JP/EN

Encyclopedia of niime

Aspiring to self-sufficiency - a new experiment in food and agriculture.

2018 . 08 . 15

Surrounded by nature, the ‘tamaki niime’ Shop & Lab is filled with a comfortable air at the foot of the lush green Okanoyama located at the ‘Navel of Japan’.  The Hatatani river flows in front of the Shop & Lab, and the vast cotton field it nurtures cotton spreads out before it.  In such a free environment, Tamaki is thinking of the planet’s ecosystem.  It is inevitable for Tamaki, who is living every day as Vegan, to increase concern for food and agriculture.  She professes to pursue self –sufficiency in the future.  I would like to ask her thoughts on the matter. – Did you come to be more interested in agriculture after you had become a vegan?

Tamaki
“I’ve been thinking about how to utilize this place, including the land behind the Shop & Lab.  We are breaking down these old facilities including a septic tank and clearing the land.  Well, we are wondering how we should use this space.  We would like to do something that would accelerate our self-sufficiency within our own community. “
– That sounds interesting.  Please explain more in detail.
Tamaki
“Are we ready to explain?” (to Sakai)
Sakai
“What?”
Tamaki
“Should I not talk about it?”
Sakai
“It’s okay, you should say it.  The person who speaks up wins!”
– Another crazy idea? (laugh) Would you summarize it?
Tamaki
 “We have mountains behind us.   Also, we have a river, land and the sun.  Since we have all that we need, don’t you think we can live with them?  Actually, I have had a goal to make food by ourselves and eat them. Don’t you think we have less comfortable places because of deforestation and building something?  More artificial things mean less comfortable space. So I would like to make a place artificially close to nature… here in this place. It is artificial because we create and even we live, however, the important thing is that we live naturally.  Or I should say we are a part of nature? When we pursue natural creation, even cultivation is artificial.  After all, real natural things are plants, mountains, so if we imitate nature here, I have to know more about plants. I grow many plants and observe them.  For example, which one can survive through winter?  The ‘Tokkuri-chan’, the memorial planting tree for our relocation anniversary, fell and withered because of the last year’s typhoon. That was really shocking. “
– You mean that tall tree; the ‘Silk Floss Tree’ (‘Tokkurikiwata’ in Japanese) next to the entrance?
Tamaki
“I hoped that we might bring back to life, but the winter was too harsh for it.  I don’t see any buds coming, so I’m afraid it is withered. “
– Oh…
Tamaki
“I believe the children of the plants are supposed to be at the place they originally sprouted.  I regret moving it to here.  After all, the plants that were born and grew up in the original land are supposed to be there.  It was unreasonable to move it.  I regret it.  Because the plant itself wants to go to different places in the preservation of the species, so it hopes that human should carry it to a preferable location. “
– I see …
Tamaki
“I heard that the plants prefer to have their seeds carried than to dig themselves out of the ground and carried to different places.  I think walnut trees hope birds eat the walnut and carry their seeds far away so the species will last.  We, humans, are part of the process.  In other words, we exist for something we can do to keep the seed.  We are healed by plants.  Our existence is owing to plants, and we live with them. I’d like to pursue it now. “
– Actually, you go to Kyoto to learn agriculture?
Tamaki
“I think that trees, grasses, weeds, or vegetables to eat, are all the same.  They are all plants, right?  Because I believe we are all connected, I’d like to learn the field first.  For example, the relationship between the soil and the plants, adding water. After all, what balance is the best for human and the future earth? That’s what I’m learning. And I actually practice as a real experience in front of the teacher.  When I try agriculture, I’m not so sure if I’m doing right or wrong.  Possibly even if I try ten years, I may be unsure whether I am doing right.  The past few years, I’ve learnt from various teachers about different things; however, I sometimes feel that person and this person has a totally different theory. I would like to understand deeply by myself. “
– Is that questioning theoretical, or is it a more concrete and practical agricultural method?
Tamaki
“Both.  For example, some people say cultivate, others say not to.  Also, some people say they do not use chemical fertilizers, others say a little bit is a-okay.  There is no perfect answer to make delicious vegetables. That’s why I would rather say not because someone said but also I want to do.  So I should know better.  The lecture was scientific, and it had a workshop.  I was taught practically, for example, soil diagnostics, analyzing what is missing for my field for vegetables to grow or not grow.  And once I fully understand the idea, I calculate how much fertilizer I should give.  Each field has different soil condition, so we cannot just use a manual to add fertilizer in a single uniform way.  The point is to learn deeper.  Once I understand, I can utilize it for our field.  When it comes to growing trees or plants, I think that “how to grow” will be all linked.”
– A fundamental principle of how plants grow, or a mechanism?
Tamaki
“I decided to go to the seminar to have a better understanding of the principle for plants.”
– I see. How about Sakai? … No comment?
Sakai
“Exactly.”
– No reaction?
Sakai
“Definitely not.”
Tamaki
“If you don’t get involved, it’s not interesting!”
Sakai
“Actually, I have nothing to say.”
– Didn’t you ask Sakai his thoughts on the matter?
