The Sustainable Outdoors:

seasonal harvests and garden parties in the Miura Peninsula

This past May (2021), Rikki Ito of Paradise Field generously hosted about fifteen adults and youth for a unique farm to table learning and dining experience.

Throughout the day, the group explored a local farm and its adjacent bamboo groves. From petting farm animals to harvesting fresh produce and cutting bamboo for the purpose of cooking rice, participants engaged in a wide variety of outdoor activities in the heart of the Miura Peninsula.

Surrounded by mountains and the open waters, southern Kanagawa Prefecture’s Miura Peninsula is a popular day-trip destination, especially for Tokyoites. The Miura Peninsula provides the nation with a rich bounty of fresh ocean catches and seasonal harvests ranging from watermelon, daikon radish, and strawberries, to maguro tuna and shirasu fish.

seasonal harvests

make your own salad

Participants were taken around the farm to personally select and pick vegetables to create their own salad consisting of fresh produce straight from the fields. Some of the available selections included baby carrots, snap peas, arugula, lettuce, radish, and Italian parsley.

bamboo groves

A short walk from the farm, the bamboo groves gave participants the unique opportunity to wield sharp objects and cut bamboo. With some careful incisions, an additional ‘window’ would make the bamboo a perfect rice cooker for lunch! Participants were also shown how to dig up fresh bamboo shoots, which would also be prepared as a side dish for lunch.

lunch prep

Back at the farm, the bamboo tubes were filled with rice and water, then placed over charcoal to cook over approximately thirty minutes.

Meanwhile, Farm Canning prepared a variety of additional dishes highlighting local produce. Lunch was both colorful and filling! And most importantly, creatively used the fresh harvests from both the farm on-site and nearby. On the menu, we had:

・rice cooked in bamboo
・salad with a trio of Farm Canning original sauces
・yellow onion tempura batter fritters
・fresh radish and snap peas with spinach in a handmade beets mayonnaise dressing
・thinly sliced daikon marinated with calamari
・fried Miura yellowtail bites
・spinach fritata
・beans in tomato sauce
・lightly sauteed pepperoncino bamboo shoots

the farm and the table

farm animals

What’s a farm visit without the farm animals?

In the morning, participants collected fresh eggs for lunch and held chickens (some for the first time!). With some trepidation, the children pet Tama-chan, the resident goat. Fortunately, it did not take too long for both parties to warm up towards each other, especially with the introduction of Tama-chan’s favorite snack – apple slices.

sauce making

After lunch and a break to simply enjoy the outdoors, the adults congregated around a table to make a “spring-inspired green sauce” using the vegetables harvested earlier in the morning.

Tasks were divvied and participants quickly prepared the ingredients to be blended into the sauce. The ingredients were simple and featured just arugula, Italian parsley, walnuts, garlic, and olive oil.

Once completed, participants took turns to individually scoop the sauce into glass jars as a souvenir of the farm to table experience.

youth trek & wildflower bouquets

While the adults labored with the green sauces, the younger participants were whisked away on a post-lunch trek around the property. Upon their return from the woods, Rikki took the children to a corner of the farm to prepare wildflower bouquets for Mother’s Day.

A special thanks to Farm Canning for making this event possible. What started from a seed of possibility progressed into a real in-person experimental workshop experience. We’re also grateful to Rikki for opening up his farm and providing us the opportunity to do something different.

Farm Canning is a homegrown, women-owned business that’s all about promoting a sustainable food lifestyle for positive social impact. They offer educational workshops and Instagram-worthy catering focused on organic ingredients, healthy food for all tastes, and minimizing food waste.

Visit their Facebook | Go to the Farm Canning website