Things that make my heart sing

One thing that I can't get enough of is locally home grown, home-made goods and some recycled bargains! One morning we made a road trip to the nearby city of Shimoda to look for a saw horse at the local recycle shop.The last time we were there I picked up some cute blue and white polka dot tea cuts for such a bargain. Let me tell you that I wasn't disappointed on this second visit. 

 What did I score you ask? 

Well behold.... I picked up five small flower patterned bowls known as, kobachi which are traditionally used for pickles; deep stewed vegetables and in my case some cumquats. I'm even thinking they'd be good for ice-cream or sherbet bowls.... petite servings. 

While this photograph doesn't do this plate justice. The flowers are white camellias with a mint green background with gold accents. I kicked myself that I didn't pick up more, because this beautiful plate was only ¥200!! Don't worry I'll be back for more and just hope no one else discovers them before I get back there. The polka dot bowl is actually a tea cup, but I have it intended for a sugar bowl and it was only......¥30!!!

On our drive back we stopped off at a local farmers market known as, Yorimichi that made my heart sing the moment we stepped in the door. 

When I saw fresh flowers for ¥200 a bunch, I was like hello!

I was so tempted to buy a cherry blossom tree just there on the table, but I am waiting.

Once we walked in we were surrounded by homemade baked bread, jams, pickles, citrus fruits, locally grown rice, tea and green veggies. Just before we were about to pay for our goodies I spied some homemade tofu pudding. Oh my! It's has to be the purest and    creamiest pudding I have ever tasted, with no artificial flavoring. It truly is the little things that can make your day! 

Just behind the yorimichi are rice paddies that are filled with spring flowers at the moment, but come the beginning of May the earth will be churned up and rice planting will begin.

I must add that while we were in Shimoda we drove onto another recycle shop and had some lunch at a nearby historical treasure. I'll be sharing this beautiful building with you next time. Here is a clue....

First Impression-Part 2

As promised I want to update you on what we are calling part two of our concreting work. We started out with the front entrance here. It is such a great feeling to get this job completed. Little Obachan's is starting to look a bit more respectable!

           

This part of the house where the engawa leads out onto was in desperate need of repairs with broken up concrete and more weeds creeping in.

Our assistant is always willing to learn a new skill and have a go!

Here we are blending the front concreting done to our entrance at the end of last year to our part two work.

                           What a big difference a bag of concrete can do to a place!

When we first concreted the front entrance we placed the ends of two roof tiles at the corner of our entrance. Last time I engraved our surname into the concrete to make it more personal with all the work we are doing on the place, but after some thought we felt the need to add, "Obachan chi"~ Grandma's Place.

I feel this little touch is the icing on the cake! As always an onsen is calling us to relax our tired muscles after flexing them with our concreting efforts.

More next week.....

Signs of Spring

Signs of spring have really sprung in the little town of Obachan's. Waking to a brighter day, hearing the songs of the birds flying in the bamboo forest overhead and then stepping out   into the crisp morning air reminds you that you have arrived in a peaceful little pocket of the world. 

Arriving back I was keen to see how mine and my assistants efforts last year with replanting the wild jonquil bulbs had turned out. My idea was that the flowers would give some interest along the fence line. Remember this is what it looked like when we worked on this area. Full of weeds but crying out for some love and a clean-up!

BEFORE                                                            AFTER

While it looks better than a fence line of weeds I've decided it needs more colour. Maybe yellow, purple, a rainbow of colour...not sure yet, but it certainly will be fun adding whatever we decide and seeing our efforts bloom. It was beautiful to see that not only were the jonquils wildly growing, but also these sweet little snowdrop bulbs. 

While we are at Obachan chi's I like to make our entrance feel welcoming with some flowers. It says to our neighbours and people driving by that this little house is loved.

What a beautiful statement of spring with a flowering plum and citrus tree set against the charm of an old neighboring Japanese farmhouse.

One day while we were in the city of Shimoda we stopped and had some lunch at a very historical building. In their small but quaint garden they had cut mandarin oranges and attached them to the branches for the birds to enjoy. My assistant thought this was something we could try at Obachan's to attract some more nature into our garden, and it worked like a charm. These locally grown mandarin oranges were so sweet and kind of hard to be attaching to a tree! But whatever flew by enjoyed themselves!

As always we end our day with a hot onsen. It was hard to leave Obachan's with such beautiful weather in Izu. I know its been awhile since I last posted our progress on the little farmhouse, but I have much to share in the coming weeks! 

Natural discovery

Along the road side of Obachan's land grows a plant I knew little about, only that in its powder form it is yellow-orange in colour. I think the first thing that brought our attention to this plant was its beautiful, long lasting flower. I also didn't know what amazing medical benefits this plant can do for ones body. What is this marvelous plant? Have a think and try not to scroll down just yet...

It is in fact turmeric which is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial of the ginger family. It favors climates that are between 20-30 degrees, which is why it is a native to southeast India. It also grows well in Izu, which experiences mild temperatures during the year. Since we have a constant water flow from the nearby mountains our turmeric crop thrives well in its current position.

Health wise it is widely used in India to treat stomach and liver ailments and to heal sores and cuts, based on its antiseptic properties. I've also heard it helps with inflamed joints. Apart from this, I found it interesting to learn that it is also used to dye saris and Buddhist monks robes in India and Bangladeshi. Indian cuisine also uses turmeric in many of this delicious dishes. 

Here we unearthed one of our turmeric plants to find a healthy crop once we washed each piece.

We have sliced it, pickled it and used it in curries, which I am here to say is quite tasty. 

I've even experienced a turmeric latte, which was... well...interesting.

 We once placed its flower in the vase at Obachan's tomb stone and we were surprised to see it still thriving a couple weeks later when we visited. 

We will be propagating the rhizomes each year so that we can benefit from this amazing plant in the future. But first I need a hot onsen! It's starting to get colder here in little old Japan!

Antique treasure

So here we are in 2016 the Year of the Monkey. As promised I want to share a discovery we actually made ten years ago at Obachan's when we initially cleared out things, but are just now rediscovering it again. Perhaps some of you have already worked out from this first photo what it is.... without scrolling down!

As you can imagine it was covered in dust, but we gave it a wipe over to reveal this beauty!

Obachan's Fuji Janome treadle sewing machine. Made around the 1950's....we think.

Don't you just love all the intricate detail?

We haven't tried to get it working yet, but it's in pretty good condition. While its not worth a fortune by any means, we just love it for its artistic beauty. My idea is that when we fold the machine down under the folding table, we will use it as a desk. I just love having dual purpose items.

Can you see that the smaller metal plate under the large one has been mounted upside down?Anyone know why? It reads, "MADE IN DEMOCRATIC JAPAN" Japanese people are known for perfection, so it seems odd that they would do this without thinking.

Look at the detail on the face plate....just beautiful.

Back side of the machine and again more detail imprinted into the hand wheel.

The wrought iron base, which I didn't have time to clean well. I look forward to giving it a good wipe over again and maybe a paint or maybe not. Not everything needs a lick of paint. Sometimes just left natural is the best way to respect a piece.

Can you remember being a young child and seeing something new or in this case old that you had never seen before, but it was a new discovery? Little did Obanchan know that many years later her great-granddaughter would be sitting at her sewing machine in wonder.