the fetal position. So we spent the entire Friday afternoon carving, cutting, and cooking the pumpkin to prepare for Saturday's festivities. In the morning we prepared two pumpkin pies. 

Des working on the pie filling

Doug and Jean Hae working on the crust

Before baking

Kathy, Doug, and Jenny with the finished pies!

We took these with us to the home since they take so long to cook and cool. In addition to the pies, we brought the fixings for pumpkin bread and pumpkin soup. With the help of a few residents, we whipped up the bread and soup in no time. 

Doug with the ladies filling pumpkin bread!

Pumpkin soup!

Before we knew it, we were all feasting together on soup, bread, and pie. We had a ton of fun and have already made plans to revisit the home during Christmas time, perhaps to make fruitcake!

The group

Shiobara Mountain

This morning, Sunday, we all set off in a bus to Shiobara Mountain. This is near where we went hiking before back in August. However it was just a tinsy-bit colder this time! Don't we look cold? 

We packed in a nice picnic lunch and shared treats in a little pavilion on the trail. After lunch, we hiked just a bit further and came upon an onsen! One of them was a foot bath and one was a mixed company bath. However, at the time, it was dominated by males. So Doug joined that bath and the rest of us enjoyed the foot bath! It was so nice after hiking and freezing our tootsies off!

We also visited the Emperor's Room Memorial Park, where we fed birds and toured through an information center about the Emperor (however, we did not learn much because we could not read the information boards, but the pictures were nice!).

Because it was such a cold day (4C~39F), we decided to stop at the ice cream shop. At this stop, we also journeyed into a zoo where we saw this guy:

Thursday Dinner?

Knight Field Update

Those were, in fact, wheat sprouts that we saw last week! However, only a few seeds had germinated. We were afraid that would be the case, for we did see some two-legged avian creatures hanging around our field and sticking their beaks where they don't belong. So we took up all our rice straw and tried another method of sowing wheat. We feel better about our defenses against birds and we just had a good rain, so God willing, our grains will multiply.

Up and Coming

As I mentioned before, the participants will return tomorrow! We have been preparing quite the welcome back party, so be looking for details on that coming up! 

Also on the agenda this week is THANKSGIVING. It has been strange seeing on the memes and status updates concerning this fast-approaching holiday, as you can imagine, the spirit here is not quite the same. However, the volunteers are planning to prepare a somewhat traditional Thanksgiving meal for the community. Doug is heading up that effort, so again, more details on how that plays out coming up next week.

When the participants return, they will only have 3 weeks left of their training program. *Fingers Crossed* they will all graduate on the 8th of December and fly out sometime that next week. 

And a very special and exciting announcement, two of our community members will be getting married at ARI on the 9th! Veny (Indonesia), a past ARI graduate who is a 2012 Training Assistant, and Kengo (Japan), a current participant, met here at ARI and are tying the knot! We are all very excited for them and can't wait to share in the celebration.

We ask that you continue to keep us and our community in your thoughts and prayers. The weeks to come will be very stressful and emotional yet exciting and joyful. We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Missing our traditional Thanksgiving festivities but open and thankful for new ones,

Doug and Jenny

Sprouts and Pizza

It has been a quiet week here on the farm with the participants out on their study-tour of Western Japan. Jenny is working in crops and vegetables for morning and evening Foodlife work. They have been finishing cleaning up all the vegetables from late summer and sowing winter wheat.

This means that the kitchen has large baskets full of final harvest. We don’t want to waste the green tomatoes, and green chilies that haven’t matured yet so we find things to do with them. We fry the green tomatoes or cook them with eggs. Today we worked all morning to put up some coconut chili sauce, and salt and vinegar chili sauce.

I’m in meal service for morning and evening Foodlife work this month. I’m working in the fields with the crops during the day and then using them in the kitchen to cook everyone’s meal that night. It is a dream come true for me.

News from Knight Field

 

We had a good rain this week so our spirits are high for Knight Field. Every day we squat and peer under the rice straw we laid down for mulch to see what is sprouting. Yesterday we high-fived and gave our thanks to the God of small things upon discovering several garlic sprouts peeking up, catching their first rays of sunlight. We also suspect a few needle-sized, green sprigs to be wheat, but we cannot be sure just yet.

Pizza Party!

Saturday, Jenny and Kathy turned the kitchen into a pizzeria. Together with the help of the volunteers, they made ten pizzas. Two were dessert. All were delicious, especially for us pizza deprived American volunteers.

 

Afterwards…

To celebrate our full tummies we piled in the van and rolled in ARI style down to the local karaoke joint. The place smelled like a bowling alley (cigarettes) but there was a free soft drink bar, complete with coffee and hot chocolate!

We rented a whole room and commenced jamming out.

Ricky opened us up with "Having A Good Time," by Queen.

I chose to sing “Seasons of Love,” from the Rent soundtrack and “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer. 

Jenny sang “Zombie,” by the Cranberries "Hopelessly Devoted to You," from the Grease soundtrack, and, "Sk8er boi," by Avril Lavigne. She closed us out with "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen.

Today, we are resting up, doing laundry, and preparing for Monday to arrive. This week we'll also be preparing for the return of the participants. Last time when they returned we surprised them with a water balloon fight and a candle-lit dinner. This time we have to do it bigger and better. Jenny is heading up the effort and she is thinking along the lines of Christmas in November. We'll keep you updated in next week's post. 'Til then, enjoy this beautiful autumn season.

