Hi from San Francisco and soon japan

Christopher Ford

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I love your videos and when I was a kid in Colorado USA I won a blue ribbon for my tomatoes. I still brag about that at 58. My mother made me eat a spoonful of dirt at the beginning of the planting season as she said her mother had done to her. It was terrible and didn't help with the poor results she had as a gardener. I , however have wanted my whole life to get back to my green thumb success of my youth. My wife and I live in San Francisco and have a decently large back yard, We inherited her parents property in japan (she is from there) and it has about 2 acres of land. We want to retire there and I want to start a semi large garden, that may also help us with some income. So I finally during the corona virus lockdown started my training in my own back yard here in San Francisco. First project was a raised garden bed:Then I replaced the roof on my back porch and realized I could build a small greenhouse there. So my current project is that greenhouse, so next season I will be able to grow seedling. I also will enjoy having sald and herbs just outside the back door. You Tube is a fabulous place to learn how to garden and your videos are so important to my beginning fumble finger attempts. I have never built anything, but I think I did pretty good on the raised bed. Thanks for your patients for reading all this... Haha I am so excited. I stay up late every night watching gardening Videos.
 

Ray Speed

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good stuff
Japan is a wonderful place, we were supposed to be there soon but alas covid 19 will not allow that to happen so we are happily cleaning up around the property and planting and going crazy, your raised bed looks awesome, best of luck and have fun
 

ClissAT

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The Japanese have far different methods of gardening. Most of their acreages are complete life cycles in themselves.
So they have animals at the bottom of their life pyramids.
Their soils are very fertile partly due to the heavy use of fresh animal manures.
If the land is near the coast they also use a lot of fish.
Much is composted inplace. Their traditional methods waste nothing.
If you know the language I suggest you read from their online open universities about their traditional farming practices.
Also, begin learning about their philosophy which is integral to their traditional farming practices.
 

Christopher Ford

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Thank you for your note. I spend a lot of time in Japan and am familiar with traditional farming methods. I think you may not have been there for a while. Most of the farming I have seen is not done traditionally at all. Also, the ground is fertile in many areas, but the heavy use a roundup and pesticides have incorporated themselves deeply into their soil. The small town I will live in uses weed killer as a common practice. I will try to use some of Masanobu Fukuoka's methods, but to be honest... I will not use much. I am trying to educate the locals through my wife of the dangers of pesticides, but it is an uphill battle. I will use primarily organic methods, but even that is difficult in Japan. Again, thank you for your comment though, I do have a lot to learn.
 

ClissAT

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Yes, I must say that I have only communicated with rural people who are trying to keep traditional farming alive.
However, I was under the impression there was a far greater emphasis on it these days.
I didn't mention the roundup situation because it is so prevalent but mostly around built-up areas.
2ac is not much when you need a buffer zone that's for sure.
When I was getting my property certified via the old system here in Australia (which took 7yrs usually) the assessor visited unannounced on several occasions.
Finally, he wouldn't certify the whole property because the neighbour had just built a new shed on our common boundary between visits and on the day of the assessor's final visit, the neighbour was changing the oil in his tractor right by the fence.
That meant my mango trees which grew 20m-40m inside my boundary never got certified which devastated me.
He said the mango tree roots would go right under that shed and where the tractor was being worked on.
I have 16ac and it's been really hard to prevent neighbourly interference.
A new neighbour jumped the back fence to spray pest weeds in my place purely because she couldn't stand to see them and they might seed and blow into her place.
She never asked how I deal with my weeds. Had she asked I would have gladly told her that I hoe and chip them in the dry season!
But she just felt it was ok to spray roundup in my certified paddock without even knowing me!
So certainly, 2ac wouldn't allow for any sort of buffer width at all.
I really do hope you are able to have an impact, particularly on the food producers.
 

Christopher Ford

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well part of the problem is a dwindling population. There are many abandoned houses as per the elderly are slowly passing on. So the houses are inherited and then not lived in. So to keep them from looking abandoned people douse the place with roundup. It gets in the gray water supply and basically infects the whole area. So I will probably not use existing run off for watering. I will use a rain collection system most likely. My hope is to be off the grid as much as possible.
 

Mark

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I love the extra work you put into that garden bed to make it pest-proof - such a competent job (and much better than what I'd make just quietly) :D great stuff!
 
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