every day is a good day
The swans are on pastures by the hundreds. Here a flock, there a flock, everywhere a flock. Swans are constantly moving in small groups from one flock to another. What is that all about? Is the grass better over there? Is the gossip juicier? Watch a flock of swans for any length of time and the questions flow nonstop.
Impressed with the Shimonita onions I saw on TV, I ordered some seeds from Japan. They arrived yesterday: Thunder Emperor 雷帝 Shimonita Onions 下仁田ネギ! Much to my surprise, on the back of the package, it says that they were made in South Africa. According to various web sites, farmers in many parts of Japan have tried growing Shimonita onions, but they don’t taste the same as those grown in the village of Shimonita. I’ve read on some websites that once you get a few miles away from Shimonita, they taste different. So I was surprised that the seeds came all the way from South Africa.
They seeds were made by Sakata Seed Company, and they have operations all over the world. The description on the package says that the onions have a sublime, melt in your mouth sweetness. We shall see.
While I wait for spring to plant the Shimonita onions, there are chicks to attend to. The Dark Cornish and Silver Laced Wyandottes are six weeks old now. It’s hard to believe that the Franken-chicken grown for the supermarket meat shelves are nearing butchering size at six weeks. A normal chicken is just a fluff ball that easily fits in one palm at six weeks.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqfs-EmuFrc&w=640&h=360]
All around the world are special vegetables, and yesterday I heard about a leek type onion which is grown in only one small town in Japan, Shimonita 下仁田. It takes 15 months from seed to harvest. They are planted in October 10月. By November 11月 the sprouts are up. In February 2月 the sprouts are stepped on to strengthen their roots. In April 4月 they are pulled up and thinned. The largest ones are transplanted and the tops of the onions are cut off. In August 8月, they are dug up again, only the larger ones selected, and transplanted which makes their roots more vibrant resulting in more delicious onions. In September 9月 they are tilled. In October 10月 they are hilled. The harvest begins in December after frost has made them sweeter. They are only available from December through February.
Raw, Shimonita onions are three times as hot as regular onions, but when they are cooked, they are very sweet, and a much sought after onion. Farmers in many parts of Japan have tried growing them, but even after decades of trying, no one has been able to replicate the taste of those grown in Shimonita. It is said that onions grown even just a few miles away don’t taste the same.
The video above has no words and shows how the onions are grown over 15 months from seed to harvest. You don’t need to be able to read the short descriptions in the video to understand how they are grown.
I’ve ordered a packet of seeds and will try my hand at growing them next year. Shimonita is about 75 miles northeast of Tokyo.
The garden is fast asleep under a blanket of snow softer than down. It’s been four years since we’ve had a snow this thick. It’s not a heavy snow by no means. Eight years ago we measured the snow by the feet, we were snowbound for a week, our well froze, and we survived by melting snow on our wood stove for water until it warmed enough for the well to thaw.
The garden may seem asleep, but underneath the snow, an army of bacteria and fungi are crunching through the remains of this year’s vegetables, breaking them down and turning them into soil. According to Dr. Elaine Ingham of The Soil Food Web:
The most rapid rates of decomposition ever recorded on this planet, in any ecosystem, occur in the winter, under the snow, in temperate areas.
According to her, at the surface of the soil, where there is free water in the interface between the snow and soil, conditions are perfect for bacteria and fungi to thrive. Deeper in the soil, garlic, shallots, and potatoes are sending out roots, preparing for spring, just a few months away.
On December 21, 2016, at 10:44 Universal Time, 2:44 am Pacific Time, just 12 days away, the northern hemisphere starts to tilt toward the sun again. For gardeners, it is the start of a new year.
Snowflakes danced in the air off and on today. Will the coming deep freeze mean the end of green? What will be left to pick for fresh salads by the end of the week? The kale and cabbage will survive. The fava beans probably. It takes a long, cold snap to zap them. The arugula and ruby streaks will sprout again as soon as the freeze ends. I’ve let them go to seed throughout the summer and their tiny seeds are in every inch of the garden. Arugula and ruby streaks sprout everywhere.
But I doubt the beautiful potato plants I found today will make it through the week. But even if they succumb this week, they will be back in the spring more beautiful than ever.
Takuma 拓真 is a steady companion when I am out tending the grounds. He and his sister are master rodent terminators, and because they will dig, and dig, and dig until they find their prey, I’ve banned them from the vegetable garden. It was looking like a moonscape with craters everywhere.
Even so, they are so useful, I wonder how people survived before dogs. Somehow we need to train them to bark at the hawks and eagles when they fly overhead. They see them and look up at them. “Don’t just stand there, bark!” we say, and go running around barking ourselves, hoping they will get the hint. So far that has not worked. Becky, Kuma-Hime 熊姫, and Hazel are counting on them.
