agriculture

Close up view of the branches of shiikuasa tree with a dozen or so fruits.

A net bag filled with shiikuasa fruit freshly cut from the tree, some with leaves still attached.

There are six varieties of citrus in the back garden: mikan; yuzu; lime; lemon; hassaku; and shiikuasa. If you aren’t familiar with it, the last in that list is commonly grown in Okinawa and southern regions of Japan. It’s so common in Okinawa that, during the visit for Mieko’s last rights, I was hard put to find orange juice on the shelves of a local market, until I realized that shiikuasa was in plentiful supply.

A loaded cargo bike parked in front of a vegetable stand. The greens of a bundle of large long onions projects from the rear of the cargo bike’s saddle bags like a short horse’s tail.

A closer view of the cargo bike parked in front of a vegetable stand.

Low-lying dwellings, some with simple flat roofs, some more substantial with traditional tile roofs, lie in the distance beyond a meadow.

Short logs of one meter or so are stacked in rows under a canopy of trees. The white spots where plugs with mushroom spores have been driven in are visible on the logs.

A field of rice, with some stalks toppled by rain or wind, just ready for harvest. Beyond that a stone wall of perhaps two or three meters in height runs the width of the field, as a retaining wall for higher ground beyond bearing an orchard.