We made Bambuskuchens! Winter Festival in Niiharu

One reason why forests in Yokohama have been left in neglect was, people no longer needed the resources forests can provide for daily lives. In bygone era of Satoyama, woods and bamboos were the materials to be crafted into fuels, utensils, tools, etc. Once cheap plastics and aluminum pans became readily available from shops around the corner, people stopped to bother entering the forest to collect the bounties. Now IKEA Kohoku sells rice bowls for less than 100 yen, who cares nurturing good beech trees to craft a wooden bowl in KozukueCastle Citizen Forest, located within less than 2k from IKEA Cafe?

Basically, volunteers in Yokohama Citizen Forest are expected to do 3 things. One is to manage the forest vegetation with thinning, weeding, scraping fallen leaves, and collecting trashes in and around trekking roads. Second is to monitor the health of the Forest, by recording the changes and animal lives. The third mission is to enlighten the community about the joy of living with healthy forests. Lovers of Niiharu volunteers have several regular events for the third category. In their schedule, 4 festivals in each season are mainly for kids to enjoy forest. All of them include some forest works of the season, hand-craft session using the collected materials from the Niiharu Citizen Forest, information session about nature in Niiharu, games, and cooking. 2016 WinterFestival in Niiharu was held one recent Sunday. I have been there. It was a fun!

To Ikebuchi Open Place.
Red and white plum flowers
and tangerines welcomed us.

The program of this year’s festival was 1. Bamboo thinning, 2. Bamboo cup and chop sticks making for lunch with miso soup with lots of organic veggies and pork, 3. Fun-booths for information about early spring buds in the Forest and for cocklebur darts, and 4. Bambuskuchen. Bambuskuchen?

It was really a fine day.

The melee started at 10:00 in Ikebuchi Open Space of the Niiharu Forest. About 70 people, kids + moms + dads, gathered to enjoy weekend bringing family bento boxes. (Fee: 300 yen for adults, 100 yen for kids under 15). Forest volunteers prepared huge pots of quasi-traditional miso soup with lots of winter vegetables with pork, which was free refill. Veggies were brought from the field of the farming club of the Lovers of Niiharu. The leader of the Club proudly declared: “AUTHENTICALLY organic!” They were leeks, carrots, Chinese cabbages, and taros, with konjak. The Lovers used stoves made of empty drum cans. The source of the heat was gentle firewood. The smell of miso (+ shoyu + mirin + veggie broth + pork) started to waft already in 10:00. But we must wait … Gentle heat of logs cooked the ingredients thoroughly. Kids loved it. Some 1^st graders ate 3 cups of it. The time of winter in the Forest was slow and tender.

The very first family to register

Forest miso soup is to be cooked there.

Hot soup in the Forest

Picnic with miso soup

Though families brought bento boxes for lunch, the utensil for miso soup was made on site. The Lovers invited kids to work in one of the bamboo forests before lunch.  We all went into the forest to search for suitable bamboo trees for cups. “How do you reckon the height of this bamboo?” A 2^nd grader replied, “100m!” “Er, it’s not that tall, but more than 10m already.” A volunteer leader told us. “Have you noticed the color of sections of this bamboo? It is white, isn’t it? This one is young, sprouted last spring. It’s still too tender to be a good cup. Look for a well-sized bamboo of 2-3 years old. Find one with brownish sections …” “Was it born just last year?” “Oh, yes.” “Wow… so tall …”

Let’s go to a bamboo forest!

We are getting there.

A young bamboo tree

They were more matured, and stood a bit densely.
Good place for thinning.

Our group chose an older bamboo tree, of diameter about 17 cm, stood side by side with the other older ones. Our leader instructed us to look upwards. “First, we have to notice this forest spreads on a very steep slope, and the canopy of all the bamboos are drooping to the valley side. Which side of a bamboo do we start to cut for harvesting?” “Hmmmm, the valley side?” “Well done! Correct. You know, bamboos have sections that get narrower upwards. Maybe we can have good cups from this tree near the bottom. So, we cut the tree at here … First we cut a section of this tree facing the valley. Safety first! I’ll do it for you to look.” He inserted his saw at the bottom of the trunk, and cut a section from there. It looked like a chunk of small pumpkin. 4 years old got excited and decided to have it for his treasure. “Bamboo pumpkins!” “Now, you can saw the tree from the other side.” “Yap!” the 2^nd grader big brother started to saw the ridge-facing side of the trunk with an angle. This was his first attempt to tackle with a real tree.

