Permaculture, Sustainable Design, Homesteading, Off-Grid Living, Natural Building, and more

Now, how I manage is best described as "poorly". I'm still very much in the phase of getting things set up and learning. I started growing on my balcony before buying my small farm, but there's obviously a big difference between the two set-ups.

Automation is part of the plan. Whilst I'd ultimately like to get to doing no-till with automated driptape irrigation or similar, that's still a long way off. Getting the soil and your systems to a point that works with that is difficult in a property that was a traditional farm for years and then lay fallow and covered in weeds for several more. I'd also like to have sensors (maybe raspi or something off-the-shelf) for soil temp, etc. to better manage my resource usage.

Weeding is a neverending battle. I did get a wheel-hoe which is somewhat helpful, but not a panacea.

A typical summer day for me is getting up with the sun or a bit after (so 4ish here) and working outside before the heat really comes on. At that point, I come in, have a shower, have breakfast, and do my software job. I will also try to tackle yardwork during this time, but that might happen during my lunch break or in the evenings. I plan on cutting the yardwork number down by replacing yard with raised beds growing other crops and such, but it's not something I can afford to do overnight (neither monetarily nor physically).

I think learning more will also help bring efficiency later, both as I learn more in general as well as learn what works in my specific situation; not all of what I read (mostly from the Americas, Europe, or occasionally Australia) applies to farming in rural Japan. For example, trying to find a broadfork to use for aeration; that's not a thing in Japan at all. Trying to import one is also a nightmare. Our climate is technically like 8b IIRC in the US system, but Japan has rainy seasons and stuff. All that to say I still have a lot of inefficiency from mistakes as well.

The good news is: I mostly like the farmwork so it feels like a hobby as well most of the time (and I'm indeed not sure what the breakdown of hobby, work, and therapy for my time outside would look like; "this feels like work" is mostly time in putting plants in the ground and weeding, both of which are done by hand). I'm typing this now in part to avoid going out into the 28.8 degree sun at 76% humidity, but I had best get on it this Saturday morning since it's only going to get hotter.