Your fellow servants in Christ,

Doug and Jenny

November Changes

With the changing of the month comes many other changes at ARI. For one, volunteers rotate groups, so I (Jenny) am now in Group 2 (the pig group) in the crops and vegetables section, and Doug is in Meal Service. This means he cooks breakfast for morning FoodLife Work and cooks dinner for evening FoodLife Work. With me working in the kitchen during morning and afternoon activities, that means there is a Knight in the kitchen helping to prepare all three meals each day!

Other changes include the changing of leaves, the demolition of Old Koinonia, and the participants' preparation for upcoming Western Japan Study Tour. You may recall that in August, the participants left ARI for two weeks for the Rural Community Study Tour as part of their curriculum. Well this is a similar tour in which the participants will travel all over Western Japan visiting different farms and organizations related to their study. It will be another quiet 2 weeks on the farm for us staying at ARI.

Bye Bye Old Koinonia!

Bazaar in Tokyo

As we mentioned last week, last Sunday we headed to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Tokyo for an annual bazaar (market/festival)! ARI was selling a few goods there and we went to represent ARI and show our support and appreciation for The Anglican Episcopal Diocese in Japan, Nippon Sei Ko Kai. They are the ones who granted us our Certificate of Eligibility for our visa, so we are very grateful for all of their work in Japan and in the world.

We navigated public transportation and miraculously found ourselves in the right place and the right time, to meet up with J.B. (remember? Past ARI staff, director of AFARI). He showed us to the church where many, many people were already busy preparing themselves for the crowds lining up at the gate. There were all kinds of food: curry, oden, yakisoba, pizza, biscuits, yakitori. The three of us feasted on just about every kind of food there. We met many people associated with the Church and otherwise, and overall had a wonderful time at the bazaar.

Inside the Sanctuary 

Sam, he works for the Diocesan Office, he made pizza!

ARI table!

bustling streets...

Emma, from Uganda, on the bus!

Last weekend, the participants also traveled to Tokyo for their “home-stay program.” Members of Tokyo Union Church volunteer to host participants for an overnight stay. So they had all gathered at that church Sunday morning to worship and have fellowship. We were not sure what time they were all headed back to ARI, but in the hopes that we could save time and money, we decided to try and find the church to hitch a ride back to ARI on the bus. We hurriedly followed J.B. through train stations and busy, crowded Tokyo streets. We saw many families dressed up for Halloween, and many people just dressed up (for Halloween or not, we are not sure!) We seemed to have walked for some time, we had not idea how far we would be walking, but all of a sudden, we came upon a group of people standing outside this assumedly office or shopping building. Shouts of “Doug!” “Jenny!” “J.B.!” rang out and we realized we had made it, and on time as well! The participants were all waiting outside for the bus to arrive. It was a joyous reunion, the participants had no idea we were coming and hugs were shared all around. I think we all slept at some point on the bus ride home. :)

A Week with Chickens: 4 Things

1. Well, it was only a matter of days after I had the opportunity to butcher chickens that Doug was given the opportunity as well! This past week, the farm volunteers afternoon work was to butcher the remaining broilers (34). I also took a break from kitchen work to help and to document. Here are a few photos from the work.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Before switching out of Group 4 (chicken group), I had the opportunity to help vaccinate the chicks. We administered two different vaccinations, one was through an eye drop and the other through a wing prick (not technical terms). It was very interesting to have just butchered broilers, at the end of their lives, and to witness the chicks at the beginning of theirs.
   
   
3. I wanted to  personally and directly justify my actions of butchering chickens. So on my day to make main dish for lunch, I decided to honor the chickens by making a dish from our culture: chicken and dumplings. I had never made chicken and dumplings (southern style dumplings, no biscuits!) before, but I would say my attempt was a raving success. I will definitely be making more of this cold-weather comfort food in the near future!
   
   
   
4. One last thing, and this is only a teaser, but Doug and I have been getting in the holiday spirit in a hallmark kind of way, so prepare yourself! Enough about that.

Knight Field

Garlic

Doug and I have taken the next step with our personal field! After removing all the grass and oil cakes (oil had been disposed of in some parts), we spread bokashi and rice-husk charcoal over the plot to provide nutrients to the soil. The next day, we planted garlic and wheat! Nothing has sprouted yet, but we are patiently awaiting.

Doug sowing wheat

Seeds are sown and plot is mulched, now we wait.

I want to leave you with this song, it has been in my head this past week. We sing it often at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Conway and it's lyrics have really come to life for me here at ARI.

For the fruits of all creation, thanks be to God. For God's gifts to every nation, thanks be to God. For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping, future needs in Earth's safekeeping, thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor, God's will is done. In the help we give our neighbor, God's will is done. In our world-wide task of caring for the hungry and despairing, In the harvests we are sharing, God's will is done. (I found this 2^nd verse in a hymnal here at ARI, we only sing the 1^st and 3^rd at St. Peter's)

For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God. For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.

We hope everyone has a wonderful week! Please keep our participants and accompanying staff in your thoughts and prayers as they begin their tour this week!

Fellow servants in Christ,

Doug and Jenny