Guests & Volunteers Archive
The Earth Embassy would not be possible without our international volunteers. This part of our blog is where you can see who they are and read their stories. Click here for further information about volunteer opportunities with the Earth Embassy.
Please come visit the ALL NEW Earth Embassy website and blog.
We will be updating the new site with news and photos regularly.
Be sure to change this bookmark, as we will be phasing out this existing blog and bringing you all of our new news on the new new site.
Kou Okuma, our newest assistant joined us in the fields today for a bit of fall harvesting. Kome, the kitten abandoned on our doorstep last week also helped out by catching some crickets.
Suxin and Eli are interns at the Solar Cafe and Mt Fuji Mint Tea Farm. They have joined the team from Skidmore College in Saratoga for three months and are doing amazing work keeping our farm growing. Eli has been cooking amazing Lentil burgers for us in the evenings and Suxin is our resident philosopher.
Our oldest friend and biggest fan, Jay Graves left his boat the Arete in Australia and came to Tokyo for a few nights to see the gang. Jay has supported the Earth Embassy projects for years and helped bring some of our most important team members on board. thanks for visiting Jay and good sailing. Pictured from left; Jake Reiner, Niel Garscaden(founder of Alien magazine), Jay Graves, Josh Lieberman (Eden Home's architectural photographer),and Ichi-ban John.
The crew from NHK were up to film a short documentary on our farm and eco village projects. It aired August 15th on the BS1"Eco Life" program. Here Gennieve is giving an interview about the importance of thinking global and eating local.
Our three years of planting, weeding and tending our raspberry canes have paid off. This year we ate lots of fresh berries, made jam, shakes, and a couple sweet raspberry cakes. This fall we will be harvesting the leaves and adding them to a mixed tea with our mint. The raspberry leaves have certain medicinal properties for women's cycles especially.
Matt and Shawn are cutting poles for the sheep fences with Fuji looking on in the background and our traditional Giant Pink Koi flag flying for the luck of all the houses with boys.
Our new chickens have arrived, a beautiful bunch of white Ukokes, donated by the Kawaguchiko Town. Here Matt is making friends with the default leader of the chickens, whom we have dubbed Twisty, because the poor guy cant seem to hold still and his head is constantly twisting from side to side, and usually leading him around in circles. When we were selecting chickens to bring to our farm, most tried to run away, but Twisty-san just ran in circles at my feet, so he was the first to get caught. He is actually very friendly, and kept Matt company all day while he was working on painting our new signs.
On a small farming expedition to the fields of Kofu, we were surrounded by a bunch of rogue samurai loyal to the Takeda Shingen clan. It looks like a bad situation for our peaceful team. I wont go into the details, but suffice it to say that Shingen and his boys are ancient history, and the Earth Embassy team is still going strong.
(pictured left to right, Matt, Jake, Emiko, Chris and Shawn)
Lila, our long time friend from Maui, was at the farm for a little birthday garden party. Lila used to live with her kids on a beach near Jake's tree house and the family organic fruit farm in Haiku. She now lives with her two children and two grandchildren near Yoyogi park and runs a kindergarden for the keikis. We had Champagne and fresh blueberries to celebrate her visit!
Local friends often come by on Sunday to help out with our fields. Hitoshi lives nearby in a 200 year old house he has made into a cute little gallery and lounge space, and often comes by the Embassy to help out with events and eco-homes work. He works at the local fruit farms picking cherries in summer and has also become the slow-life handy-man for the little village at Shojiko, and helps the grandmas with any house and yard chores for 800yen an hour (cheap! they love him) plus snacks. Hitoshi is the master of living the good slow life. He left the 9-5 world of Yokohama and now runs his occasional business from 10-3 only. He and Jeannie spent the day helping taking care of some of our baby trees. Are they working or chatting? Hitoshi's shirt looks a little too clean here...
Volunteer Sarah helps Jake with planting some radish starts. We tried a little companion planting experiment, putting the sprouts along the sides of the already planted potato rows.
Diane Reiner, a long time member of the Earth Embassy team, is in Uganda this month working with street children. Last year on her first trip to Africa, he met a young man Ronnie, a former street child of Kampala, who is now working with 30 homeless children to organize education, clothes, food and housing for them. Ronnie is organizing the kids into a music and comedy performance team, to give them skills and the means to support themselves.
