this is asparagus. i wwoofed right after its harvest period. so almost everyday, we had it for lunch.
the lettuce field is right outside the house i stayed. so i would just go out n pick my lettuce whenever i wanted one
my room. very spacious
the girl worker house, also the lunch n gathering place, this is a new building that has been built for less than 2 years
a view from the house :)
one of the many distribution channel for hopeland's veggie - supermarket
the farm only sells veggie n strawberries that r freshly picked in the morning
weeding pumpkins...
one very nice thing about hopeland is that the farm prepares lots of food n drinks for the two tea breaks for its workers. i got so used to it that i would get hungry right at 10am n 3pm when i was wwoofing for my next host.
Chikara-san is sharpening the blades for us weeding...
some beans
cucumber
a very small frog in the strawberry house
c how small it is when comparing it with my finger tip ;)
the nhk ppl were around the farm, filming n interviewing for several days
三好正人, the hokkaido nhk news reporter
hopeland has a food stall called minori-ya (農家) in 北の屋台
hopeland's boss (社長) - mr. senoo
hopeland is such a big farm (~160 ha) that it has a mini jet runway, just for fun! how cool :D
takagi-san, one of 社長's friend who goes to the runway n fly often. takagi-san is the 社長 of an animal-feed company
dunno whats the name of these pretty flowers, but there r so many of them right outside the strawberry houses
weeding in a strawberry house could be very hot sometimes...
planting more strawberry plants :D
i had a home-made ice-cream made with hopeland's milk during my 10am tea break :D
a very friendly horse of a next door neighbor's farm... umm... ya, i just sneaked in haha :P
the kinda lunch i had in hopeland. looks good, tastes good :D
n this is what i made for myself for dinner usually, with lettuce n strawberries picked right outside the house :)
i love the potato mochi i had earlier in 農家, so i asked お母さん (mrs senoo) to teach me how to make it :)
easy enough. i think i can handle that ;)
we r farmers, the 鄉下佬, u c, so all of us went to the game w our boots on, n of course we got beeped n asked to put on the sneakers (白飯魚) they had for contingency as such
The 22nd Makubetsu Putt Golf International Competition
the hopeland team
poroco, is training in boya farm to become hokkaido first pig dog (in contrast with sheep dog) !!
more fun pix n details of my experience in boya farm can be found in my blog ;)
hopeland has around 200 pigs
hopeland has 2 cows, momo n hana, besides for drink, the farm also use the milk to make cheese, raw cream n such
momo n hana r milked twice a day
both cows r guernseys. guernsey makes good creamy milk, better yet less than those typical black-n-white holsteins
i just wanted to try n c how milking a cow by hands is like. the farm actually uses a milking machine to do the work :)
many parties in hopeland ;) this is the pork shabu shabu party!
お母さん (the boss' wife) n ryo's baby girl
thao-san, the all-able man, an intern from vietnam ;)
another party, 燒肉 (BBQ) this time! :D
a 花火大会 (firework show) in 幕別 (makubetsu)
its a local firework show, lasted no longer than 30 mins, yet nevertheless, its beautiful
next stop - the Tada farm (多田農園)
many flowers in tada farm's backyard, all taken care by obaa-san (Tada-san's mother)
carrot pickles, one of tada farm's products
we r the "high class" packing workers, with air-con, classical music, coffee or tea served by our boss haha
jacqueline n i found tada farm's products placed in a prime shelf space in a shop, happy :) so we took this pix n showed it to tada-san :)
we wired up the grape field so to give the vines more support
tada-san wants to set up his farm as a social farm (similar to social enterprise). n this day we hosted a lamb bbq luncheon w some mental handicapped
i like these ppl, always happy, simple n direct, just very easy to communicate with :) i would like to work more with these group of ppl in the future once time allows :)
a pan for making the toppings of donburi
another 祭り (festival) i went, this one was in 上富良野 (kamifurano)
a very cool parade, with smoking dragon n fighting shoguns :D
this is mr tada, a kind n courteous man. i call him the 斯文農夫
thx to mr tada for getting this spot with excellent view of the firework show on the flower field. n we brought those outdoor folding chairs with us too. its just so good!
wwoofers in Tada farm cook their own meals. n without jacqueline, i had to cook for myself. mushroom omlette on toast, with salad on the side. not bad ya? :D
n i made soba for lunch on another day :)
n i also made 漬物 (pickled salad) for the first time. i let mr n mrs tada tried it n they said its good :)
getting ready for harvesting...
the harvest season for carrot started!! YEAH!!!
japanese r perfectionist, esp when it comes to product appearance n packaging... c all these carrot here? they r all to be dumped. many of them r just a bit too small or too big...
Mr and Mrs Tada, two very nice n gentle ppl
n lastly, i came to heart N tree, a restaurant + lodge
pure, a dog that always want more patting n cuddling
the star in heart N tree - the black mini piggy
the house of the hittori (部服) family, right next to the restaurant :)
huckleberry, another restaurant of the hittoris, located in the tsurui (鶴居) park where there r camp site, putt golf course, etc
momo-chan, the daughter, went to US for a year of exchange program, just came back, very cool girl, i like her :)
sachiko-san (佐知子さん) decorated the place, one can easily tell how much she likes pigs :)
making dough for bread :)
ariana, a wwoofer frm new zealand
heart N tree always starts making bread around 5am, n everyone in the family helps if possible :)
these r the bacon n cheese buns
this is an anpan (red bean bun). looks very yummy :D
preparing the dough for pasta
n making some pasta, its quite easy :D
i washed my hands this whole day (kept washing dishes u c :P), yet, still look like hands of a girl working in a coal mine haha
its actually fairly easy to make pizza from scratch ;)
the heart N tree basil pizza (i made it :D)
chiffon cake. tasted good :)
a lime color spider. cool ya? (alastair probably hates it anyways haha)
there are always dishes for washing... :P
masato-san brought us 3 wwoofers to mashu lake (摩周湖), its so cold that we just went back to the car in 5 mins :P
then to mt. iou (硫黃山)
very strong smell of sulfur
arianna n alastair, the 2 other wwoofers, frm nz n uk, cool ppl :)
the purple head monkey is ready to paaarty!!!
n sachiko-san was this big lips duckie
the heart N tree team (some r missing here)
we sold everything in the obon festival (おぼん祭り)
w/ the best costume award winning team - the anpan man team
this is my room in the house where the wwoofers stayed, aka the ghost house...
quite spooky don't u think?
the view from the window of my room, nice ya? only that it reminded me that there was no house, nobody around, but only us three...
photos of some ppl who stayed here before...
the ghost house is definitely a great setting w some cool antiques for photo shots, only that i didnt dare to take the pix at nite :P
then around an hour later, i saw a fox right outside! haha so cool.
tsurui (鶴居) means the habitat of cranes, n just as its name says, its quite easy to spot one of these big birds here :)
heart N tree also has two goats as pets
sachiko-san's cooking class - a chance for the young mothers to relax n chit chat with each other while learning n enjoying cooking
so-called babysitting the kids, but i really didnt do much except playing w them n taking pix of them playing haha
lunch is ready! with salad, paella, gazpacho soup (cold spainish soup), tandoori chicken, cheesecake, n of course, there is always the very popular heart N tree bread :)
the heart N tree family (daiichi, the little brother, took this pic for us, so he is missing in this pic)
