Grow yer own!

Time to Grow Your Own (GIY) …

… the journal of a South African vegan in Japan, by Carey Finn

26 October 2009

Anyone who’s ever tasted soya beans fresh from their garden, or chowed down on home grown tomatoes and basil will know there’s just no comparison to vegetables plucked from the supermarket shelf, even if they’re certified organic. Having attempted a very small-scale veggie patch in South Africa, I was excited to carry on my foray (or should I say, forage) into natural farming in Japan.

Finding organic soil proved near-impossible. We asked around, in English and Japanese, to no avail. It was either sift through the bags of soil at the nurseries to find a brand with the least fertilisers and other added chemicals, or dig up the local park. The latter posed 2 problems: 1, the risk of getting caught and having to deal with authorities in extremely limited Japanese; and 2, the fact that the soil is compact and very clay-like. We had already acquired 4 pots of this clay-like soil from a construction site down the road (another story altogether). So we opted for the nursery soil. Organic soil is just not one of the conveniences in super-convenient Osaka.

Then we went in search of seeds. We found some spinach and peas at the 100-Yen store … nowhere near organic, but we thought we’d give them a try. They sprouted and have grown up quite nicely, without any fertilisers or anything. They aren’t incredibly strong plants, but they seem to be tasty, as they attracted some small green caterpillars, which somehow scaled the wall of the block of flats to our balcony … again, again and again …

We squeezed some tomato seeds from organic tomatoes we bought, into a pot of soil, and they sprouted beautifully. The first flowers appeared 2 days ago so the fruit shouldn’t be far behind. Instead of buying more questionable, chemically-treated seeds, we opted to use the seeds from the organic veggies we get once a week – through a mail-order company called Warabe-Mura. All the produce comes from small organic farms in nearby Gifu Prefecture. It’s great – you can smell the earth on the veggies! So now we have some unidentifiable squash (called gourd, over here) growing too.

Add some flowers, a rescued hibiscus tree and some organic lavender to the mix and our balcony garden is coming along nicely. Oh, not to mention a cotton tree … never mind vegan veggie gardening –it’s time to take this to the next level – my sidekick has threatened to start weaving her own clothes.

Now just to get a fruit tree or two installed downstairs, near the bike sheds. I’ve already ranted about the exorbitant price of fruit in Japan – but did I mention some of it tastes like it’s sweetened? That’s right. Sugar added. Or at least, it tastes that way. In his book, The One-Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka mentioned the injecting of additives into oranges during processing. Some say it’s colourants, and I think maybe it’s a type of sweetener too.

Seriously. There’s naturally sweet, straight off a tree, and then there’s “sets-your-teeth-on-edge and tastes-like-a-super-processed-fake-orange-juice-from the supermarket, after being shipped thousands of kilometres”, sweet. Who knows – maybe the (did I mention, non-organic) oranges really are just that sweet. But it got me thinking.

Next time: Vegans meet stray cats in Shiga, plus pumpkin-flavoured soya milk. And maybe a new restaurant too.