We are hoping to support Diane and Ronnie with our network of permaculture development people in Africa.
Ringo, the guest permaculture expert who has been helping on the Mt Fuji farm, is also going to Uganda next year. He will be working with two groups, Children of Uganda and Permaculture Across Borders.
http://ringospermaculture.blogspot.com
www.childrenofuganda.org
www.permacultureacrossborders.org
We are hoping to bring these various projects together and organize a small farm and guest house in the capital Kampala for Ronnie and his kids to use as a home base, education center and income source.
Diane's photos will be on display at RPI university this month and next.
contact info@earthembassy.org for more information on getting involved.
We are lucky to have such great staff and volunteers. Marty and Michelle came to help this spring and have been key to helping us get the cafe open for the season and the farm planted and growing. Marty is a mechanical engineer and will be going to Germany this fall to get his masters degree in renewable energy. Michelle is a professional educator and aspiring yoga sensei. They are hard workers and enjoy taking care of the hardest job we have, keeping our sheep out of the neighbors cabbage fields!
Emi's mother is back her native Japan after living in Pakistan for over 20 years! Thanks for visiting the Earth Embassy and welcome home!
Adam was our webmaster and farm volunteer from April to June of this year. But just because he left the Earth Embassy does not mean he packed up and went back home to New York. After leaving Japan, Adam went to beautiful Krabi, Thailand where he is spending the summer doing an internship with the Fah Diow Foundation, in addition to getting rid of his authentic farmer's tan (pictured above) at the areas vast number of beaches and islands. With Fah Diow, Adam's role will involve improving the website, training staff, and helping with the organizations media projects from a technical and creative standpoint.
The Earth Embassy wishes Adam much luck and success and we hope to see him again. And if you ever need any work done on the web, check out his website!
Mana and her son Harley have finally moved up to Mt Fuji full-time to help establish the Eden Farm School's new science programs. Congratulations on the new house!
As we get ready to say 'goodbye' to Adam and Adam, we are happy to say 'welcome' to Fernando, our new long term volunteer. Fernando is from Spain, but has spent the majority of his life traveling and living in different countries around Europe. In a past life, Fernando operated his own media company but now prefers work that benefits the greater good. We have no doubt that he will be a great help in our fields over the next few months. Welcome, Fernando!
This entry was taken from the blog of Earth Embassy volunteer Adam Shane. To read more, please visit AdamShane.com
Kanako and I awoke at 4:30am and climbed to the top of Koyodai Lookout to witness sunrise on this exceptionally clear day. After standing in awe, staring at the indescribable beauty of the rising sun enveloping Mt. Fuji in its warm glow, Kana gave my first yoga lesson. A brisk walk back to the café found us perfect timing to catch a ride to the onsen before a day and night of play for adult and child alike.
The children’s festival started in the morning with a famous Japanese comedian carving a log into a bear with a chainsaw. The kids then made their way over to the Café for live music and cotton candy. Later they learned about ecology and planted mint. Before the event came to a close the children were treated to an awesome Karate demonstration. The youth of the day faded away with the sun, and ravers began to arrive to set up tents in the surrounding fields as the kids slowly filtered out.
The evening began with sparklers around a small fire. As the flames grew the party escalated into one of the most exceptional events. Hundreds of people gathered to dance to pulsating house music under the stars at the base of Mt. Fuji. I spent the night drinking shochu, making friends with a few of the coolest people in Japan, and dancing around the blazing inferno.
By sunrise the party was still thumping despite the downpour of rain. I was called up to one of the stages to play drums for an impromptu jam session. After playing non-stop for a couple hours, I took a break to head outside for a few hours of dancing in the mud and rain. About thirty hours of hiking, yoga, playing with children, dancing, drumming, and having a great time eventually drained my energy and I finally passed out….
When I woke up the next evening, I was invited to the onsen by Nabe, Shu, Seino and seven other partiers who were all still going strong since yesterday!! We ended up hanging out for the rest of night. I got a few invites back to Tokyo and was told about a few events coming up the weekend I go back. It’s going to be a fun time for sure…
Click here for more pictures of the Children’s Festival…
This entry was taken from the blog of Earth Embassy volunteer Adam Shane. To read more, please visit AdamShane.com
I’ve learned that there is no such thing as a typical day on this farm. The unique work I’m doing changes everyday as we get closer to the festival. It keeps the days fun, but the real magic of this place reveals itself at night. As Jake described it, the Solar Café is a place where people come together. I don’t think he could have said it any better way. In the weeks preparing for the festival I’ve met the most unlikely cast of characters who have provided exceptionally interesting interactions.