Let’s cut it here.

I can do it!

He and his kindergarten brother came to the festival with their grandma and grandpa who was a professional carpenter. Grandpa looked his grandsons grinning, and gave very sharp advices. “Hey, hey, why do you think a saw has lots of tooth? You use the tool in its length!” “Ha, ha, ha, you need 10 years to cut this tree.” The 2^nd grader replied. ”No! I can do it instantly!” The volunteer leader supported the trunk and advised, “Use your both hands and clench the handle when you catch the saw … yes, well done. Keep your pace, don’t rush …” 4 years old joined the fight. “I want to do it too!” After kids’ endeavor for a while the bamboo fell over the slope, and its top was caught by the boughs of 2 other bamboos. “Hey, Grandpa, it was only 5 minutes!” From both the stump and the cut end of the tree oozed out water, real bamboo water. “Look, the tree was drinking from the ground this much …”

Coming doooown …

Wow, water, water …

The grandpa and the volunteer leader cut the trunk of the fallen bamboo to release it from the tangle, and laid the entire tree on the slope. The canopy part was bushy with several dead branches. “Hmmmm, the canopy was a bit damaged. It was good to thin this tree for the forest. For the lunch, we need only the bottom 4 sections. Let’s cut the tree in several parts, and bring the bottom with us to the lunch place. The rest are to be gathered over there for clearing later.” So, we all attempted to dissect the bamboo. Grandma helped her grandson. “I’ll hold your body from slipping into the valley. You cut here.” I delimbed the busy branches of the bamboo. Each branch went to a different direction even when they came out of the same section. When I muddled, the volunteer leader showed me an example. “You hold all the branches at once, and saw the bottom of them just above the section ... like this. There, it’s easy.” True. My 3 minutes per branch was shortened into 1 minute per two branches that were cut simultaneously. “Wow, he’s quicker than my grandpa.” “Grandpa does not cut bamboo branches for his job, you know.” “Oh, yeah.”

Grandma as a stopper

These will be utilized later for forest management.

Today’s bounty!

We brought the trunk at Ikebuchi Open Space, and cut it into 4 sections for lunch bowls of the family + chop sticks. The bamboo cups are large enough as soup mugs whose edge was trimmed by Lovers of Niiharu members. During lunch, educational exhibitions about early spring buds in the Forest and handcrafting for bamboo toys were presented, and kids gathered around a cocklebur darts contest.

Cups and chopsticks

We hold the trunk for cutting.

This is my cup!

And this is mine!

Chop stick making

The mouth of a bamboo cup is trimmed for safety.

The finale of the festival was to bake baumkuchen … no, bambuskuchen. 3 bamboo trunks whose sections were pulled out became the “baum.” The ladies of Lovers of Niiharu developed a special recipe for bambuskuchen whose slippery bamboo-baum requires a bit different consistency in dough. For about 50cm kuchen around a 10cm diameter bamboo with 3cm thickness,

1. Separate whites and yolks of 20 eggs. Beat yolks and 600g of sugar in a VERY large bowl until thick and pale yellow. 
2. Fold in 600g of flour and 600g of pancake mix.
3. Fold in 400ml of milk and 600g of melted butter and stir until just smooth.
4. Whisk whites until it forms stiff peak. Gently fold in the flour mix. The dough is now ready.
5. For the first batch as the base of the kuchen, repeat 1-4 with smaller amount of ingredients in a smaller bowl. Fold milk and butter in a smaller portion than the main dough that makes the consistency of this bowl is heavier.

The volunteers caused charcoal in open stoves, and bambuskuchen making began. First, 3-4 ladles of the first dough from the small bowl was poured around the middle of about 2m bamboo trunk. Then, two people held each side of the trunk, rotated the bamboo once (and a bit) to drain little the dough, and moved the bamboo with dough over the heated charcoal to roast it by rotating continuously.

First, cover the bamboo with dough …

Now the bamboo is over the oven.

