Harvest

The Bliss project is located in temperate Kyushu, so we are fortunate to be able to grow and harvest a wide variety of delicious fruits and vegetables year-round. 

Spring

Spring begins in early March with foraging for wild bamboo shoots in the forest, and planting the many seeds that will grow into our summer crops. Meanwhile, the Japanese ume plum trees are heavy with fruit that we will make into sweet plum wine, jam, and sour ume-boshi, or Japanese pickled plums. We can continue harvesting onions, garlic, and all of the winter greens for another month or so. Biwa, or loquat, is a sweet fruit that we enjoy fresh from the trees, and also make into tasty crumbles and delicious jams. Mulberries are gathered and eaten fresh or made into gorgeous jams. Flowers are everywhere, adding color to the garden and our salads. 

Summer

Summer is bountiful! Tomatoes, melons, eggplants, crisp cucumbers, okra, goya, many kinds of peppers, various kinds of beans, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Fragrant herbs such as basil, rosemary, tarragon, shiso, lemon balm, lemon verbena, oregano, marjoram and other kitchen staples are harvested, made into pestos or dried. We also enjoy Asian perennials such as ginger, turmeric, myoga, satoimo (japanese taro) and lemon grass…. and of course there are plenty of summer flowers and for our bees! Blue berries and figs add to the delight. 

Autumn

Autumn is the season of persimmons and chestnuts, and we plant thousands of seeds in trays for a multitude of colorful salad greens for winter. We take out the last of the summer vegetables, add compost and rich leaf mulch to the beds, and then rainbow chard, kale, spinach, carrots, radishes, beets, broccoli, romani, cauliflower, snow peas, and  beans, as well as onions and garlic all are planted and start growing in the garden. Our rice fields are harvested, providing a basic food for the next year. We also plant seeds for spring flowers throughout the garden, and enjoy honey taken from our bee hive. 

Winter

Winter is the time for continuous harvesting of colorful baby leaf salad and healthy greens, and all the root vegetables like carrots and a variety of radishes are filling out and ready to eat, as are the cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, romani, and cauliflower. Fennel, edible chrysanthemum, dill and parsley grow well in the cold weather too, adding fragrance to the garden. Onions and garlic bide their time until spring harvesting. Meanwhile, the orchards are full of a wide array of citrus to be picked, including unusual ones like tiny sweet kumquats and Oita’s famous sour kabosu, which we eat fresh or make into syrups and marmalades.