Cultivating Land and Community

Where We Call Home.

Mukaishima is a small island in the Seto Inland Sea.

Drawn by a natural farming method originated in Japan, this man settled down here.

"Sometimes it's this simple."

Thomas Kloepfer, from the US.

Using no agrochemicals, he harnesses the power of nature to grow vegetables.

We should find the best of what nature
gives us and make wise use of it.

He's about to open a cafe that will feature his produce and bring the local community together.

When people casually meet and chat,
they become like family.

But this year's scorching summer has dealt a heavy blow to his crops.

Let's follow Thomas as he faces this challenge on his quest to cultivate land and community.

Part of the city of Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture is Mukaishima - a small island with a population of twenty thousand.

The mild climate of the Seto Inland Sea makes it an ideal place for the cultivation of fruit such as mandarin oranges.

Today, children gathered at the fields of Thomas Kloepfer, a farmer born in the US state of Georgia, who prepared a little activity for them.

They're not just playing with dirt.

They're actually getting ready to do some planting.

Inside these "mud balls" are seeds for vegetables like turnips and daikon radish.

"One, two, three, seeds!"

They throw them at spots normally difficult to till.

The mud protects the seeds from birds and other animals, and as it absorbs rainwater, it helps them take root and grow strong.

Thomas's goal is circular agriculture.

The weeds in his fields become food for his sheep.

He then uses the manure as fertilizer for his crops.

This way, he uses the power of nature to its maximum potential.

Without soil, we can’t live.

The soil is truly alive.

Look closely, it’s full of life.

Thomas's vegetables - full of the nutrients taken in from the soil.

His roster of produce includes some eighty kinds of mostly western vegetables.

But because they're uneven in shape and color, he struggled to sell them at first.

Thomas worked hard to promote his vegetables on social media and by visiting the local market.

His efforts paid off: word spread of his tasty veggies, and now he earns from them a steady income.

He personally calls on regular customers to deliver the day's fresh harvest.

I’ve got some freshly-harvested
water spinach and radishes.

The leaves are tender.
They’re very delicious.

It isn’t a 'store-bought' taste.

Their flavors are like those
of the veggies I ate as a child.

Thomas studied agriculture at university in the US.

To him, modern farming that focuses on mass production and relies on machinery and chemicals didn't feel right.

That's when he discovered a method that fully made use of nature's strength.

It's the one promoted by Japanese farmer and philosopher Fukuoka Masanobu.

Sowing seeds embedded into mud balls is a technique he employed.

It was an eye-opening surprise.

I’d never tried Fukuoka’s method,
but it was really appealing.

Having become a fan of Fukuoka, in 2011 Thomas came to Japan to work as an assistant English teacher.

He was assigned to an elementary school in Onomichi.

As he was looking for a property to farm, he arrived on Mukaishima where the declining population had left much farmland unattended.

He acquired and restored land that was overgrown with weeds, gradually expanding it until it totaled more than three thousand square meters in size.

Right by Thomas's fields is his house.

It used to be a storehouse for mandarin oranges that he renovated.

He shares his home with his wife, Kaori.

For dinner tonight: barbecue, one of Thomas's favorites, with, of course, plenty of vegetables from his fields.

Bon appétit!

Our new tomatoes.

The pumpkin’s good, too!

- Did you keep the seeds?
- I did.

The two were introduced through a common friend and got married in 2015.

At the time, Kaori had moved from Tokyo to Onomichi where she began handcrafting products out of sail canvas that's a specialty in the region.

Now, she makes time in her work schedule to help her husband on the farm.

It’s exciting to watch someone
pursue their dreams, isn’t it?

That’s why I want to be by his side
as he pursues his.

Autumn, season of harvest.

In the nearby woods, the ground is covered with nuts from ginkgo trees.

Curious to taste them, Thomas gathers some for the very first time.

In Japan, ginkgo nuts are roasted on skewers, or added to a variety of dishes.

They're a popular taste of autumn.

But Thomas isn't quite sure how to prepare them.

Luckily, he can rely on his neighbor for advice.

I’ve got some ginkgo nuts, and wondered
if you could give me some pointers.

Thank you.

