Nou-En

In rural Japan, as in many areas around the world, small communities are suffering from rapid population decline as young people flock to the cities. A self perpetuating cycle develops in which rural communities lose their youth to entertainment and work opportunities in the city, which cripples the local economy by leaving behind small towns and villages lacking an able workforce.
Here in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, the evidence of this can be easily seen on any walk or bike ride around the valley. In some villages more than half of the houses are vacant. Many fields have been abandoned and have begun the rapid transition back to a more natural state. Elementary schools with great facilities are being forced to close due to low enrollment. At our local elementary school this year's First Grade class has three students. Village elders possess a lifetime of priceless skills and knowlege that is not being passed on because of a lack of interested youth. Looking forward in time, it is worrisome to imagine the state of these communities if current trends continue.
Seeing these things, we here at Nou En have been motivated to work for positive change. Our aim is to encourage young people from around the world to return to rural communities. We organize enthusiastic volunteers (mostly through the WWOOF organization, http://www.wwoofjapan.com) to help local farmers in exchange for healthy food and invaluable local knowlege. We network and assist local organic farms with vegetable and rice production on a regular basis. We try to enthusiastically jump in and help local villagers whenever we can. In addition to these projects, we also have our own fields and gardens as well as chickens and goats that we care for.
Because part of our aim is encouraging people to want to live in the country side we also take time to enjoy the benefits of country living. We go hiking in the surrounding mountains, swimming in ponds and streams (especially during the hot humid Japanese summer!), barbecues with friends on weekends, kendo lessons at the local gymnasium and much more.
Mostly we try to provide a communal living environment where we work, learn, and grow together, all while striving to benefit and elevate the local community.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

off day activity (not for the squeamish)

Saturday we had a much needed break from the rain, but the ground was still too wet to do potato planting so we all had the day off. Blessed with nice weather, some of us took a bike ride into town to do some sightseeing, some went to help a friend in the process of constructing his own restaurant and then to a Japanese calligraphy exhibit, while Kenya and I stayed at the house to kill and butcher one of our older hens. Here she is being plucked:

It was Kenya's first time killing a chicken, and my second time, but thanks to these great directions we were able to do the job relatively easily even though we didn't really know what we were doing. When it came to gutting the hen, we referred back to the website quite a bit and got some guts on my keyboard in the process.

We learned how to take off the feet and the head, pull out the crop, cut off the tail, make a cut to take out the guts and then how to cut out the vent and rinse out the cavity.

We found all sorts of treasures inside. Guts, of course, but also countless unlaid eggs ranging in from normal egg size (with a very soft shell) to the size of a pinhead. The smaller eggs actually have no white around them and look like miniature egg yolks. Fascinating.

Because she was a tough old bird we decided to boil her (plus the feet) to make broth. Tonight we used it to make chicken and sourdough-herb dumplings that I adapted from this recipe.

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