[Farming Experience] I spent a week in GW 2019 on a bola job! How to Spend Your Time [Farming & Livestock]

Hello, it's Minami.

I went from Kanto to Okayama, Japan to do a bola job for just one week over the 2019 Golden Week.

　There is still not much information about the Volubite, so I will introduce the agricultural experience I had in Okayama.

　What is a bola byte anyway? If you want to use here You may want to check out the article. Simply put, it's an agricultural-centric volunteer + part-time crossover service that gives you a little money. It is.

　In my case, I went to a mullet work place (where I was accepted) where I did both animal husbandry and farming.

To add to the sense of realism, here are some actual photos taken on site, broken down by date!

The day I arrived at Okayama

　First, the first day. I told the bora bite place that I would arrive at the nearest station at night beforehand, but I had no luck on the bus that would arrive in the morning. I was able to ride well, so I decided to do some sightseeing in Okayama in the morning.

　I went to Kurashiki, the most famous tourist attraction in Okayama, since it was my first visit to Okayama. When I saw the people of Okayama on the net, I was worried that "there are many honest people and there are many harsh people" and so on. I never had a problem with that. The people I met and talked to in Okayama were all very friendly.

I headed to the nearest station to where I lived in the evening.

　There was a supermarket near the nearest station before the time of our meeting, so it's something I could live with for a week anyway. I bought the following items. Specifically, kimchi, eggs, udon noodles, and men-tsuyu.

　I also brought some dried fruit to pinch myself. I don't usually eat a lot of them, but they're light, nutritious, and I'm not a big fan of nuts, but this time I decided to give it a try. I've actually gotten used to eating them in the past week.

So, when it was time for us to pick up, we were asked to come across the street.

When we got to the dorms, we were introduced to the equipment. The bathrooms are big and amazing. At my part-time job, 500 yen is deducted from the room charge, but for 500 yen, it's a lot of money. It was beautiful at the level of a nice place to live.

There is a TV and the Volubites live in a different house so they can live without worrying about each other.

Farming Start Day

　Finally, the work begins. I don't know if it's because of nerves, but we were supposed to finish getting ready at 9:00 and wait in front of the dormitory, but the little birdie I woke up at 5:00 a.m. with a chirp.

Stray dogs were digging up dirt and eating weeds in the neighborhood.

　We eat breakfast with the white rice we received from the dormitory. Farming requires a lot of energy, so breakfast is important.

　I had time to do a little personal work. It's very nice to wake up early in the morning in an unpopular place. It makes me feel refreshed. And there's very little noise so I can get everything done.

At 9:00 a.m., an employee who works at a part-time job comes to pick me up in front of the dormitory by a light truck. He lent us his gloves and hat and we went to the work area. He lent us his gloves and hat and we went to the work area.

　In the morning, first of all, we cut the steel pipes for the vegetable greenhouses into the short size we want to use in order to reuse them We worked on it. When we were done, we went to the barn to feed the cows while we watched them.

　This is the first time I've touched a cow, and it's quite timid. The cows in the bollabite are only calves and young cows, and they're still very wary of strangers. Maybe.

　In the afternoon, we worked on clearing a path for the cattle to walk on for grazing. We cut trees and put up a fence to prevent them from running away on the road. It is difficult to use an electric saw.

We will finish the work around 5:00 p.m. and then rest.

Second day

　I'll be working alone until the second day (of course, I'll be working with my bora-bite partner).

　I had an image that Golden Week is usually warm, but it was cold this year! . I wore a thin jersey and long sleeves for running to work, but even so, in the evening, I was able to do it. And it was cold.

The scope of the project is so large that we can do it in one day and still not be done. We will do some more the next day.

Day 3

　There will be two bora-baiters (people who help through bora-bites) and they will start working together.

We continue to put up fences for cattle grazing on this day.

In the afternoon, we worked on clearing the bamboo bushes and expanding the pasture. Here we learn that cows eat bamboo grass.

Working days 4 and 5

　By the third day, we had three bora-baiters and all the bora-baiters working during Golden Week.

　We proceeded to work on the tomato farm as the main part of the cleaning process. We were given masks to prevent us from breathing in too much dust, and then we started to work.

　Those who grow tomatoes not all year round, but work from spring into the summer of the season and not in the winter is the majority of the time. I imagine cleaning the greenhouses during Golden Week to prepare them for future cultivation.

The left side is the part that has been weeded out and the center part is the part that will still be worked on. Can you see the difference?

　Of the weeds we took, the green leaves that are not dead will be eaten by the cows. We took about three round trips in this truck. The amount of food we took was tremendous and we were very satisfied with it anyway.

　While weeding, there are various animals and insects, making it a petite fun biological time.

And on your day off?

You can't take a break from farming, so you can't do tourism either. You may think that's not true.

The people at the Volubite location/affiliates were very kind and took us on a hunting tour of someone they knew in the morning and to a tourist farm in the afternoon!

　As far as hunting goes, I've seen it live in my life and it was very powerful. I saw a wild boar this time, but it may be the first time I saw a live boar. By the way, when I caught a vermin that destroys agricultural land such as a wild boar or a monkey in Okayama, I was rewarded to some extent by the country. He says he's going to get paid. If you can provide food, protect the place you live, and get paid for it, that's three birds with one stone! Isn't it?

It was only a week, so we only had one day off, but thanks to all of you, it was a full day of rest.

On my day off, I had a drink with my neighbors because it was one day before the regular meeting.

This is lunch on one of the work days, and we were warmly welcomed, including inviting us to a barbecue in town!

Last day of school

　The last day is spent picking buds on snap peas. This is the process of picking buds, except for the flowers that bloom in the season, so that the fruit will grow large. (It seems to be more like summer). At the same time, you can also remove the small lower part of the fruit.

This may be the closest thing we've done to the image of agriculture here.

I don't know why my butt muscles are so sore at this stage. Maybe it's because I work while squatting, standing and sitting. here, the Farming is a great opportunity to really squeeze in.

Now that the work is done, we're going to change and take a bath, and I'm going to give the leftover food to the remaining volaviteers. I entrusted him with the work and submitted the attendance register so far. We received cash, paid the amount used and left for the night.

How was the article?

It was a short week, but I think we really got to experience as many different things as possible.

To be honest, the most surprising thing was that I was expecting to work more, which I received at the application stage.

There was a lot of stuff I didn't know, and I asked a lot of questions, but he was kind enough to teach me a lot of interesting things.

Since I'm getting interested in volubeit, I'm going to visit the official website and this blog. Related Articles for more information, please see Why not check it out?