Abo Toshiyuki and his wife Keiko, born and raised in Onomichi.

We don’t have these in the US.

- Ginkgo nuts?
- Yes.

- Soak them in water to remove the skin.
- I see.

But you’ll get a rash on your hands.

- Make sure to wear gloves.
- I easily get rashes.

Ingredients he harvests or gathers offer opportunities to connect with his neighbors - something that's very important to Thomas.

I want to have a place where the locals
can gather to enjoy conversations.

When people casually meet and chat,
they become like family.

I’d like to work on developing
this culture little by little.

To better foster connections within the community, Thomas started a new project.

The shop will be here.

I’m thinking of opening
a farm-to-table restaurant.

It’ll be a place where we can prepare
and cook freshly-harvested ingredients.

Thomas found another building to revive.

This abandoned Japanese-style house is more than a century old.

He's going to refurbish it and turn it into a cafe where the locals can meet and mingle.

In charge of the renovations is Deguchi Tsuyoshi, a carpenter from the island.

Now retired, it had been a long time since he last picked up his tools.

Moved by Thomas's dream, he happily lends a hand.

When I see someone who could use a hand,
I want to offer help...

like so many have helped me.

Thomas has been farming on the island for eleven years now.

This summer brought about an unprecedented trial.

The unusually hot season took a heavy toll on his crops.

Come autumn, he found himself with a meager harvest.

I’d never seen such heat
in the past decade.

I worry for my crops.

At times, I want to give up.

I ask myself, 'Why am I doing this?' I often feel like that.

Can Thomas keep his farm going?

He's starting to lose confidence.

Someone has always been there to support him - Kaori's father, Niisato Koji.

- How’ve you been?
- Good.

I’m so glad.

Good to see you!

Koji was born in a family of farmers.

He helped his parents work the land, familiarizing himself with agriculture from an early age.

He later left his hometown to work at an elementary school.

Unwilling to part with the joy of farming, he continues to grow vegetables in his home garden.

It’s been a while.

I was here on New Year’s.

As soon as Koji arrives, Thomas confesses his worries.

It was such a hot summer this year.

Insects like grasshoppers lived longer
than they normally do.

I planted carrot seeds,
but grasshoppers ate all the seedlings.

Seedlings are precious.
They represent life.

I’ve tried planting some again.

But it’s late for carrots.
I don’t know what to do.

Agriculture is often at the mercy of the weather and climate.

Koji understands his concerns all too well.

The following morning, he takes a look at Thomas's fields.

I’ve planted some water spinach,
some radishes, two kinds of bell peppers...

and some turnips.

By walking on it, I notice
the soil isn’t very good.

- It’s more like sandy soil.
- Yes, it is.

Following his father-in-law's suggestion, this autumn through winter,

Thomas will try growing a new kind of vegetable.

Dig ridges higher on this side,
then plant the green onions.

- Like this.
- Got it.

The sun moves in this direction,
so the green onions will grow this way.

Harvested in winter, Japanese green onions, or "negi," can reach 50cm in height.

Planting them so they face the sun helps them grow straight.

Farming wisdom learned through years of experience.

Whatever you grow, you succeed
after many failures.

There’s a philosophy I keep in mind.

The old word for 'farmer'...

"hyakusho," has the character for '100.'
I see it as '100 times.' Things went a certain way last year,
but it won’t be the same this year.

It’s impossible.

That’s farming: you have to experience
everything 'a hundred times.' Learn from your failures to grow stronger as a farmer, such is Koji's wish for Thomas.

My biggest dream is for you
to naturally spread this philosophy.

Tell people how natural farming
lets them truly taste vegetables.

Continue to develop and share
this method with more people.

October.

At last, the farm-to-table cafe is ready to open.

Naturally, celebrations are in order.

Thomas and Koji harvest vegetables to prepare a feast for the guests.

Nice eggplants here.

Well-grown peppers.

The islanders too help with the preparations.

The table overflows with Thomas's original country-style dishes made with ingredients from his farm.

The guests start to arrive, eager to rejoice with their US-born neighbor.

Mr. and Mrs. Abo too are here.

Very nice.

I’m so glad you came.
Drop by when you have a day off.

Let’s have fun today.

