Chuka, Okayama Pref. ¨C We¡¯ve been hopping from field to field all morning and now have a colorful array of natsu yasai (summer vegetables) loaded in the back of our kei truck. It¡¯s scorching outside and will only continue to get hotter as we approach midday, so we¡¯re heading back to the ¡°office¡± for a snack. The latest batch of amazake (sweet rice drink) is sitting in the fridge, awaiting our arrival.
I¡¯m interning at , a shizen-saibai (natural cultivation) farm located in the small village of Chuka, Okayama Prefecture. Its makeshift office is spread over the ground floor of Kudo, a farmhouse-cum-restaurant where special events with guest chefs and craftspeople are held throughout the year. Kudo is also my home for the next month or so. There¡¯s a futon laid out for me on the second floor, and I¡¯m told I have free rein of the kitchen. It makes for quite the bachelor pad. Adorning one of the counters is a ¡°¡± plaque ¡ª an award given by one of Tokyo¡¯s most stylish homeware stores. It¡¯s pretty impressive for a place that was renovated on a shoestring budget and had no walls or ceiling to speak of before that.
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