Time to Catch Up

There has been much goings on since my last post. I will try to start posting regularly in order to address things as they happen. As it is for now you will have to suffer with a rough outline of the last week.

The Thanksgiving Celebration went off splendidly with large crowds, great weather, and a lot of food. At final count I was involved in 7 performances including some impromptu country songs to start off the second day. We raised some money for a local library and the profits from food sales are going to help with projects for next years celebration.

As I mentioned earlier we have had several new additions to the farm. Our third sow has had a litter of piglets, apparently there are two more in waiting. I got to see the newest litter when they were only a few hours old. I want one.

Yesterday the Japanese chapter of Second Harvest dropped off some expired food for us to feed to the pigs. Second Harvest is a program started in the US to minimize food waste at restaurants, grocery stores, and farmers markets by collecting the edible left overs and passing them on to less fortunate people who can put them to use on the dinner table. It is a very neat program which I would encourage you to check out.

This weekend we had about 15 Americans at ARI 10 of them were members of the American Friends of ARI (AFARI) which is a support organization based in the states that does a lot for fundraising for ARI, there were two English Teachers and a few volunteers. It was kind of crazy we were almost the majority nationality, second to the Japanese. One of the Americans is a former employee of ARI and is now working with a non-profit in Seattle. We have had some great conversations about non-profits and entrepreneurial management so they can be self-supporting.

I have started reading a book called Small is Beautiful written in the 60's about the effects of our current economic model. I have only read a few chapters but the concepts he discusses seems well thought out and sincere, I might have more about some of those ideas in later posts. I also read a book on American Militarism.

On Wednesday I went to my first Japanese class! It was a lot of information very quickly, but I feel like I can do tis. Once I figure out how to order things to be sent here I think I am going to order Rosetta Stone as a supplement. The native speakers here are also very helpful and work with me in my meager efforts.

The two weeks I have spent here so far have been wonderful. I can't believe all of the activity that has happened. I promise I will update more often. Thank you for following along. Don't forget to leave some love. Peace Love and Godd Food to all.

Mike