"Let’s enjoy!"

Cheers!

Thomas's locally-grown vegetables spark many conversations.

So tasty!

I don’t eat out often,
but it’ll feel nice to come here.

Seeing everyone here happily eating
the ingredients and dishes...

Thomas and Kaori prepared
makes me grateful for all their efforts.

Now that bellies are full of satisfyingly delicious vegetables, it's time for a performance.

Food and music - universal languages that nourish body and soul.

Thomas has long dreamed of a day like this.

I’m so glad they enjoy my vegetables.

This is truly local production
for local consumption.

Reviving farmland like this
draws in people.

And I hope it’ll encourage them
to revive farmland elsewhere, too.

Agriculture that nurtures people and brings the community together.

Little by little, the seeds Thomas planted are taking root.

We stay strong in Mukaishima!

Hi, I'm Richard. I work here making barrel-aged beer.

So we're going to show you a little bit about how it's done today.

Come with me, and we'll check it out together.

Kosuge, Yamanashi Pref.

This brewery ages beer in barrels.

9:00 a.m.
work starts.

So there's four ingredients in beer.

Water, malt, yeast, hops.

Well, this is malted barley.

We mix this with the warm water, and this is what makes it give a sweet quality.

This is the food for the yeast.

So the yeast takes this sugar and then ferment into alcohol.

And the hops give a bitter taste to the beer.

First, the malted barley infusion and hops
are fermented in stainless steel tanks.

Richard then starts crafting.

He uses old wooden barrels.

He pours the beer into the barrels, where
they’ll age for 6 months to 2 years.

We use red wine barrels, "nihonshu" barrels, whiskey barrels.

Many different types.

Then we're trying to express some fruity characters along with some funky characters.

The beer ages in the barrels that still
contain traces of wine or rice malt.

He blends different kinds of aged beer
to create new complex flavors.

Beer is sort of a different color on a painter's palette, and we apply these barrels to a canvas which is the total finished beer.

In three years, Richard has created
twenty-eight different varieties of beer.

This is a blend of beer aged in barrels
for red wine, sake and soy sauce.

Richard made beer in Portland,
a city famous for craft beer.

In 2018, he visited Japan and was hired
by the brewery’s president.

The opportunity that I have to work here means that I have access to like things that we've never heard of or that we wouldn't even think to use.

So that's a big challenge the fermentation whenever we're adding some strange ingredient we don't know how it's going to turn out.

So we have to first and foremost we have to make a a nice experience with a customer.

Something that is enjoyable.

And after that, the reaction that I really want to drive further or draw out of people is this feeling of "I didn't know beer could do this."

Right? That's number one for me.

This project has no name yet.

We decide on the name after blending.

So you have to taste the beer, and then decide what to call it how to describe it, how to market, how to sell it.

Richard visits local farmers
to find new ingredients.

He adds natural fruit flavors
to his blends.

This is the founder of Far Yeast Brewing company, Shiro Yamada, and I would not be here without his support.

Yamada san does a very good job of keeping cool calm and collected and deciding the right course of action.

And that is such a relief.

His presence in here means a lot to our team.

He listens to customers and colleagues, and then you know we get one beer we couldn't do this project without him undoubtly

you know, together with Richard and some other members.

We want to amaze customers.

We want to surprise them.

Alright then let's talk about this one.

They taste blends of beer
aged in five different barrels.

It’s nice and funky.

Yeah, this got really funky.

It tastes like fresh baked bread.

Bread?

Do you have any feelings or whatever you want to share about the beer?

What do you think?

The color is Rosy, but we should mention something.

If you guys are okay with that, I can refine it and come up with some other ideas, and then we can work on the scription and stuff. Okay.

Once blended, the beer ferments about
a month in the bottles before it’s ready.

He washes the barrels only with water
to preserve the bacteria they contain.

So these are my hoop driver and a cooper's hammer.

These are used for maintenance, but for me, they mean more than that.

There's its symbolic of more than just means maintenance.

We have rings in the evenly balanced on the wood, so you can use the barrel for a longer time, so the maintenance, for me, for the barrels is important because it's preserving a legacy.

That came before me.

And I hope to continue after to make beer.