How to turn was tricky. Especially when the dough was still wet, unless we rotated the “bambus” at a proper speed, the dough fell down over the fire.  At the very first roasting, the diameter of the kuchen was still small, and so the speed of dough-dripping over one rotation was faster. Though, too quick spin made the distribution of the dough over the bamboo uneven, which made valleys and hills covering a bamboo trunk. In addition, the heat from charcoal only was not enough. The good firing up from added logs could brown the dough with nice color and aroma so we had to add logs and to watch the distribution and the height of the fire continuously to maintain the proper oven operation. Once the entire layer was nicely colored and dried, the next ladles were added, and the “bambus” returned over the oven. People took turns to rotate and ladle the kuchen. We roasted the bamboo for more than 30 minutes.

It is still at an early stage …

Growing kuchen

There were several kids who ended up with the charge of rotating. I asked them “Are you OK? If you’re tired, I’ll follow you up …” But they were remarkably diligent and determined. “I DO want to finish it by myself!” Their labor of persistence became very sweet. During the roasting, everybody was wondering if the kuchen could come out smoothly from the bamboo. No problem. Though the shape of kuchen was rough with hills and valleys, it emerged as really a “bambuskuchen.” We cleaned the plate in no time!

First the burnt chunks at the edge were removed.
By the way, they too were tasty to nibble. J

Done!

The City Office who’s in charge of execution of Green-up Plan is

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-671-2891

FAX: 045-641-3490

http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kankyo/

Forest Volunteering 101: 横浜森づくりボランティア入門講座体験記

So, Yokohama Citizen Forests need volunteers who can thin the undergrowth in the forests. On the other hand, Yokohama sits next to Tokyo and not many people have experience with even a small gardening. But, natural environment turns out to be essential even for city dwellers, and they can be eager care-givers of neighborhood forests, if they know how. Ideal condition for “Human Development” program, huh?

Yokohama Forest Volunteering 101 started in FY2012. It is a part of seminar series organized by the City with a help from civil society organizations that provide technical experts in urban forestry. Since 2014, the seminar is held once in a year in Niiharu Citizen Forest. The course consists of 3 weekend 9:30-15:00 seminar and practice sessions. Anybody who is 18+ years old and lives/works/studies in Yokohama can participate, free-of charge, provided s/he can attend all 3 days. Although the City organizes many other seminars for Forest volunteerism, this is the only course open to a person who has not started forest volunteering yet. The number of seats is limited at 30 on first-come-first-served basis that could be in full soon after the registration period begins. This fiscal year, for the seminars on October 17, November 14 and November 23, the application was accepted either by email or FAX between September 17 and October 2 at the Support Center for Civic Activity in Environmental Issues that belonged to the City’s Creative Environment Policy Bureau 環境創造局環境活動支援センター (FAX：045-721-6356, email: ks-shiencenter@city.yokohama.jp). 30 Yokohama people of aged 20+, male and female, attended and had a weekend fun. I was one of them. J

A rainy October weekend
in Niiharu

All 3 days were made of a combo of lectures and labo (i.e. forestry volunteering exercises). Lectures in the first two days were held in the Main Room (Hiroma) of the Okutsu House. That was a splendid venue. Although it was either rainy or misty for all three training Saturdays last fall, the pure traditional room with tatami floor was warm and very comforting, or even therapeutic. I learned that in1994 the last patriarch of Okutsu Family rebuilt the house as “a traditional Japanese wooden house standing at least for 100 years without a problem.” The 3m main pillar, Daikoku-bashira 大黒柱, is zelkova, other pillars and liangs are cypress all of which do not have a knot. They were selected carefully from all over Japan. The sliding doors that partition rooms are one-wood panels (I mean, not plywood) from cedars of Akita and Yakushima Island (UNESCO World Heritage site). The carpenters were specialists of Japanese traditional architecture so that they built the Okutsu House with almost no nail. During intermissions, we all spread our legs on comfy cushions and said “If this were my house …” The grandpa of Okutsu Family commercially grew flowers in glasshouses stood on the land where now regular farmers’ Saturday market is held. Mr. Okutsu did not have an heir and donated the estate to the City. Niiharu Park and Citizen Forest were open in March 2000. Mr. Okutsu passed away in the fall of 2000. He was really a person.

Okutsu House

Sculptured window for a storage door
in the Main Room of Okutsu House.

