A field in its third year of cultivation after clearing the wasteland

Although it’s still not very well known, at Matsudai Castle Shiroyama behind the Noh Theater, players from FC Echigo-Tsumari are tilling the fields and growing a variety of vegetables using organic, pesticide-free methods.

We started this farm in 2018 during the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. As part of the Shiroyama Field Museum Project, we began with the goal of transforming abandoned farmland into an organic tourist farm. It is a hands-on farm where visitors can explore the lush natural surroundings of Matsudai Castle—a unique area dotted with art installations—while harvesting and tasting vegetables themselves.

Since we started by clearing a wasteland, I remember feeling completely at a loss when I saw the land littered with tree roots and clumps of dirt. The soil was poor for farming, and there didn’t even seem to be any small creatures like earthworms, but after adding compost and tilling the soil every year, it has now—in its third year—turned into soil that actually looks like farmland, and lots of small creatures—such as earthworms, grasshoppers, mantises, and lizards—have started coming to visit.

My first year began in a flurry of activity as I scrambled to meet the duration of the harvest, with a vegetable-growing guidebook in hand.In my second year, I keenly felt my limitations—realizing just how difficult it was to tend all the fields by myself. In my third year, with more members joining to help with the farming and honeybees coming along to assist with pollination, I still can’t hold a candle to veteran farmers. But the fields, soaked in blood, sweat, and tears, are slowly beginning to bear fruit, and I feel like we’re finally starting to move on to the next stage.

Compared to several decades ago, Matsudai Castle Shiroyama has seen much less human intervention. Local elders tell us that the number of cultivated fields has decreased, the roadsides—once neatly mowed—are increasingly being treated with herbicides, and the number of flowers blooming in the satoyama has also been declining. In an effort to restore Matsudai Castle Shiroyama to its original state, we are engaged in environmentally sustainable agriculture, aiming not only to revitalize the farmlands but also to restore the satoyama.

While it’s still challenging to widely promote the vegetables we grow and our farm activities, we’re hosting an “Organic Vegetable Harvest Experience and Satoyama BBQ” this summer to move closer to our goal of becoming an organic agritourism farm. The event involves taking a stroll around Matsudai Shiroyama while harvesting summer vegetables in the fields, and then enjoying the vegetables you’ve harvested at a barbecue. Vegetables that you’ve seen with your own eyes, touched with your own hands, and harvested yourself are truly special, so I really hope many people will come and experience this at least once.

We’ll continue to work hard so that we can deliver not only delicious rice but also delicious vegetables.

Matsudai Rice Fields Bank / FC Echigo-Tsumari—Rie Ohira

Featured Image: Photo by Ayumi Yanagi