Tamaki
“I don’t get any response from him.”
– You don’t care about this subject Sakai?
Tamaki
“I answer my own question if Sakai is not interested in it. (laughs) Once a month, I’m really looking forward to checking and buying new plants at various flower shops.  Because we have four seasons and in each season there are different kinds.  I’m into new seasonal plants to see how they have leaves or simply wondering what they are.”
– When you go deeper, it is the kind of world where you can pursue much more in-depth because there are numbers of plants and vegetables. You are planning to grow OP vegetables; open pollinated variety vegetable, which means to collect seeds and plant them to grow them again, right?
Tamaki
“Self-sufficiency is one of my dreams, but if we cannot collect seeds, we cannot pursue subsistence activities. I have a feeling that I will get into it, but first, I would like to learn agriculture properly.”
– What about growing cotton are you already working on?
Tamaki
“We have been growing several kinds of cotton; ‘Japanese cotton’ and ‘Greek cotton’.  Actually ‘Greek cotton’ was the first seed we planted which was initially said to be the kind suited for our land. That was our first time to start.”
– At what point do you think it suits?
Tamaki
“Greek cotton is white, and it is good quality and has enough fluffs.  Since it is not the highest quality cotton, it is easy to grow.  The best point of the “Greek Cotton” is the colour, ‘white’ for me.  Usually, it is slightly yellowish, but I prefer a whitish one. It’s convenient because it is originally white without bleaching.  I like that point.  Green cotton and brown cotton are other variations.  But harvesting has been getting more troublesome every year because we are trying to raise them without putting fertilizer tentatively.  Gradually, I’ve learned that it is hard to raise cotton with weak fields.  Cotton is getting smaller.  I know that this is not the right way.   I cannot assume the amount of crop this year.  We rented new land; however, we may have difficulty growing a certain kind of plant species naturally, so I would like to do anything I can do for them.  If I try everything I hear and try them one after another even though I don’t know the principal, I will not know what is good or bad for the bravest.  The place I’m going this time has the stance that they only use oil cake and rice bran. For beginners, it is easier to create from the vegetable origin than animal fertilizer, so if you are suitable for amateurs, I should genuinely believe and begin.  They don’t say animal fertilizer is bad.  In that seminar, they use oil cake of sesame oil from a local company. Because “local production for local consumption” is right. When I mention that our city sells compost of ‘Kurodasho beef’, they said it is a good idea to use local produce.  So I’ll use oil cake and rice bran there, and once I understand how much quantity to put in, then I will learn the amount of cow manure (needed).”
Cow manure is animal fertilizer; however, cows eat grass as food, and it is digested.  So there is no problem to use it, isn’t it?  It is essential to see what they eat.  Thinking from a Vegan’s point of view, Tamaki searches deeply to understand the essence of food and agriculture. – Are you going to start making vegetables here at the same time?
Tamaki
“Since the land in Kyoto and in Nishiwaki is different, I would like to have an experiment to compare. Since the seminar is held every two weeks, I can learn how.  I sow seeds here and take them to Kyoto to plant.  So I’ll try a-year-experiment first. That’s the image. I’ll grow about 40 kinds of vegetables, and after a year, I will be able to do it by myself. That’s the curriculum! “
–  You can learn a lot, right?
Tamaki
“Because the instructor is raising it at the same time, I can see the example.  If I grow here all by myself, I’m not sure if I’m doing okay or not, but as there are about 20 students, we see many mistakes.  So we can validate the evidence about why it happened.”
– Since there is the only one chance a year, failure of farm work tends to carry over (the tasks) until the season of the next year, but in this case, you can learn by various situations.
Tamaki
“One year is significant.  I think that it is interesting in that sense.  So after learning this way, I wonder if I like to expand the field from now, to grow rare vegetables, to harvest a locally unique OP vegetable, or to end up not growing vegetables anymore.”
– Why are the vegetables and plants so essential for you now?
Tamaki
I think self-sufficiency is the key.  After all, humans are made of food.  Of course, what we wear and where we live are also important… what should I say… “
– Do you have somewhat a sense of crisis against the world today?
Tamaki
“When the lifeline is cut by earthquakes or the disaster caused by the heavy rain…like this time.  About 7 or 8 years ago when I started to weave myself with a power loom in the warehouse, I really believed that a war would break out.  I felt like we would have a war.  I was not sure, but it was possible.  I cannot predict that Japan will have absolutely no war in this world.  Even if it is not a war, I had a sense of crisis, such as the heavy rain like this time or earthquakes.  I suddenly have had a feeling of crisis that the days that we feel “normal” in capitalism will end sometime near future. “
I started realizing that Tamaki’s dream picture of self-sufficiency is not an idealism pursuing something like utopia. In the present world where there is a destabilization of common sense, it is a concept which is based on her feelings toward the crisis. Next time, I would like to continue to ask more details about Tamaki’s ideas of the future of self-sufficiency.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.