Other than Farm Blog

Though I was aware of benefit of cover crops in fields, after so many days of heavy rain I instinctively felt the real benefit and cover crop use. Our primary use of cover crops is to let the plants do the work. It's vague when we just talk about it. Of course we can list the benefit of using cover crops. - protect top soil - improve/maintain natural tilth - hold water - aerate soil - break up compaction - add OM - add nitrogen (legumes) - smother unwanted weeds, or at least control better - attract beneficial insects - stable habitat for pests and predators - reduce disease occurrence - buffer and harsh environmental impact The list goes on and it could be more specific to each type of cover crop used. In past several days I have realized that the benefits are much more than what's listed. Consider all the lost top soil, organic matter, soil structure, natural habitat. It's much harder to rebuild than to protect them. It takes many years to build ric

My next question is "what's next?" I remember talking to Richard from Honey company that we always have to stay ahead of the current movement like organic and local, and being able to see and do the trend before they arrive. Because big companies can catch up and come up with their version of organic and local and green, and change the law and change the perception through media, small businesses and producers have to be able to really see ahead. Often times these new trends are only authentic part of good business practices so if one can maintain their core belief about good business practice instead of swinging left and right to tune in with what's popular trend, I believe that they are automatically ahead of the trend. People are saying small farms are good, and I wonder how big companies can make themselves look small entities.  They already do by buying up small companies.

It's been real dry these days.  Exposed soil is feeling dry, but weeds never stop growing.  There are areas with nice mulch and under the mulch there is nice moist ground.  only if my mower wasn't broken, I would be mowing.

Just finished our first flush green tea yesterday and started raining.  What better timing there could be! We just had our slow drying and roasting left to do.  Most of our teas are just waiting for the final roasting. so we did our quick sensory evaluation (品茶) Most of the spring green harvest is fairly tippy although we emphasize more on aroma and flavor profile itself than shape of the leaf.  Flavor is light, but more potent.  The color of dry leaf is dark green to black, but infusion brings green color of green tea. Liquor is light yellow, and extraction is moderate.  Aroma is fresh and green.  I always had trouble describing green tea as grassy, but some people might confuse as flavored tea or oolong due to sharp aroma of kama-ka, which is a unique characteristics of Aoyagi style of pan-fired green tea. Astringency is low to moderate.  Some Japanese tea farmers described as clean astringency as opposed to residual astringency of low quality sencha. Spring tea is particularly mo

釜香 は釜炒り茶がなんで香りのいいお茶になるのか、の香りの秘密。５年かかって、なんとか釜香がわかってきた。 日本の釜炒り茶は香りがなんとかいっても、煎茶みたいに味のお茶になっているとおもう。品評会も入賞するお茶は煎茶の入賞するお茶とすごく似てきて、うまみ中心のフレイバーが評価のベースになっている。 何年かまえに熊本の五家荘で今でも釜炒り茶をつくっている船本さんのところに行ってきた。手炒りのお茶を作っていて、釜香のヒントがでたとおもった。 釜炒り茶はこげが入ると、味が煙くなる。でも焦げるくらいの気持ちで炒らないと、釜香はでない。 わたしも何回も失敗して、こげと炒り足りない間のデリケートなバランスの釜香が、炒っているときにその香りがときどき鼻ににおいがする。　花の香り。ウーロン茶みたいな深い花の香りじゃなくて、さっぱりした花の香り。何の花か？　できたと思って、お茶にいれると釜香はなくなっている。　青い鋭い香りはでるけど、違う。 私もこの青いさっぱりの香りが釜香とおもったこともあったけど、自分で出せないから、釜香は釜炒りのこおばしい香りでいいのでもない。 こおばしいだけなら、ローストのレベルででる。釜香じゃない。 船本さんが言ってたことで、「釜炒り茶の本当の香りは、みる芽じゃ出ない。」 リーフがソフトすぎて、思い切った炒りに耐えられないんです。 ウーロン茶をみればよくわかる。ウーロン茶はみる芽で摘まない。香りが死ぬ。出開きが基本。そんな硬い葉だから、揉む機械も台湾式のものじゃないともみきれない。 「おいしいお茶がのみたい」の波多野公介さんも、お茶の香味は釜炒り茶が一番よく出るといっている。でも本当の釜炒りの香りがでているものはいくつも飲んでみたけど、ほとんどない。今の日本で釜炒り茶を飲む人も煎茶みたいな釜炒り茶を飲みたい人が増えてるから。それとも、地域の食べ物が日本どこでも、もっと同じようなスタンダードなものになっているから、お茶もそれにあったような煎茶風の釜炒り茶になっているからか。 日本の釜炒り茶が釜香がでないのは、品種がやぶきたがメインになってるのもあるとおもうけど、肥料つかいすぎもあるとおもう。肥料いれると、成長はいいけど、葉が薄くなる。葉が薄いのは煎茶とか、抹茶とかは有利でも、釜炒り茶の釜香にはよくないとおもう。 簡

We just made a test batch of interesting green tea.  Perhaps it's the unique characteristics of our new select variety that resides well in sweet honey flavor.  We just call it "Honey green",  but it sounds rather confusing as if honey is added to the tea. The tea itself is a little bit off from what I consider as final product.  I wouldn't serve it like that.  so I started blending, flavoring and roasting at various degrees. Certain spices work well with this honey green, but from the name implies, honey seems to work the best. I normally don't add extra flavor to tea unless the tea is intended to be flavored, even milk or sugar, but if the tea demands it and there is certain kind of harmony between the tea itself and the extra flavor, I think it is delightful and I would publicly embrace tea flavoring.

This is one of my biggest challenge.  chocolate typically doesn't go with tea very well, but wouldn't it be great if it did? I've been testing special blend which might go well with chocolate.  Chocolate goes much better with oolong than green, but just don't quite harmonize yet.  Perhaps it's extra spice. Hot chocolate oolong tea, untraditional mix with a bit of surprise.  I'm almost there, ask me at farmers market, you may get to try it one of these days. Taka

Ahi Pokeとご飯の丼にアボカドをつけただけ。でも、すごくおいしくなる。 これに、唐辛子をかけると、ピリとしていい。 ラーメンにもアボカドをいれると、おいしい。 アボカドは意外なところでおもしろいです。