甘夏の収穫が始まりました。なんだかわくわくします。
昨年、齊藤さんのもとで農業研修が始まったとき、最初の仕事は、もう終盤に差し掛かっていた甘夏の収穫でした。また、僕が無茶々園の事務局職員として働き始めたときも、農作業体験として主に従事したのも甘夏収穫でした。
感慨がこもるのはそのためでしょうか。
またこの時期は、新しい苗を植える準備を一気に進めます。この日も、古く大きくなりすぎた樹や、生産性の落ち込んだ園地の樹を、チェーンソーでバリバリ切り倒していきました。
園地の様相もがらりと変わっていき、仕事の進捗がよく分かるため、案外気持ちのよい仕事です。しかしそれだけに、複雑な気分です。
農業を「作る」という言葉で捉えることはしばしばありますが、考えてみれば、一般的なクリエータと違って、自分の意思や努力で次々と創作を重ねられるものではありません。僕があと何年農業を続けられるか分かりませんが、その年の数だけしか、成果は得られないのです。
温暖化や世の嗜好の変化、新品種の開発が次々となされる中で、どのくらいの樹と仲良く付き合っていけるでしょうか。「甘夏とチェーンソー」なんて唄でも作ってみようかな、なんて思っちゃいます。
（ゆ）
Amanatsu and Chain saw
I'm quite excited these days because Amanatsu harvesting season has started.
Last year when I became a agricultural trainee under Mr. Saito, what I did as the first work was Amanatsu harvesting, which was about to be over in that season though. Furthermore, when I was working for Muchachaen as an administrative staff before, the first experience in the field was also the same. This is why I feel something special towards it.
This is also the season for planting many of new seedlings. For that, today I cut old trees and also ones in less productive lands, with a chain saw making a big noise.
After cutting them down, the field looked totally different. I could easily see the progress of work which made me feel nice but have mixed feeling as well.
We sometimes use a word, "create", when we talk about agriculture, but being a farmer is quite different from being an usual creator. We can't just continue working according to our own wills and efforts. I don't know how long I can be engaged in agriculture from now on, but I can see the results only while I'm a farmer.
Here are many factors that have been giving impacts to our work such as global warming, changes in market preference and development of new variety of citrus fruits; How many trees can I be a good friend with in the future? What about making a new song titled "Amanatsu and Chain saw" to begin with? hahaha
Yuki
