Niiharu Forest 新治市民の森 was once agricultural farmlands for local farmers. Urbanization has made much of the area for forest and park. Still, it has several patches of chestnut orchard that was cultivated by previous owners of the land. The largest one is spreading on a slope facing north to a small community of landlords of Niiharu, and Tokaichiba Housing Complex 十日市場団地 (my post on September 9, 2016). In 2018 Mr. Hideshige Uchino, the Director of Nagaike Park 長池公園 for the City of Hachioji 八王子, Tokyo, praised the site. “Keeping natural environment of the north facing slope is scarce these days in Tama Hills 多摩丘陵 where urbanization has concreted the nature en masse. This spot in Niiharu is one of such precious places. Looking the vegetation here, I guess the level of underground water is high. North-facing slope with stable moisture makes flourishing the plants for wet and cold climate. It is also rare in Megalopolis Tokyo. Please take care the chestnuts, Niiharu Lovers Association, will you?”
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| Chestnuts orchard in Niiharu in May 2018 |
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| The same orchard in July 2019. So lush vegetation … |
Then in 2019, mega typhoons hit Kanagawa Prefecture. Normally, Typhoons move from the west to the east for Yokohama, which spares the north facing side of a hill from damages. In 2019, it was not. Especially Typhoon Faxai in early September, a freak storm trespassed Tokyo Bay from the south to the north, caused devastations to north slopes in Megalopolis. Niiharu’s largest chestnut orchard suffered hard. The chestnuts supposed to be collected by Niiharu Lovers in few days were completely destroyed. Moreover, many trees, including old chestnuts trees were snapped in half, or rooted out by strong winds. The scenery of once productive orchard became so sad. That year, the other Citizen Forests in Yokohama, such as Segami Citizen Forest had massive landslides due to Faxai. Niiharu Forest scored better than such worst incidences. Still, we Lovers of Niiharu were aghast and disappointed. “We cannot have chestnuts this year!” “Or, can we have chestnuts next year or future? So many trees were completely damaged …” A sort of hopelessness made Lovers Association to leave the place “as is” for a while. In normal years, we collect chestnuts in September, then mow the place 1-2 times before the next harvest time comes. We skipped it for 2020. In any case, COVID-19 restricted the activity of Lovers Association … a sort of excuse. Then, something miraculous happened.
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| The orchard immediately after Faxai |
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| The
same orchard after Typhoon Hagibis in October 2019. Hagibis took relatively standard course for Yokohama so that additional damage to the orchard was contained … |
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| About 7 months later. May
2020. The slope had lots of invasive Eastern Daisy Fleabane (Erigen annuus) coming from the North America. Could you figure out lots of snapped trees? |
In July 2020, suddenly, the chestnuts orchard had lots of large buds of Golden-rayed lilies (Lilium auratum). They soon made the slope flower garden of gorgeous lilies, filled with noble fragrance. One of the veteran Lovers said. “Er … yeah, the landlord lady who donated the ancestral orchard to the City of Yokohama left word like ‘Please take care of flowers here that thrived for hundreds of years …’ That was true, now I know.” The word of mouths spread. Many people, not only locals but also from Tokyo and the other prefectures, came to admire the place. The City invited many professional botanists to check the place. Their conclusion was, the typhoon was a typical disturbance of nature removing the dominating old trees. The skies once covered by leaves of trees are now open, which let in the sunshine and air freely to the north facing slope. The dormant floor vegetation became awake. Phew. We Lovers Association are allocated the task “To take care of the place and keep the lilies thrive even more, will you?”
