Yesterday morning, Mr Inasaku and I built wooden "gates" for the drains to the rice fields.
We had to buy the wood first, so we worked out how many linear centimetres of wood we needed and bought it at Komeri.
We also bought a gas can to replace an old one that had a hole in it. I used a rabbet saw to cut a groove in the wood to hold the planks that will block the water.
The design is really quite practical.
We built a total of 8 gates and cut some extra planks to replace those lost in the field.
Yesterday afternoon we started cleaning the waterways.
It's hard and dirty work, shoveling mud and plants out of the ditches.
This morning we continued cleaning the ditches and in the afternoon, after cleaning up, we packed 117 bags of rice flour, just over 35 kilos of rice flour.
We kept one 20kg bag for a customer who had reserved it.
I like working with Mr. Inasaku, so it was nice to work with him again.
Last week I was on my own a lot, repairing signs, draining fields, packing rice flour and doing lots of other work.
Today I went around the countryside collecting Usa Hon Hyakusho signs.
The signs tell you, among other things, the area of each field in square meters and how many years we have grown happy rice in that field without using pesticides or fertilizers.
They also serve as useful landmarks.
I repaired broken signs and made new ones.
I also learned today that the company has added six new fields!
More happy rice to enjoy!
Tomorrow I will go out and place the rejuvenated signs in the fields.
Old and new sign boards!
The big drama of the last few weeks has been whether or not we would be able to get all the fields stubble cultivated and leveled before the rains come.
Even a small amount of rain accumulates in the fields and takes many days to dry, so work on the fields cannot begin until the fields are sufficiently dry, and work stops when it rains.
Me and Mr. Inasaku tried to help Mr. Kakashi level the fields, but the task is quite confusing at first.
We did a few fields, but unfortunately we were too slow, so Mr. Kakashi had to do the levelling after he finished the stubble cultivation (stubble cultivation breaks up the soil after plowing).
In the end, Mr. Kakashi was able to finish levelling the fields. I was worried, but Mr. Kakashi is a professional.
A few notes on laser leveling: we wrote a manual (actually it was Mr. Inasaku and it was really helpful), but there are a few things that were left out.
For one, if you have a few fields nearby to level, consider putting your tripod in a place where it will not be disturbed, so you can do multiple fields without moving the tripod.
For example, a good spot would not block access to other fields.
Second, as you begin your work, drive around the inside edge (perimeter) of the field a few times to try to find the finished height.
After driving around, look at the bucket.
Is the bucket overflowing?
Is there no dirt in the bucket?
Try to have dirt in the bucket after you have gone around, but the bucket should not overflow too much.
Once you have a finished height, do not try to change it or you will have to start your work all over again!
Finally, you should know which fields you need to work on before you start in the morning so you can avoid unnecessary travel.
Aim to level 1000 square meters of land every half hour (1 tan).
This includes the time to set up and travel to the field, so we need to plan accordingly in the future.
