Prepared to take over the strawberry farm
ーI think you have a strawberry farm, why did you decide to do it?
After I got married. I was going to go to work myself, but I inherited the greenhouse from my husband’s mother. My husband’s mother gave it to me. I thought, “If I’m going to go out to work, I’ll grow strawberries.“ Now I have to find a job even to take my child to daycare. I thought I should get some kind of job. It doesn’t matter if I am self-employed. Otherwise, they cannot leave their children at day-care centers. I think it would be good if this kind of place could be a place of employment for mothers who want to leave their children at day-care centers. I always think it would be great if there were people who could work like that, even if only for a short time.
ーHas anyone actually tried that?
No. The work varies throughout the year, so if they stayed longer, they would learn the work, but…. For example, there are plum farmers who only work when they are busy. If they did that, maybe they could hire someone, but during the time when they are not harvesting, they are only making seedlings….
ーThis may be similar to the previous question, but is there a reason why you took over the strawberry farm?
I thought that if I was going to go out to work, I would take over the farm. I was like, “If you don’t tear down the greenhouses anymore, please give them to me.“ It was a choice between me taking over the farm or destroying it. My husband was still working for the agricultural cooperative at the time, so I was the only one to start.
ーBut when you are young, there is always something you want to do, or something small you want to do. I think it takes a lot of determination to take over something like this when you are young.
But, yes, that’s true. But, you know, I already had a child. If I didn’t have a child, I would have had many more adventures outside the house. I could have done all kinds of jobs once. Before I took over, I helped a little with the rice farming, but I didn’t help with the strawberries. So I guess I started helping out the year before I decided to take over.
ーWhy did you think that you didn’t want to destroy the farm? If you were talking about following in your mother-in-law’s footsteps, I could understand.
But I think it was the fact that I came here as a farmer’s wife. My husband went to work, but I was already ready to be a farmer’s wife.
ーI was impressed by her determination. Were you interested in farming or agriculture for a long time?
I wasn’t interested. I was prepared to come here, but I wasn’t interested.
ーHow do you come by that kind of determination?
I wonder. Maybe because my husband was the eldest son. I mean, I was the only male. I did enjoy it, though.
Tough things make things fun and rewarding.
ーBy the way, what are some of the things that are fun and rewarding?
The sense of accomplishment after hard work. The feeling of happiness when a flower blooms or a fruit is produced. Also, when a customer is happy, it makes me happy and it is fun. In the end, I do things for myself, but I think it is a great feeling to do things for someone else to make them happy. But I am sure that it has led to my own enjoyment.
ーOn the other hand, do you have any tough times?
There are a lot of hard things. I hate cleaning up. (laughs) I hate mowing the grass. (Laughs) Every year, when we clean up the greenhouses, we have to cut down the seedlings that have just been planted, and I hate that work. (Laughs) Just when I’m cleaning up, the rice fields get busy, so it’s hard to keep up with the work. I have to check the condition of the strawberries every day, and that kind of hard work is the reason why there are strawberries for strawberry picking. I hope everyone knows that, even if just a little.
I want to create new employment.
ーMiho, what would you like to do in the future?
If it is something that will never change, I would like to employ people with disabilities. However, it’s not realistic. I have tried it once, and two people came to work with me so far, but they had to be accompanied by a person from the facility who was in charge of them.
In addition, their health condition fluctuates a lot. When I received the grant, I was able to pay them from my salary, but when it came time for me to do it, they had to work 20 hours a week. That was hard for the disabled people.
It helped when they were able to work, but each person had their own strengths and weaknesses, and I thought it was difficult to work with them throughout the entire project. I have a feeling that we need more people.
ーWhat was the initial impetus for you to start thinking about hiring people with disabilities?
It was when I was approached by an acquaintance. They wanted to be independent, and they wanted to work, but they were not able to move their bodies as much as they wanted to. They want to work, but they feel frustrated that they can’t. They compare themselves with others who can do it. They compare themselves with others who can do it. However, they still want to try somehow.
Many of the children I have seen so far are over 30 years old, and their parents are getting older. They have always wanted to be independent, and their parents have a feeling that they don’t know how long they will be able to take care of them, so I have always wanted to do something about it.