Ideal café table
for intermissions during seminars

The traditional Japanese room is comfortable
with Powerpoint presentations.

The first morning lectures in October started by the people from Creative Environment Policy Bureau explaining Yokohama Green-up Plan and the biota of Yokohama. Then, Ms. Mihoko Yoshitake of NPO NORA introduced us the important and exciting roles of forest volunteers in the Green-up Plan. She is a veteran of civil society participation in Yokohama’s environmental policy. According to her, the 2010 change in national land legislation for agriculture facilitated the rental contracts of farm land, and clarified the role of volunteer organizations in urban forestry. Her story about the early days of forest volunteering in Yokohama was entertaining, but very educational. She pointed out 3 kinds of diversity in a forest of the City. Actors of urban forestry are many; landlords, neighborhood urbanites, hikers, municipalities, etc. with lots of crash of egos. Yokohama is in Japan where original biodiversity is very high so that the living creatures in the forests are various; sun worshippers, light haters, wet-soil lovers, drier-preferred, and don’t-care. This is the world of Darwinian “the survival of the fittest” in microenvironment. Finally, the place is so near to Tokyo and Kamakura that the area has rich geography and tradition; Tama Hills, Miura Peninsula, Sagami Plane, the yesteryear’s land usage, an incessant urbanization, legends and fairly-tales, village custom … come to think of it, we are in the birthplace of Mega-cities in the post-WW II era. Coordination Saves (Forests') Lives.  (“Coordination, coordination, coordination!”) The role of volunteers in Green-up Plan is to be facilitators and participants in planning, doing, monitoring and evaluation (“Project Cycle Management”) of urban forestry, with (“this is important”) finesse in a community. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

The second morning lectures in November discussed first the Guide Line for ForestCreation and Management 横浜市森づくりガイドラインと保全管理計画. The overall concept of the Guide Line is to aid a project cycle by volunteer organizations in a forest. First, the research about a forest is to be done (What are living inside? Who are coming to the forest for what? Is there any conflict of interest? …), and the result of the study must be shared by all the actors connected to the forest. Next, everybody is to agree with “the future of the forest,” zoning of the area, and the ways to manage the forest. Then, set a (short-term) target that is understood by all the participants: for this, the consideration for historical approach to the land management and the result of hearings from community elders should be shared by all. After all of these preparations, actual forest management activities begin, with continuous monitoring by all the members in forest management. The works in a forest are also subject to periodic evaluations, and if necessary changes in target and methodology are introduced for reaching to “the future of the forest.”

It seems to me the reason why the Guide Line takes this approach is from the experience in early days of forest volunteerism in Yokohama. It is funny when urbanites found the joy of forestry, the most exciting thing was to cut trees and clear vegetation no matter what (and lots of beer afterword), which left the mess on the ground … is it some kind of karmic thing of humans? Anyway, now many have realized it was not productive for peaceful neighborhood. In Green-up Program, the activities of volunteers should consider 5W2H always:

• Why must it be done? To make the hiking road nice? To facilitate natural succession? …
• What should be done for the objective? Research? Thinning? Clearing? …
• When will we do it? E.g. Is it the right timing of work for nurturing the reproduction of owls? …
• Where do we work? This particular point, or the entire area? …
• Who will do it? Isn’t it better to leave it for professional? …
• How will we do it? Do we use chainsaws? How many of us do it? What is the risk in activities? …
• How long do we do it? For 1 hour minimizing the noise for raccoons? For several years? …

In this area of Niiharu, forest management is done by
Lovers of Niiharu Forest and local elementary schools.

As each forest has its own background, every work plan will be order-made. There is a strong merit of attentive and continuous works by volunteers coming from the neighborhood. Having said that, volunteers need to be well-versed in the management of the forest, intellectually and technically. So, the 101 seminar includes several sessions for very practical aspects of forest works. This part of the seminar was instructed by Mr. Ken’ichiro Jinbo of Kanoko Kankyo Produce Co., consisting of lectures about the basics of works in forest, such as about safe attire, about the necessary tools for works, where to procure poison removers against hornet stings (; it’s sold at Tokyu Hands), simulation technique for predicting dangers during forest works, and so on. We also had labos in the Niiharu Forest to learn the methodology of preliminary study / monitoring of forest sections. There was an exercise for the usage of sickles and ropes, a kind of scout training but specialized in forestry. I learned leaving weeded sasa bamboos or thinned trees on the ground could be harmful when the objective of a work is to enhance the biodiversity of the location. As the darkness of the ground is the main culprit making the neglected Yokohama forests less diverse, the work is to let the sunshine coming to the soil. If we leave the debris in the forest, since it is a humid city, mildews, molds, etc. can prosper at the “cleared” place and no light reaches to the ground. No mission accomplished, or worse: diseases can spread from there. After weeding and thinning, we have to carry out the cut branches and undergrowth to a designated compost heap. Hence rope works, such as Otoko-musubi, become very important.

