今日は午後から峰の原で
味噌作り。無農薬栽培の
地元産大豆と
これまた地元産のお米
を使った麹、それに天日干し
の塩を使って仕込みました。

約15名程が10キロから20キロの
味噌を仕込みましたが、経験者
が多いのと大豆をすりつぶす
機械が電動になったので
2時間もしないうちに
後片付けまで終わりました。

この完全手造り味噌は
美味しいととても評判が良いので
私も今年は20キロを仕込み
ました。

帰り道に知り合いの畑で
菜の花やらネギやらを沢山
頂きました。こんなに余って
いるなら売れば良いのにと
思っても、荷造りやら
出荷やらの手間がないほど
そろそろ忙しくなって
来ているのです。

I went up to Minenohara Kogen
heights to join a miso making
session. I used soy beans
grown in Suzaka without chemical
spray, locally grown rice for
fermented rice and naturally dried
salt for miso making.

There were around 15 people each
of whom made 10 to 20kg of miso.
It took less than two hours for
all of them to finish miso making
as most of them had experience and
that we used motor-driven grinder.
It was much less time than expected.

I made 20kg of miso as my miso was
very popular among my relatives for
its mild taste.

On the way back home, I dropped in at
one of friends' farm to pick up
some spring vegetables, leaks, etc.
I did a lot of things for healthy
life today.

It was natural to think that
the vege growers should sell
such veges as most of them would
be left behind unharvested.
However, it gets too busy now
for the farmers to arrange, pack
and ship them to any market.

やっとワイン葡萄の剪定が最終盤に
入った。枝を切り終え、不要な枝を
ワイヤから外した。後は種枝をワイヤ
に巻き付けてゆく作業だ。
それと巻きひげの除去。
今年は病気を防ぐために
この作業を徹底してやる
つもり。

そんななか、冬の間に切った
剪定枝の先端から水が
滴り始めている。涙とか
真珠と呼ぶところも
あるようだ。

剪定が遅くなると
切り口から直ぐに水が滴り
始め、それを嫌がる農家は
多い。ただ、それが樹に
ダメージを与えるという
報告は聞いていない。
教科書によれば、とにかく落葉から
出芽までの間にやればよいということに
なっている。

Now the pruning winegrape vines
is in the last phase. I have finished
cutting vines and unwanted bunches.
I am doing wrapping the canes around
the fruiting wires. After wrapping,
I will remove tendrils left on the
wires. This year I want to do it
thouroughly to avoid overwintering
diseases on the left tendrils.

During the pruning, I found many canes
with white water drops. They are so called
tears or pearls.

If the pruning was done at very late
stage, such drops can be seen as soon as
one cuts any part of vine. Many grapegrowers
hate to see such dripples from their vines.
However, I have not heard any damage caused
by such dripping. Text books say the pruning
should be done in the period after defoliage
and before bud bursting.

昨日の雪を遠い日の
事の様に思わせるほどの
好天気。まるでエイプリル
フール。

昨日、今日と甥が畑の
手伝いに来てくれたので
お昼は気になっていた
お店に行った。
昨日は須坂高校そばの
ネパールカレーのナマステ。
ランチバイキング850円。
食べ放題のナンが絶品ですな。

今日は遠藤酒造向かいの
直はん。名物というあんかけ
焼きそば。500円。
いずれも須坂のソーシャルネット
ワークで紹介されていた
お店。須坂に住んでいても
行ってない店は沢山あるもの
です。

SNSでの評判と私の好みには
全く関係ないですが、
訪ねるきっかけにはなっています。
SNSの皆さんに感謝。
サイトはこちら↓
http://www.suzaka.jp/

It was a warm and very fine day
today and the yesterday's snowfall
had been an April Fool as if a memory
of old days.

My nephew came to help me
yesterday and today. We went
for lunch to the restaurants
introcuded in the SNS Suzaka.

Yesterday we went to a Nepalese
Curry restaurant Namasute run
by Nepalese couple. Lunch buffet
cost 850 yen per person. The naan
was so delicious.

Today we went to Naohan nearby
Endo Shuzo sake shope. Fried noodle
with vegetables in gravy sauce cost
500 yen.

Both restaurants were introduced in
the SNS which I had not visited yet.
There are still many restaurants that
I have not visited even in such a small
city.

I don't mean that these restaurants
always meet my taste but their comments
are helpful suggetion to visit. I would
not visit them without the comments.
Thank you for the opportunities given
by the SNS.

朝雪が舞っていた。
須坂では畑にほんの積もるか
積もらないかくらいの雪
だったが、標高の高い畑では
10センチ程度は積もっていた。
さすがに凍害も出る訳だ。

とはいえ春の雪、雪が舞いながらも
薄日が差していると半日で
雪の跡形が無いほどに
なってしまう。冬の雪なら
作業などできないくらい足が
冷たくなっているところだ。

春の淡い雪。

Snow flakes were blown by
the wind in Suzaka this morning
tunrning the scenery a bit white
but the amount on the ground was
very little. But in the vineyard
at higher altitude, it snowed a lot
like this picture. The depth of snow
was about 10cm. No wonder I had
cold injury to the vines here.

However, as this is the snow in the spring,
even though we had occasional snow
during morning, the sunshine from
time to time through
the slits of the clouds, all the snow
has gone away in the afternoon.
Had it been in winter, we could not
stand the cold at foot and could
not work more than one hour in the
similar situation.

Such short lived snow in spring.

朝方は寒いながらも
天気がよくてそれなりに
仕事も進んだ。
お昼を過ぎて畑に出る頃に
雨が降り始めて、次第に
強くなり作業終了。珍しく
天気予報通りの雪混じりの
雨となった。明日も寒い
らしい。

エイプリルフールといって
世間も騒いでいたのはもう
過去のことか。以前は欧米の
新聞がこんな報道をしたなどと
必ず話題になったものだが。
スキーが衰退したように、こういう
風習も衰退してゆくものなのか。
それが時代に合わなくなったという
ことか。それに関心があった時代と
そうでない時代、何が変わったのか。

It was cold in the morning but
it was fine which helped me to make
some progress in the vineyards.
After lunch and just when I re-started
working it started raining and it got
harder. Then I had to stop wrapping
of the branches. As forecasted, it rained
with snow sometime.

It was April 1 which is known as April Fool.
I thought people used to make laugh of small
lies before but not so much today. There were
always big news in the newspapers that certain
papers abroad made tricks, etc. Just like
the popularity of skiing declined, such customs
may also decline through the time. I wonder if
there is a time when certain things attract
interests but such time changes. I wonder
what has made such changes.