The staff and locals have all been truly accommodating and have provided a great look into the life of people here in the mountains of central Honshu. Jake, the owner, is an expat from NY who has been living in Japan for twelve years. In the last six, he opened the café/guesthouse/farm/eco-school that is slowly but surely gaining a foothold in the valley around Mt. Fuji. Naoko, the café manager/chef has been cooking the most amazing vegetarian food imaginable as well as helping me out with my Japanese. The other Adam who I met on my first day here is staying for about the same duration before heading to Thailand and Laos to do more volunteer work. Kanako, a Japanese volunteer and yogi from Tokyo speaks perfect English with an Aussie accent. I’ve been to a party in house with no walls by Shojiko Lake. I’ve been to dinner with local English teachers in a restaurant hidden a 1m tall door on a large white wall in the woods.
Every night or two the guests in the ryokan would cycle through and pave the paths for a few friendships. Chris, a drummer from England who has been living and traveling in Japan for the last 5 months. Marcel, a Japanese guesthouse owner from nearby Kofu who defies the typical cultural barrier and provokes intriguing philosophical and cultural exchange discussions. G the DJ, Ozan the manager, and 3 of the dancers from a gentleman’s club in Roppongi, Tokyo. Matthew, a multi-instrument musician / recording engineer from Australia who spent hours with me discussing recording technique and professional music. Uutaka, a djembe player from Northern Honshu who helped me create a couple hours of drum circle magic and then learned how to play the American drinking game Asshole. Shauna from Shizouka, and Austin from Kyoto who has recently used one of my songs in a film about contrasting life in Kyoto. Anthony, a high school teacher from Toyko who video-interviewed me in front of Mt. Fuji to use as instructional material for his students.
Amongst the campfire discussions, improvised music sessions, and drinking I’ve been overwhelmed with adventure activities in the surrounding area. Kanako, Adam and I have made explored the Aokigahara forest, hiked to Saiko Lake, and climbed to the top of Koyodai lookout for sunset and through the fog at midnight. I even fixed up an old bike and began a few excursions into the wooded paths before nearly meeting my death when the brakes weren’t strong enough to stop me flying down a bumpy volcanic rock hill and breakneck speed.
Add this all together, mix in the fun attempts at communication in Japanese, and sprinkle in some shrines and you get the most unique enjoyable experience conceivable. It’s hard to remember which day is which anymore. They all seem to blend together in an indistinguishable blur of stimulation which would keep even the shortest attention span occupied behind its wildest imagination. And then it stopped…
The festival arrived and each day took on its own purpose, superceding the anticipation which was rising for weeks. The first day was mostly spent building a stage, and helping the sound crew from Tokyo; Nabe a bass player, Shu and Seino who are guitarists. After a couple bands played, we ended the night by playing a great jam session in front of a roaring campfire. A relatively exciting experience, but still nothing compared to what the next day would bring….
This entry was taken from the blog of Earth Embassy volunteer Adam Shane. To read more, please visit AdamShane.com
So… about farm life in Japan! A lot of people have been asking what I’d be doing here, and up until this week I really had no idea. Let me start by answering some of the more common questions.
Q: How do you expect to wake up at 5am and work the fields when you normally don’t go to bed until sunrise?
A: First of all, I don’t have to start work until nine. Second of all, the jetlag and time change has significantly altered my schedule. Lastly, the rooster makes it well known when the sun comes up.
Q: Will you be picking rice in a large paddy field?
A: No.
Q: What will you be doing then?
A: Mostly having fun. I fix things, build things, and sometimes get to destroy things. Amongst all of the little handyman odds and ends, most of my work revolves around getting the grounds ready for a 2 day festival/rave happening this weekend (May 4-5th. If you happen to be in the area you should definitely come).