Mr. volunteer lecturer from Lovers of Niiharu introduced
 us this part of the Forest as a spot being monitored
after weeding 3 years ago.
The work continues for several more years …

Monitoring exercise sheet I’ve done
with the field in the Forest

Quiz: Which rake is for forest works?

Answer: None.
All of them will destroy the dormant flora in the soil.
The best tool to rake forest floors after weeding is
a piece of wood.

How to use a traditional Japanese machete

We use this rope for putting together cut sasa bamboos.

Once the grasses are arranged
in this way, it is easy to carry.

Now, our turn!

The third day started with an actual exercise on a slope near the C-5 entrance ofNiiharu Forest. For about 2.5 hours, we worked to weed sasa bamboos and other bushes with Japanese machete and scissors. The objective of the exercise was to create a space for anemone nikoensis and anemone flaccida whose seeds were dormant in the soil due to the overgrown sasa bamboos. “Let there be light!” During the labo, the instructors taught us the practical surveillance methodology, (“Such bushes could hold wasps’ nest. So, first check the place gently if dangerous creatures come out.” “Do you think the distance between the working place and the creek below is enough?” …), proper work postures (“Always draw back your leg which is in the direction of your machete movement” …), safe positioning (“Start from the bottom, then go up gradually.” “Maintain enough space between team members to avoid any injury” …), division of labor (“At least one of the team members must act as a sentry to warn members to keep safe distance, possible fallen objects, etc” …), how to weed (“the roots of sasa bamboos are to be disrupted as much as possible by inserting the machete in this way.” “Cut the stumps to the subterranean level. The hikers could stumble if a remnant pokes out.” …) It was a November day of misty cold rain … and such a fun! I was amused the concentration came naturally for all of us. 2.5 hours were so short, and at the end we admired the cleared space from many directions, imagining a new flower meadow next spring. In Kanagawa Prefecture, Hakone (National Park) has the richest biodiversity. Second position is held by Tanzawa Mountains (Quasi-national Park). The third one is (surprise, surprise) the area around Niiharu Forest. Well, people are really taking care of these places, men.

Our working site is over there.

First, check the safety of the place.

Before

After

”Let’s do ropes!”

After the work,
there was a lesson to care the tools.

“Grindstones are to be soaked
in water overnight.”

The seminar was concluded with a networking session between the seminar participants and forest volunteer organizations. Kanazawa Mori-dakusan no Kai かなざわ森沢山の会 told us their activities in collaboration with Kanazawa Zoo and Botanical Garden. Japan Bamboo Fun Club is now piloting a quasi-business scheme to develop new health foods using very young tip of bamboos. (“Unlike a standard forest, bamboo forests require annual thinning. We have to think how to dispose regularly occurring tons of deforested bamboos, in the most efficient and eco-friendly way.”) Lovers of Niiharu Forest work with 3 other volunteer organizations and surrounding communities active in Niiharu Park and Niiharu Citizen Forest, according to the Niiharu Forest Preservation and Management Plan 新治市民の森保全管理計画. Telling you the truth, I did not expect much from the seminar before attending. “Well, it’s organized by boring bureaucrats …” WRONG. The people from the City were very knowledgeable and good teachers. The lecturers and instructors from the civil society had wealth of information and experience to restore the biodiversity in the City. My fellow participants, comrades, and people from forest volunteer organizations were very friendly and eager to enjoy the forest. I had wonderful rainy weekends last fall. J

Powerpoint everywhere

Networking with
chocolates and rice crackers

The City Office who’s in charge of execution of Green-up Plan is

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-671-2891

FAX: 045-641-3490

http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kankyo/