Nagano Station with @nicksikorski.

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#VoluntaryJapan is alive and happening.

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Spent two days and two nights at the location

of fellow anarchist and Steemian Nick Sikorski’s farm, learning a thing or two, and helping him prepare some fields for the upcoming season.

We slept in an extremely old and somewhat abandoned house on the property—in rural Nagano (presently dilapidated to the point that we were able to light a fire inside for warmth)— and had a voluntaryist meet up of sorts. The place was cozy, in its own way, and suited the purposes of the weekend wonderfully.

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Nick showed me what he was doing with the land,

how he was creating drainage ditches and how the plants would be grown based on an organic/permaculture philosophy/approach. I was put to work doing the relatively simple but somewhat physically demanding task of hacking through a bunch of wet weeds taller than my head with the brush cutter.

I have basically no experience with this (well, now I do) and so it took me a bit to get used to things. At the end, though, we had one new field basically cleared out.

A view of Nick’s Valley.

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Promoting Steem, even in the fields.

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The area of Nagano where Nick is currently based, called Saku,

is full of hot springs, farms, organic producers of fruits, veggies, and honey, as well as unique coffee shops, cafés, and restaurants. It was really a pleasure to visit such a place, and partake of all these delights. Especially in the fall as the leaves are changing and the air is cool and crisp.

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This coffee shop is actually an old house, which has been converted into an open concept café. There is a wood burning stove in the front, keeping the place warm and toasty, and filling the area with a light aroma of pine smoke.

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A pork and local veggies lunch at a fantastic (and cheap!) restaurant in the area, called “GÜSK.”

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Back to Niigata.

Downtown Nagano City, just over the bridge.

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After Nick sped me back to Nagano City, to catch my bus, at speeds that nearly made my eyeballs bleed in his small K-truck, we had a coffee, took a selfie in front of the Nagano “nipple goddess” fountain (see main photo for this post), and said “later.”

Looking forward to following his awesome project as it continues to unfold. Be sure to keep up with him here on Steem as I am sure some posts about his kickass farm will be coming in the near future.

Thanks for reading.

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)