Help at a fruit farm in Minami Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

Details

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  Description

  For 2023, from March until October, we are already full of volunteers except the term of May 28 to July 17, Aug.1 to September 16 for just a few people. We prefer the people who have international driver's permits. 2023/04/30. Thanks.
  
  We are growing various kinds of fruits and doing fruit picking as business. We are one of the largest fruit farms in Yamanashi and the largest fruit picking farm in Minami Alps City.
  Our busy season is mostly from the middle of March until October. We need lots of volunteers during the periods but even during our low season, we need some volunteers as well.
  For your meals, basically you don't have to cook and we will provide you VERY tasty Japanese for your lunch on your working days. For your dinner, we usually provide you something at helpers' house.
  
  We ask you for five hours help per day and you are given two days off during a week. On your day off, you are not given meals. On your days off, you are required to do cleaning the whole dorm where you stay.
  Besides having lots of volunteers from both Japan and overseas, we have about 10 full time employees.
  
  We ask you to bring health insurance that can cover and protect you out of any injuries and sickness during your stay.
  If possible, please bring international driving permit. That would help us a lot. Also, please bring working clothes, old sneaker shoes, cap, gloves, short size and long sized towels, rain boots, rain coat & pants that you can wear for your work on the farm on rainy days.
  
  
  
  Also, besides ordinary volunteers, we might take some people who would like to learn fruit growing as your internship.
  
  Kazu

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  Farmstay help
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  UN sustainablity goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  They can learn Japanese culture and Japanese sense of value. They can see how Japanese people
  are living in the countryside in deep way while staying here to help us.
  We try to give lots of tasty Japanese food besides their learning Japanese culture.

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  Help

  ＊The calendar below shows our farming work
  　　and roughly what we do in a year.
  Yet, we ask our volunteers with mostly mowing & weeding since our farm is so huge and during spring, summer and fall, we need your big help for mowing & weeding by tools & machines. Of course, I will teach you how to use them from the very basic. In the farming, weeding & mowing takes very important role for whatever vegetables & fruit trees you grow. If you don't keep weeding, they will take all the nutrition out of the soils around trees and the trees don't grow well. It is the same for the case of vegetables also. Some people tend to look down on the weeding, but then they don't understand the farming at all. So, we have to catch up with the weeds and do weeding. Hopefully, this helps you to understand the farming as a basic knowledge.
  
  *In 2023 from March until September that are in our high season, we are already full of volunteers.
  
  
  Season help:
  January -February Pruning branches of apple tree
  January -February Pruning, trimming and cutting branches
  January -February collecting branches
  February peeling the bark of grape vines & apple trees
  Mid & late March Thinning out buds of peaches
  70-80% of peach buds will be taken away.
  Before they turn to be flowers, we thin
  out about 70-80% of the buds of the peaches, in order to produce big and
  tasty peaches.
  
  Mid & late March Pruning branches of cherry trees
  Mid & late March planting new trees
  Mid & late March peeling the bark of grape vines & apple trees
  Mid & late March weeding & mowing
  
  April pollinating various kinds of fruit trees
  such as plums, peaches, pears, cherries
  and apples.
  We use bees to help fertilize seeds,
  especially for cherries.
  Yet, here in Japan, we people do
  pollination works manually besides our
  use of the bees.
  
  April thinning out peach flowers.
  half of the flowers will be thinned out.
  After pollination works, we do thinning
  flowers.
  
  April thinning out apple flowers
  May thinning out apples when they are still very
  small in order to produce bigger and tastier
  apples
  April Weeding & mowing
  
  May thinning out peaches when they are still very
  small.
  Half of peaches will be thinned out when they
  are still small.
  in order to produce bigger and tastier
  peaches
  
  May thinning out plums when they are still very
  small in order to produce bigger and tastier
  plums
  May mowing & weeding with machines or tools not to let weeds absorb fertilized nourishment under the soil, especially
  around each tree
  May watering
  May putting the signs advertising our fruit picking
  on the main streets
  June We place a pair of two sheets of paper
  around each fruit when they
  reach proper size. We do that mostly for
  peaches, pears, nectarines, apples and
  bunches of grapes In order to protect our crops from bugs,
  damage by strong winds or typhoons.
  Furthermore, we can give our fruit a lot
  more color if we keep inside this specially
  made paper for a few months.
  June thinning out grapes in order to produce bigger and tastier
  grapes
  June watering
  June harvest of cherries
  June cherry picking
  June mowing & weeding with machines or tools
  June harvest of plums and peaches
  July tearing off paper covering the fruit Removing the paper exposes the fruit is the
  sun to give it more color.
  July spreading special nylon paper called "multi "
  and putting it on the ground under each peach tree to give the fruit more color With this method, we can increase the
  fruit's exposure to the sun and improve the
  color.
  
