My Five Favorite Apps

Rice cooker green tea bread chases apple.
Nothing to do with apps. I just liked it. 

Over the course of the Blogathon participants are asked to focus on a small handful of themes. In the past it's ranged from five favorite books to haiku to movies. Each year my initial thought is "I have no idea what to say." Then somehow the ideas and words begin to flow. It's a nice way to get pushed outside my comfort zone.

This year the first theme day asks us to write about our five favorite apps. Well, I'm a farmer as much as a writer. Electronic devices and dirt don't mix; however, there are heaps of apps out there for folks like me. Farmers as well as gardeners can find tools to help them with every job under the sun and in the barn. While I remain rather old school for working in the dirt (give me a notebook, pen, and solid reference book along with a good pair of gloves) I do find a use for apps as my day goes along. Here are the five I use most.

Anki - Life in a foreign country doesn't necessarily require knowing a foreign language, but for me it makes a world of difference. If I want to know what a farmer is selling at a Tokyo farmers market, how to prepare it or how it grows then I need to speak Japanese. If I want to interview a farmer about their experience dealing with the fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, then I need to speak Japanese. If I want to remember the new vocabulary I get at the farm or markets, practice the interview questions, or remember plant names, I turn to Anki. A spaced repetition software (SRS) flashcard program, Anki only shows me the cards I need to see when I need to see them. Daily study on my iPhone while riding the train, walking to buy vegetables or working out means I simultaneously build and reinforce my language abilities. I'd be voiceless without it.

Imiwa? - A Japanese dictionary that, again, makes a world of difference for me. Countless times on the farm as we talk while packing vegetables for the days sale a word comes up that I don't know. I pull out the iPhone, open the app, and look it up. Of the multiple possibilities that come up my farmers point out the exact one they mean. I mark it and add it to a running list that the app allows me to keep. Later, I make a flashcard for it in Anki and it gets rotated in to my daily study.

Evernote - This is a recent addition to my device life, but I love it. Evernote on the iPhone and Google Nexus 7 allows me to make short notes about new farmers, new vegetables, new vendors at markets, everything. I can pop the note in an existing notebook or create a new one. I can include a photo, a website, or even a document if I wish. I use it to store a standing list of interview questions for market managers and farmers, which is invaluable as I can never remember all of the questions. I use it to store links to articles I've written about farmers and markets so I can quickly show a new farmer or manager that I meet that I'm not just another weird foreigner talking to them for no apparent reason. (Well, I am kind of a weird foreigner. How many women can talk about farming and markets in a foreign language but struggle with basic small talk? Add to that my height and curly hair and I'm definitely odd.)

Hyperdia - The Japanese rail system is extensive, efficient and wonderful. Everything is bilingual (English and Japanese) so I've no trouble sorting out which train is going where at what time. However, sorting out a route to a final destination, especially if I need to arrive at a particular time, can be challenging. Hyperdia is a website and app that allows me to type in the station I will start from, the station I wish to end at, and even a departure or arrival time. The resulting itineraries offer me a variety of routes and times to choose from that vary in price, amount of travel time, and means of transport. (Hyperida will also include flights.) I snap a quick screen shot of the route I prefer and then head to the station. The itinerary often includes links to train timetables and intervals. If a connection is tight I can see when the next train is coming and plan accordingly. Or hustle to the station to not miss the only express train of the day.

Twitter - This one feels rather banal, but it's worth a mention because it has been incredibly useful in sharing information about farmers markets in Tokyo. Tweeting out the monthly and weekly calendar of markets, photos from the markets, information about tours of the markets, and information about specific markets has drawn attention not just to my website but to the markets themselves. That means increased sales for the farmers, healthier eating for the patrons, and an ever so slightly better world for everyone. Seems like a nice thing to me.

Got a favorite app? Do tell!

Atlas on a Bicycle: Fuji Fives Lakes Bike Touring Experiment

Our spontaneous trip last weekend to the Fuji Five Lakes area proved simply amazing. We had a great time bike-touring for the first-time, and are excited about upcoming plans to visit Hokkaido. This recent trip was a bit of a reprise of another we took early last spring, and was an experiment to see what it would be like to carry our world on our bikes while riding a bicycle. While a few adjustments need to be made, we think we may have a handle on a system that works for us.