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| Lily
field in July 2020. Those whitish spots in the photo are all lilies. |
So, last summer in 2020 Niiharu Lovers have returned to the chestnut orchard. We cleared the damaged trees and mowed the slope “very carefully.” Before, we mowed the ground by brush cutter roughly. No more. We keep clearing the slope by brush cutter but with at most care not to damage the lilies. We then use our sickles to weed sasa bamboos (Pleioblastus chino) and grasses covering young lilies that cannot flower yet. Since last August we have done this at least 4 times as of February 2021. I’ve joined the task 3 times, and found not only sasa bamboos and grasses, but also ferocious Eagle ferns (Pteridum aquilinum) covering the field thick. “Well, Mr. Uchino said the site is north-facing and humid. Come to think of it, the environment is ideal for ferns, isn’t it.” “Yeah. Look. We mowed this much of ferns …” In front of us is a mount of mowed grasses, or ferns, that must be neatly collected and cleared for the flower bed of next year. They will return next year for sure …
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| The
first result of 2020 machine mowing for the chestnuts orchard … still lots of ferns remained. |
It then clicked with me. “The buds of Eagle ferns are edible! Why not collecting them in spring? It’s really a Nip-in-the-bud situation!” Senior Lovers told me. “Well, Naomi, if you want, do it by yourself. We think it’s a useless endeavor.” “Eagle ferns are ferocious. Picking their bud don’t solve the problem. When we want to reduce their population, we must dig out the root. It’s a too much task.” Well, OK. I’ll come back here alone in spring to collect the buds of ferns. Just do it, doesn’t it? COVID or not, spring 2021 comes. In early April, I entered the chestnut orchard. Collecting vegetation in Niiharu Citizen Forest is a NO-NO thing, but the ferns must be mowed sooner or later and discarded as garbage. At least, I’ll collect them for our family dinner, which is more sustainable! Sure enough, there were lots of buds of eagle ferns … Soon, I found myself in a miserable feeling. The slope is filled with REALLY LOTS OF ferns sprouting vertically like skyscrapers of Manhattan or Hong Kong. In few minutes, my plastic bag was full of fern buds, and I was still surrounded by eagle ferns. What kind of difference will I be possible to make? I was sure it would end up NOTHING for the orchard, even as a negative effect. I was powerless …
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| March
2021 of the north slope of chestnuts orchard. Oh-so-cleared field, thanks to our effort, … |
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| … bristles with buds of Eagle ferns. |
At least, I brought home fresh edible buds of eagle ferns. It can be a good preserved-food that can last till spring next year. Here is the recipe I used with eagle ferns.
(1) Making dried buds of Eagle ferns, or Warabi わらび (in Japanese).
Buds of Eagle ferns are edible, but they taste harsh without removing the tartness. Here is the way:
1. Wash freshly collected buds of eagle ferns in running water, and cut the hard part near the root. The way is exactly the same as preparing asparagus.
2. Put them in a boiling pan filled with water and baking soda, like 3L of H2O and 2 Tbsp of soda. If you have cooking ash, you can use it instead of baking soda. When the pan returns to boiling, stop cooking and drain the contents and wash them in a running water. Now we can use Warabi undergone this treatment for salads, stir fries, etc. (recipe is here). But I proceed to the next stage such as …
3. Dry them on a basket under sunshine. Massage Warabi gently several times while they are soft.
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| Drying Warabi. They are at the beginning of the process. |
4. Within a week, Warabi shrinks and dried completely. When they reach to this stage, we can store them with a packet of desiccant, for almost “forever.”
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| 5 days
later. They’ve shrunk completely. They are now ready to be stored. |
1. Put 20g of dried Warabi with plenty of water in a pan. Cover it with a drop-lid and bring the pan to boil.
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| Dried Warabi in water, ready to be boiled. |
2. When it starts to boil, turn off the fire and cool the pan. In the process change the water several times. When you do it slowly, say for 24 hours, the dried Warabi returns to its former size, and very soft.
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| The
pan after boiling. Could you figure out the liquid is tinted with green? If you prefer slight tartness of dried Warabi in you dish, you can start cooking immediately now. |
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| Otherwise,
this is the result of few more ours of soaking. Some say their fiddleheads are not good to eat. But I didn’t care, and still alive now! |
3. Drain the Warabi well. Cut Warabi to 3-4cm long. Put them in a pan with 4 julienned fried-tofu (Abura-age), 3 cups of vegetable broth, 1/2 Tbsp sugar, 3/2 Tbsp Mirin, and 2 Tbsp soy source.
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| Abura-age. You can have it from any Japanese supermarket. |
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| Warabi, Abura-age, and vegetable broth, et al in a pan |
4. Cover the pan with a drop-lid and simmer by low heat until the seasoned broth is reduced enough.
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| Drop-lid is like this. |
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| 😋 |
… Yeah. It’s like the task of Sisyphus. Never-ending. Though, according to Camus, Sisyphus have found some meaning to it. At least, mine is yummy. I’ve returned to the same conclusion as I munched steamed bread of Red deadnettle. Human limitation … Naomi’s philosophical spring. Mutated COVID-19 could dominate here Yokohama, soon …
If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with
Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420
Niiharu Administrative Office / Satoyama Exchange Center
新治管理事務所・里山交流センター
Phone: 045-931-4947
Fax: 045-937-0898
Email: info@niiharu.jp
http://www.niiharu.jp/
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