Complicated soil
この頃は地震・津波、原子問題で宿が静かで、ライ冬の分の薪集めの作業でしんどい日々を過ごしています。布団引きと違う筋肉ですね。
戸倉上山田温泉から車で５分にある飛田さんのりんご畑の写真です。剪定で切った枝を拾ってから、飛田さんがりんごの木のふもとの土を見せて、説明してくれました。よく見れば、４つの物が足してありました：
＊牡蠣の貝の粉
カルシウムが入っている上に、自然にアルカリ性の土のＰｈを調整してくれる。
＊鳥の糞
牛の糞より窒素の量が最適。なおかつ、そのままじゃなくて、発酵さして粉を。
＊キノコ栽培で使い終わった屑
木とコーンの屑で茸が育たれて、使い終わったら成分調整して、リンゴ屋さんが使って、土に混ぜる。昔は木の屑だけだった様だが、コーンが入った方が栄養になるそうです。
＊藁
土になって行くうちに栄養になるそうです。一部は古い畳利用。（亀清が畳を交換するたびに、古いのを飛田さんのりんご畑に持って行きます。エコでしょう？）
りんご畑の土は意外に複雑です。科学的の肥料を使えば、もっと館でしょうけど、飛田さんはなるべき自然な物を使っています。このお蔭で、美味しいリンゴが出来る訳。ちなみに、その蟹の足は飛田さんの食べかけ；特に意味がないそうです。（笑い）
Since our inn has been quiet the last few days due to cancelations concerning the earthquake / tsunami / radiation problem, I've been making use of the time and have been gathering firewood for next winter.
This is a picture of the soil around the base of one of the trees in Tobita-san's apple orchard. His orchard is located about 5 minutes by car from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen and he offered to give me the trimmings from his trees for firewood. After collecting the branches, he stopped to show me the soil around his trees. Looking closely, one can see the 4 things he added:
*Ground Oyster shell
Not only a source of calcium, but helps to balance the Ph of the naturally alkaline soil.
*Chicken manure
Better level of nitrogen than steer manure. And not raw, but fermented to bring out the beneficial effects.
*Used mushroom growing soil.
Mushrooms are raised in a soil formula containing ground wood and corn stalk. Once the mushrooms are harvested, the used soil is processed and apple growers spread it around their trees.
*Straw
As it breaks down into soil, it adds nutrition. Some of the straw is from old tatami mats. In fact, whenever we change out our futons here at Kamesei, we take the old ones to Tobita-san and put them at the base of his trees.
As you can see, apple tree soil is a very complicated matter. Tobita-san could just use chemical fertilizers to make it a lot simpler, but he prefers to use natural processes whenever possible. Hence the naturally great taste of his apples! (Note: Ignore the crab leg -- that was part of Tobita-san's dinner.)
