in this week’s newsletter: life in my first week in the 田舎, working alongside a tea farmer, and life lessons along the way
dear penpals -
today (at the time of writing) marks day 7 here in the 田舎 [i·na·ka] (meaning countryside) of japan. although physically it’s only been a week, it honestly feels like i’ve been here for more than that.
a bit of background as to where i am in this big world
i currently live with my sister on the 四国 [shi·ko·ku] island which splits into 4 different prefectures. i live in the 徳島 [to·ku·shi·ma] prefecture in a small town called 上勝 [ka·mi·ka·tsu] (please see illustrated map below!).
kamikatsu has an estimated population of 1,400 people and i recently increased the town’s population by one!
i arrived on sunday, august 21st, had an awful first night’s sleep (hello fear of bugs and darkness!), woke up the next morning and found myself in the mountains picking tea leaves with a local tea farmer. it doesn’t get more country than this!
i was put to work to pick a very local tea leaf here in kamikatsu called 阿波晩茶 [a·wa·ba·n·cha]. i am still very new to this tea and won’t try to pretend like i’m an expert, but my sister wrote a beautiful post about the history and local connection and relation to awa bancha which you can read about here.
picking and making awa bancha tea is hard work, like really hard work. not only are you either picking tea leaves in the rain (which happened) or under the blazing sun (which also happened), but the amount of time and energy it takes to make the tea leaves what it looks like when we pick it off the shelves at a grocery store is mind blowing and really puts things into perspective.
and i think that’s the point with awareness and recognition, especially when it comes to our food. we need to see exactly how much time, labour, energy, and commitment it requires local farmers to produce what we consume. it is a humbling and needed experience to challenge the way we take food for granted.
i spent three days doing this labourious work and i am forever changed in the way i interact with and consume tea. never again will i not finish my tea or use the tea bag just once - you better believe i’m drinking from that single tea bag over and over again until the water comes out clear!
sending immense gratitude to all the tea farmers in the world!
mini vlog capturing my awa bancha experience from start to (almost) finish.
click on the image or the link to the video here.