Tuesday 4 August 2009

Battle against Pheasant Attack!

‘Nature’ includes everything around you – the sky, mountains, trees, insects, microorganisms, animals and yourself. Each one of us carries out our usual conduct at our own level in order purely to survive. The relations between each level in the hierarchy can be symbiotic or harmful when we single out and consider specific events. This year, most of us in Tsukushi Farm experienced one such harmful relation – to be specific, a pheasant attack.

I planted soybeans in late May. Round green buds pushed shyly up from the soil and happily faced the sunshine for the first time. Between this moment until proper leaves began to grow, a matter of a mere day or two, our friends the birds stealthily approached the baby sprouts and gobbled all the buds. I reluctantly planted more beans. This time, I instituted strips everywhere at ten centimeters above the soil, so that the birds will not be able to peck the buds so easily. Sadly, all gone within a week.

When more than ten people suffered the same damage at the ravaging beaks of the insolent birds, the farm manager finally raised his concern. By not preventing the pheasant attack, our farm was becoming their feeding place. Joyful paradise, an all you can eat bean buffet restaurant, which is not at all natural.

My countermeasure was to put up a hemp cloth around the furrow. Pheasants usually approach by walking, not by flying, but in case they tried to dive from above, I spread the strips over the top. Mission accomplished. Both my soybeans and adzuki beans were now protected from the aggressive pheasant onslaught.

Some other members put out mesh to cover the entire ridge, and one day someone found a half dead baby pheasant trapped in it. She rescued the bird from the net, with remorse. We’re unsure whether it survived when we freed it. For the majority of us, growing vegetables is just a hobby. Is it really necessarily to risk other animal lives?

Producing food is a serious matter for all living things so we should approach with an earnest and responsive attitude. Nature is not always a gentle and beautiful harmony. Farmers in Japan are constantly battling against birds, boar, deer, monkeys and raccoons.

Is it really necessarily to risk other animal lives?

I know my answer.



雉との抗争


“自然”とは、空、山、木々、虫たち、微生物、動物、そして我々の全てを包括するものです。それぞれの属する世界において、純粋に生き残りをかけて、日々の営みが続けられます。生態系のピラミッドの活動の一部を取り出して着目すると、お互いに共生関係であったり、もしくは害を及ぼす関係であったりします。今年つくし農園では、害を被る出来事を経験することとなりました。具体的に言うと、雉との抗争です。

5月の終わりに、大豆の豆撒きをしました。丸い新緑色の双葉が恥ずかしそうに土の中から顔を出し、初めておてんとう様の光を存分に浴びられると首をもたげ始めました。それから2、3日もたたないうちに、近所に住む鳥のお友達がこっそりと足を忍ばせてやってきて、あっという間に双葉たちをぱっくりと食べつくしてしまいました。やれやれと思いながら、しぶしぶまた豆を撒きました。ただし今度は、鳥たちに簡単につつかれないように、地面から10センチのところに縦横無尽にタコ糸を張り巡らせました。それでも1週間後には、双葉たちは跡形もなく消滅していました。

農園のメンバーの10名以上もが、横柄な嘴の猛威による被害を受けていると察知した管理人が、皆に警告を発しました。雉の攻撃を完全に防ぎきれていないという現状が、彼らの餌場を作り上げているというのです。夢のような楽園にある、豆尽くしの食べ放題ビュッフェレストラン。これは自然界ではありえない姿です。

次なる私の攻防策は、麻布でぐるりと畝の周りを取り囲むというものでした。雉たちは、通常ぴょんぴょんと歩いて餌に近づいてき、飛んでくることはありません。念には念を入れて、もしも上から飛び込んできても防げるように、麻布の上側に、屋根をのせるような具合でタコ糸を通しました。対策万全です。ついに大豆と小豆の両方を、雉たちの執拗な襲撃から守りきることが出来ました。

他のメンバーの中には、畝全体に網を張った人もいます。ある日、その網に瀕死の状態の雉の子供が引っ掛かっていたそうです。彼女は良心の呵責を感じながら鳥を網から外し、そっと逃がしました。その鳥が、果たして生きながらえたのかどうか、我々は分かりません。農園の参加者のほとんどにとって、野菜作りは趣味の範疇です。他の生き物の生命を脅かしてまで、野菜を守ることは必要なのでしょうか?

食物を生みだすということは、全ての生き物にとってとても大切なことです。ですから、我々は真剣かつ研ぎ澄まされた感覚で対応せねばなりません。自然は、優しく美しいばかりではありません。日本の農夫は、鳥、猪、鹿、猿、果てはアライグマなどの獣害と常に闘ってきました。

他の生き物の生命を脅かしてまで、野菜を守ることは必要なのでしょうか?

私の答えは出ています。

6 comments:

Gary said...

Satoko-sama! You are suffering the classic dilemma of the Japanese farmer. In Kurosawa's classic "7 Samurai" the villagers have to decide whether to continue harvesting their crops for nothing, knowing the bandits will come to steal their crops, or employ defensive tactics to protect themselves and their crops. They choose to defend themselves by employing the samurai. In this case, the pheasants are in the role of the bandits - even the baby ones! - and you have the same choice as the villagers. At the end of the film, the message is that the warriors always lose and the mild mannered peasants always win. However, they have to become warriors themselves in order to save their crops... if you watch the film again, i think it will confirm your opinion

Sacchan said...

Dear Gary,

Very interesting insight.

Perhaps the person with a lot is the last survivor if you abandon pride, prejudice, authority etc in any phases of human history? At least we can observe certain patterns.

At a personal level, I should go back to my starting point. Why shizennou? I will watch the film again.

Gary said...

http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=152026384

Sacchan said...

Gary-san, The real battle seems to have begun up in the North then...Awako and I will make clear territorial claims on the land against our potential aggressor who only attacks vegetables. (The goat is a terrible coward so I should send her to training school first.)

Gary said...

Another strong believer in the right of the farmer to defend his crops...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/alexander-skopintsev-russ_n_460718.html

Sacchan said...

...Awako is not yet trained as a sniffer-goat.