Forest garden

Since the rice harvest was reaped in mid-October the countryside in rural Kunisaki has settled down to the intermittent sound of chainsaws felling kunugi oak trees, which are used in the production of shiitake mushrooms. Meanwhile, the site of our small plantation, though, has finally been cleared of the ubiquitous sugi and hinoki cedar trees and we have just started to plant the first of many fruit trees that will form a forest garden.

Cedar plantations are a familiar sight throughout much of Japan and were planted to supply lumber for construction. However, Japan’s ageing and declining rural population means that in large part plantations are not being maintained. Without thinning the trees and lopping the branches the timber is generally poor quality and the forest floor, starved of sunlight, becomes a barren environment where few other plants and wildlife are able to survive.

Our ex-plantation does not look attractive now but in a few years time the forest garden - a multilevel woodland ecosystem consisting of fruit and nut trees, bushes, vegetables, vines, medicinal plants and flowers - will provide an appealing environment and a rich source source of food. Besides the garden, we are also working to maintain some plantations and, with other groups in the Kunisaki Peninsula, are helping to recreate the natural forests that once covered the area.