Autumn Equinox Fest in Imari

This week we welcome Autumn….. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh my Favorite time of the year… Especially here in Japan!

This will be our second Fall in Kyushu, and I have looked so forward to it…. the leaves have already begun to change, reds and oranges in the tree tops… The girls and I have been foraging acorns, fallen down from the tree outside our front door, gathered and ready to dye linen in shades of brown and grey.. The weather has cooled down, some days have already been filled with knitting new hats and layering sweaters and roasting butternut squash and homeschooling in the yard on an old kantha blanket. I cant ever seem to get enough of this first taste of the Season...

This is my first year homeschooling, and with it has come a new Season of Motherhood… One I have embraced fully with optimism and excitement, and I guess a huge layer of comfort, as having Teagan home with me has brought so much joy and a deeper level of connection i thought i could ever have with her. We are studying Plants this week, with a focus on Mushrooms, where she is oh-so interested at the moment! She has paid special attention to flowers and trees and journaling them and reading and reading and reading… its like her brain is just a sponge all over again, soaking in the knowledge of her beautiful interests! Ill have to start blogging more about this as we go, since I do have so much I want to document and share along the way ;)

Each week we head out on a “Field Trip” I guess you could say.. Hiking or a park or coastline or farmers market, whatever we desire. This week was a bit of an Obscure Surprise! A fellow member of our homeschooling Co-op shared an Autumn Equinox Festival event in our group, Oniki-Tanada Festival, which I immediately put on the weeks schedule! The event was mostly in Japanese, but from what was translated they listed a display of handcrafted “Scare Crows” and handmade goods, organic produce, and edamame picking! Sounds perfect to kick off the Autumn Season! I grabbed a friend and we headed into the mountains, to a stunning rice terrace, and well, below is what we found…. I cant even express how hard we laughed!!

Walking through the row of completely bazaar mannequin style art, from Queen to Banksy to Minions was beyond the beyond of what I had pictured our day to look like! Amazing….. Madi is actually doing a school Japanese project on this oddity! There was edamame picking as well, where people take a small, maybe 18”, piece of rope with them up the hills, and wrap and gather a bundle of the fresh veg, then rip it up from the root, bring it back down to the same road where the “scare crows” are displayed, and harvest their load! It was such a cool tradition to see… we had a wonderful encounter with a Japanese woman who was all SMILES and would say to the littles “Ed-DE-Ma-Me” over again while waving a bushel of the plant in their faces… It was darling.

Perfect outing and something Crazy to remember…. Until next time, xoxo