Circle of Rice

The circle is almost complete! Two weekends ago, I helped my friends, Mayumi and Mocchan (owners of the organic cafe) help harvest some of the rice crop I helped them plant and weed a couple months ago. Come December I'll hopefully be helping them pound the dickens out of the harvest to make 'mochi' (sticky rice cakes).




Top: Slicing through them rice stalks with my hand-held sickle. :-) It was a fun day just being able to say "hand-held sickle."

Bottom: One of the biggest spiders I've seen in these here parts. Couldn't miss the opportunity to share with you all these lovely little creatures that coat the country in webs every summer.