More details on the trip later, but I did want to share the photo here of a new friend I made while picnicking in Kawaguchiko. At the end of our ride we flopped on the grass by the lake to enjoy some sweet corn we'd bought from a roadside stand near Lake Saiko. We'd bought some the day before on our way to Lake Motsuko and loved it enough to stop again on the return. Apparently, this little fellow in the photo with me loves sweet corn, too. While I chomped away on one end, he took little sips from the other. A match made in heaven!

Blogs I Can't Live Without

Blogging requires a fair amount of reading. There's really no way around that. I write about my own experiences and experiments, but I still need to read books, blogs, newspapers, and magazines to keep myself current and put what I'm doing in some sort of context. My reading is also one of the ways I often learn about new ideas, recipes, and get inspiration for my own work.

Luckily, today's topic for the Blogathon (I really recommend perusing the list of bloggers for some great reading, by the way) is five blogs you can't live without. I've listed below the ones I read regularly to keep myself in the loop, inspired, and provoked.

The Atlantic Food Channel

Some of the smartest writing out there about food and food-related topics. Correspondents write about everything from great food finds in foreign countries to growing food to making a mean Tom and Jerry.

Just Hungry

My go-to site for any Japanese food question or topic. Covering everything from making rice (there's more to it than one would have thought) to different kinds of miso (unbelievable how many different kinds and uses there are) in an approachable and enthusiastic way this is the site I trust and refer to again and again.

Tokyo Green Space

This site covers a topic quite close to my heart. While he doesn't specifically cover farming or gardening (how to do this or that), what he does cover are the green spots that fill every nook and cranny of this megalopolis. Insightful, inspiring, and very often great fun this is a site I visit daily to see what great stuff has been discovered.

greenz

I found this site before we left Michigan for Japan over a year ago. It was one of the few windows in English on environmental activity in Japan. I've since found others, but it is still one of the best starting points for information about the action here. I am now part of their team of writers, which gives me even more of an excuse to write about my various adventures!

DigginFood

A recent discovery that I find I can't live without, DigginFood offers practical gardening advice with beautiful photos. The other thing that is fantastic about this site is the quick response of Willi, the blogger, to questions and comments. That's been incredibly helpful, to say the least, as I ponder my own work on the farm and in the garden.

Meet Midori-san

This little plant is one of my favorite new finds,, and is a slightly different take on the everyday garden. Midori-san lives over in Kamakura (a very popular tourist destination that is well worth the trip from Tokyo) in Donburi Cafe Dining. What's so special about this little green (Midori is the Japanese word for "green") friend is that visitors can chat with her/him. Yup, that's right. Midori-san fills diners in on the temperature, lighting, and humidity. But that's not all! Touch a leaf, and Midori-san will relay the chemical relationship between the two of you.

Created by KAYAC Co. Ltd, and Keio University's Hiroya Tanaka Laboratory in order to increase awareness of the natural world, Midori-san also keeps a blog. (What modern plant wouldn't, for heaven's sake?) Blog readers can also treat Midori-san to a dose of light via a widget on the blog, which is, of course, much-appreciated.

Image courtesty of KAYAC Co. Ltd.

Another Useful Link

I swear I'll get back to the hoophouse with the camera and more information on our repairs, but I got an email recently letting me know that The Stewardship Network podcasted their monthly Webcasts.

These monthly webcasts are just full of great information and ideas relevant to anyone interested in restoration, native plants, or simple ways to control invasives (or overly friendly natives like deer!), and a bundle of other topics, too. Experts from around Michigan and the Midwest get together to discuss strategies and how to recognize problems as well as successes. It's good stuff! Check out the new podcasts and see what you can learn!

Victory Garden Posters

The Library of Congress offers a treasure trove of information and images in their By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA 1936-1943 collection. These beautiful posters encourage participation in bond efforts, advertise WPA funded plays, and so much more. They are fascinating to explore. The poster at left is one of a handful you can see about gardening.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided jobs for the millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. It also funded arts and literary programs across the country. A separate program from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the WPA did a great deal of infrastructure development such as building highways and offered adult education courses. Both programs were integral parts of Roosevelt's New Deal.

Kitchen Gardeners International

A recent stroll around the internet led me to Kitchen Gardeners International. Chock full of great information, articles, recipes, ideas I could be here for hours. A great way to pass a snowy winter day (or at least part of one) and learn loads.

Another Great Bird Site

A good friend of mine has a fantastic blog site about birds and digiscoping. The pictures are stunning, and very well done. And he's quite passionate about his subject matter. Bird Digiscoping is worth checking out, to say the least.