I do work about 8 hours a day, but the tasks I’ve been assigned have been enjoyable. This past week, I’ve used an industrial sized weed-wacker to clear a large field. I made frequent off-roading trips in a 4WD hauling supplies between buildings. I also constructed a large durable fire pit that should last at least a millennium. Sometime this week, I’m building a stage. It’s like being a kid playing with all of his toys in the dirt again… except these toys are real and very dangerous to play with. =)
Q: When you’re not working, what is there to do in the Japan wilderness?
A: The farm is located at the base of Mount Fuji, on the direct outskirts of the Aokigahara National Park. There are lots of trails, mountains, lakes, and caves to explore. When not out enjoying nature, time is usually spent in the café with the other volunteers, staff, and guests. We drink, play music, eat well and generally have a good time.
I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting quite a few of the locals, and expats from around the world. With the exception of the bi-weekly onsen public bathing occurrence, there haven’t been too many ‘unusual’ events. BBQs at the park, dinner in trendy restaurants, and bonfires at the farm are pretty normal to most people from America. Once you throw in the cultural mix and Asian influence life still remains extremely exiting.
Before my first full week of work at the Earth Embassy’s organic farm I took a short hike through the surrounding Aokigahara “Sea of Trees”. Among the volcanic rock and dense, mossy woods is the Ice Cave (cue FF7 music). During Mt. Fuji’s last eruption several lava tunnels were cut through the area. This particular cave happens to stay so cold and wet that icicles and blocks of ice are present even in the hottest summer months. While that sounds cool (no pun intended) in theory, it was actually quite a miserable experience to squeeze my 6’4” body into. I didn’t really consider how small and icy these lava tunnels actually are. After nearly witnessing horrible slipping injuries of a few people in front of me, I carefully made way to the exit and back to the farm.
Staying here is has been very worthwhile. I’m getting very used to meeting diverse people from around the world. My Japanese vocabulary is growing each day. Mt. Fuji is always visible, from the moment I wake up to the time I sit typing this blog. Each day has been memorable, but I’ll save the elaboration here for more adventurous tales. I may have some stories to tell after this weekends festival, but if not I have plans to spend a few more days in Tokyo next weekend.
This entry was taken from the blog of Earth Embassy volunteer Adam Shane. To read more, please visit AdamShane.com
After two hours of bus transport, I found myself the sole passenger dropped off on the side of a two lane highway in the middle of the woods. It was late and the day’s light was beginning to fade. I literally walked through a cloud, following vague directions towards the farm. Through the heavy snowfall I spotted a few signs in English… Solar Café… Closed!?!? The last bus of the day had long since sped off, and feared the worst: stranded in a foreign country’s wilderness with no shelter as frozen water fell and accumulated.
I pressed onwards toward the building. Through the front window were the shadows a lone figure. Whew… I won’t have to break out that foil emergency blanket I packed. Pulling open the door, I walked in and announced “Hello, I’m Adam.” He responded. “Hello, I’m Adam. I’m from New York. Where are you from?”
He proceed to explain that the chef was on vacation, and due to the recent rain and snow there has been no farm work or guests in the ryokan (Japanese style hotel room). After an hour Jake showed up and introduced himself as the owner. Jake is also from New York. Two Adam’s volunteering at a farm in Japan… and all three of us hailing from the north-east USA!! Surreal?!? This truly is a small world.
This place has a great vibe. The café has a stage loaded with instruments. We played a bit of music and had a few hours of great conversation. Jake and Adam are both really down to earth. I can tell I’m really going to enjoy working with them for the next couple of months.
There are no guests now, so I was able to sleep in the ryokan for the night. My normal accommodation would either be in the tree house or teepee. Awesome!!
Please join us in welcoming our latest volunteer, Adam #2! Adam arrived on April 18th and will be with us for about 2 months. Adam comes from New Jersey in the US where he operated his own recording studio. After years of recording musicians in his area, he decided to sell everything he owns and hit the road. Adam's goal is to collaborate with local musicians in every country he visits. It seems our guest house will be the perfect place for him to start achieving this goal.
Adam is the latest long term volunteer at the Earth Embassy. He arrived on April 2nd and will be with us for the next two months. Adam comes all the way from the Big Apple (New York City) where he worked as a web designer. His plan is to spend the next 8 months traveling around Japan and South East Asia while doing volunteer work along the way. Not only will he be lending a hand in the farm fields and around the cafe, but he will use his web design expertise to help make much needed improvements to our website. Thanks, Adam!
