The Blogathon and My Writing Life

Inspiration blooms with the Blogathon.
Hanashobu as arranged by Mita-san's mother.

Each year, usually in May, I participate in the Blogathon. Organized by freelance journalist extraordinaire, Michelle Rafter, the Blogathon requires just one thing: a post every day. It's both as easy as it sounds and as difficult. There certainly were days where my Muse hid herself incredibly well, but mostly the Blogathon got me rolling and writing. I elaborate on this in greater detail in a guest post on WordCount, Michelle's blog, about How the Blogathon Changed My Writing Career.

And that's what I wanted then and that's what I want now. The registration form asks participants what their number one goal is for this year, and I think mine is to push myself again this year, to find that nugget of interest that seems to appear each time. (The Blogathon is where the farmer's market calendar was born and where I found my usual three weekly post routine.) Since that first one four years ago I've seen a number of changes happen in my writing life, many of them due to the Blogathon. Who knows what this year will bring?

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Finding Heirloom Seeds in Japan

Drying pods of heirloom Hutterite Soup Beans. Since moving to Japan eight years ago, one of my greatest challenges as a farmer-gardener has been to find heirloom or open-pollinated seeds. The majority of seeds available are not GMO (genetically modified organisms) as Japan, at this point, doesn't accept this material. Most seeds, though, are nearly all F1 varieties. Heirloom and F1 Varieties In plant breeding, F1 is the name given to the first generation of a cross between two true breeding parents. For example, if I decide to cross an Amish Paste Tomato with another heirloom variety tomato such as Emmy, in hopes of getting a gold paste tomato, the resulting generation of fruit is F1. In order to get that tomato of my culinary dreams, I'll need to choose members of that first generation that are headed in a direction I like - early ripening, medium-sized fruit, good taste - and save their seeds. I'll plant them and repeat the process again and again over time unti

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Japan Farmers Markets

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