The Annual Rice Harvest in Shiga

Hi, this is Chris in Otsu.  As many students here at Smith’s School of English Otsu know, I am living in the countryside in Shigaraki (just south of Otsu city), farming and trying to be self-sufficient while working only part-time.  And while this lifestyle has its challenges, it also has its joys, one of which is the rice harvest which for us happened over the last two weeks.

We are farming rice almost completely by hand, with totally organic no-till natural farming methods.  As such, planting and harvesting the rice takes a long time and the more people who help the easier the work and the more fun everyone has while doing it.  Luckily for us this year over twenty people came to help us harvest the rice over two weekends.  Some of them were friends that I have had for a long time, others I had just met the day before!  Some had lots of experience farming, while others were doing it for the first time.  But no matter how long I had known them or how experienced they were at farming I was amazed at how much fun they seemed to be having and how well such a diverse mix of people got along and worked together while enjoying time in nature!  I was especially encouraged by all the children that were present and watching the young kids playing freely in nature and, for many of them, experiencing farming for the first time, was a true joy!