  July pruning useless shoots and branches of each
  peach tree In order to give crops more nutrition while
  giving them sunshine, we try to keep some
  space between the branches. This work
  about a week before harvest comes.
  July harvest of peaches and plums
  July putting steel supports under the branches of
  each tree of peaches and plums Before harvest comes, the fruit tends to
  swell quickly.
  We need to put steel support under the
  branches so that they don't break under
  the weight of the fruit.
  July mowing and weeding
  July watering
  July covering the gape vines with nets to protect them from birds, especially
  crows
  July harvest of peaches
  July harvest of plums
  July peach & plums' picking
  August pruning useless shoots and branches of each
  peach tree
  harvesting peaches and plums In order give crops more nutrition while
  giving them sunshine, we try to keep some
  space between the branches. This work
  comes about a week before harvest
  August putting steel support under the apples'
  branches to prevent them breaking.
  August mowing and weeding
  August harvest of grapes and plums
  August grape picking
  plum picking
  peach picking
  August watering
  September taking "multis "out of the ground
  September taking steel support out of the peach and plum
  trees
  September spreading special nylon paper called "multi "
  on the ground under each apple tree to expose
  the fruit to more sunshine and to give fruit
  more color.
  September putting out the signs of our apple picking
  business on the main streets
  September tearing off paper covering apples to expose them to the sun For Yoko, Oorin
  and Shin-sekai varieties.
  September covering apple orchard s with nets to protect them out of wild birds
  September spreading manure
  September mowing & weeding
  September harvest of grapes
  grape picking
  September harvest of pears
  pear picking
  September watering
  October tearing off papers covering apples to give them
  color out of sunshine For the variety of Fuji apples
  October spreading special nylon paper called "multi "and
  putting on the ground under each apple tree to
  give more color to the fruit.
  October harvest of apples
  apple picking
  October harvest of grapes
  grape picking
  October mowing & weeding
  November harvest of apples
  apple picking
  December harvest of apples
  apple picking
  December taking steel supports out of the peach and plum
  trees
  December taking "multi "out of the ground
  December taking nets out of the apple orchards
  December Pruning branches of fruit trees
  December collecting branches and shoots of fruit trees
  after trimming works in the orchards
  December putting dry straw around each cherry tree to protect trees from freezing
  December taking the apple picking signs down
  December to January pruning & trimming branches and extra shoots
  December to January spreading manure

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Japanese: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  We have several houses. I bought one of them for volunteers in 2011. It was just a old storage house originally but I hired lots of professional carpenters, glazier man, painter, electric man and let them remodel the house to be a mini-dorm and installed two shower rooms, mini-kitchen, two toilets, a washroom, two washing machines, a fridge, a microwave, an air conditioner. We have four bed rooms downstairs and in each room, I bought a bunkbed so, that means eight people can stay on the first floor and besides that, we have two more Japanese tatami rooms upstairs where mostly ladies stay. I bought and installed lots of other furniture and electric items also. I prepared 15 bikes for volunteers. So, to commute between volunteers’
  house and our farms, you can take one of them. This is one of the best accommodations for volunteers, I believe. The location is VERY nice. It is located on the field area, surrounded by lots of high mountains including
  Mt. Fuji, Yatsugatake Range, Southern Alps of Japan. In front of this house, we have a canal called “Tokushima Canal” along the avenue of Sakura trees
  
  (cherry blossom trees) and it goes on for 2.7 kilometers long. Tokushima Canal was created during 1600s. It is one of the historical monuments in this local area. Mr. Tokushima, the guy from Tokugawa government came over
  to rescue local farmers and they all worked hard to create this canal
  
  for bringing enough water to grow rice in this region.

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  What else ...

  (For your use of internet)
  For your use of internet, I installed Wifi for volunteers at our house
  before, but in January, 2017, additionally, I installed another wifi
  at the dorm where our volunteers stay.
  This way, you can access to internet a lot easier than before.
  On your days off, you can visit our local library where there are two PCs
  to use for internet. That is a very tiny library but located within walking distance.
  There are actually two more spots where you can use internet.
  There are several nice trekking courses in this area if you like to do hiking.
  Also, you can visit Kofu, the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture in about 30 min.
  by local bus.
  If you want to go to onsen, hot spring, there are so many of them, about 500 in Yamanashi.
  In just 5 min by car, there is a very nice local onsen, If you want to go, I can take you there.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have lots of space for any vehicle to park.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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