Little Forest: Winter/Spring (2015) - full transcript

"Little Forest" is divided into 4 parts - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. After the end credits of "Winter", "Spring" follows. Please enjoy the continuity of the movies.

You've got mail!

Coming!

Good morning.

It sure is chilly.

Yeah, it's getting cold.

I heard that it'll snow sometime at noon.

Oh.

It's all bills again?

There's one letter there.

Oh.



See you then.

A letter from Mom came during autumn.

Komori (Little Forest) is a small settlement in a village somewhere in the Tohoku region.

There aren't any stores here,

but if you have a little shopping to do, there's a small farmer's co-op supermarket

and some other stores in the the village center, where the town hall is.

The way there is mostly downhill, so that takes about 30 minutes,

but I'm not too sure how long the trip back takes.

During winter, you have to go on foot because of the snow,

so that'll take you something like a good hour and a half.

But it seems that most people

do their shopping at places like the big suburban supermarket in a neighboring city.

When I decide to go there, it nearly ends up taking the whole day.

Oopsie.



Today is Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, because my mother makes a fuss over details,

so we never celebrated it once.

Mommy, let's celebrate Christmas!

We are not Christians so what for?

How selfish!

Selfish! Selfish! Selfish!

But nevertheless, when I was small,

we would always have guests around this season.

And she would make cake.

Coming!

Hi.

Hello.

Come in.

Why, hello there!

Where are your manners?

He used to take care of me a long time ago.

Hello.

He was a foreigner.

Now that I think about it, he might have been my mother's old lover.

Though I don't have any basis.

You're really good at drawing.

What's this suppose to be?

Green peas!

Here's the cake!

My mother's Christmas cake was a rectangular loaf, white with fresh cream on the outside.

Once she cut it with the knife, the slice would reveal the brilliant red and green Christmas colors.

It's very pretty. How did you make it?

How do you make it? It's amazing!

Want to know?

The red is amazake made from red rice.

The green is spinach.

I put the two types of dough into one mold and baked them.

But I don't understand how it ends up as two colors lengthwise. If you just put in the dough like that, it's impossible.

You'll have to figure that one out by yourself.

You okay?

There was one left.

That man came to our house around three times,

but that was it.

I see.

And that also marked the end of that Christmas cake.

I've had it before.

What?

Back in middle school.

I don't remember.

I think it was around a year before Ma'am Fukuko left.

She had me sample the taste.

I didn't know that.

I used to borrow books from her all the time. You used to have a whole bunch of them, right?

Like collections of complete works and encyclopedias.

Oh yeah, you did come over all the time.

Well, she praised you a lot.

Even though I'm not particularly fond of books, I began to try to read them anyways.

That's when she suddenly said to me...

Go and find your own books to read if you're going to read for yourself.

What?

Or something like that. She then sold them to the second-hand book store.

We probably didn't have money left.

I helped carry the books so she gave me a couple of them.

I see. The fact that she made a cake may have meant that she had a man around then too.

So, what about the cake?

Oh yeah. We haven't grown red rice for the longest time, right?

Though the ears of the red rice plants are red and make the fields look pretty,

the seeds actually spill out easily and it's a pain to harvest.

That's when I thought that I could just use black rice.

We grow black rice every year.

So I made amazake with black rice.

I used slightly less water and it ended up fairly strong.

Black rice is of the glutinous variety, so it comes out quite sweet.

The amazake was completely black,

but when mixed with sugar, baking soda, wheat flour,

baking soda and oil into a doughy mixture, it ended up a purple color that was just right.

Yellow goes well with purple, so I made yellow colored dough out of bold pumpkin as well.

I filled the mold with the dough made out of the black rice, up to a little less than half.

Then on top of that, I poured the pumpkin dough till the entire thing was about eight tenths of the mold's height.

Then, I baked it in the oven.

After baking, I immediately put the side that was bulging out on the bottom and cooled it down.

Doing that would level out the sides.

And by doing so, you get the colors of the dough to be lengthwise.

Then I decorate it with fresh cream.

Merry Christmas!

I see.

- Sorry, I'm late!
- Hey!

Let's get started with the Christmas tea party!

- No. This is a tea party for the year's end.
- Huh?

This is a three color cake made of purple, yellow and white. Those are not Christmas colors.

Besides, you guys aren't Christians either, right?

Why are you being so fussy?

Come on. Let's just eat.

Well then. For the coming year...

Let's hope for the best.

- Let's eat!
- Digging in!

Oh! It's delicious.

- It's good!
- Delicious.

- Pumpkins?
- Yup.

Hello!

I'm here for the neighborhood notice.

Ah! Ichiko! Thanks for coming all the way.

What are you drawing?

Mushrooms.

I've made some manjuu. Have some.

Thank you.

What's your favourite meal, Ichiko?

When I was asked this...

The first thing that popped into my head was natto mochi made with freshly pounded mochi.

Mixing the natto with sugar,

you take some piping hot mochi and tear pieces off into natto.

We had a mochi making day at my school.

It was 16 years ago.

All the moms were running back and forth all over the place.

We worked on digging up the natto.

We buried them under the snow.

Wow! It's done!

It takes three days to make natto.

You wrap soy beans that have been boiled soft in "warazuto" (cylindrical container weaved from straw).

If you stick a piece of straw inside at this stage, you'll get a lot of strings.

Wrap it in a straw mat,

dig a hole in the snow.

Then on the top of a straw blanket,

comes a snow blanket.

There are all sorts of things buried under the snow.

Cabbage. Green onion. Spinach.

Daikon and carrots are in holes in the ground.

They are wrapped in cedar leaves to keep the mice away.

When vegetables face low temperatures, they get injured and go bad.

So it's best to preserve them using a blanket of snow.

It stabilizes the temperature if you bury them.

You also use that when making natto.

We pray it would turn out tasty.

We pray it would turn out tasty.

You gotta flip it over right,

or you don't get good tasting mochi.

It's heavy. Can you carry it?

Go on and carry it!

Go, go, go.

Whoopsie!

Okay, stir it up for me.

Be sure to not stick the mochi.

Okay, see how it tastes.

Really?

It tastes good when it's nice and warm.

Here. Go on.

Freshly made, still warm,

and very soft mochi.

Natto chock-full of sugar and soy sauce.

I pop them into my mouth one after another.

I want to keep eating them forever and ever.

It was the first natto mochi with sugar and soy sauce that I ever ate.

It's important to knead it before pounding.

Before my mom started living in Komori, I had never eaten natto mochi.

So there wasn't really a particular flavor I could call our "family recipe".

- I want to do it by myself.
- Are you sure?

But since then...

Don't hit me.

freshly-pounded natto mochi with lots of sugar and soy sauce became our recipe.

The bacteria that makes natto is on the rice straw.

So rice cultivation is itself ""natto mochi" cultivation.

It's ten minutes by bike to get to the paddy field we're renting.

This year we had rain and lower temperatures.

I used to worry and go out to the plants everyday.

Rice plants grow from the sound of people's footsteps.

The whole village sure was frantic during the threshing, working during lulls in the cold rain.

And the product of this year's mochi-rice cultivation is..

this...

this...

this!

Time to eat.

The local school has already closed down. Sometimes, it's used by the people in the village.

Snow is falling on Komori.

I have to maintain the path leading away from the roads the snowplows clear.

You've got mail!

Coming!

- Good morning.
- Here.

Oh, you've made some frozen daikon.

- Yup. It's just like you said.
- I see.

I split them into two.

I peeled off the skin.

I cut them vertically.

Making holes,

I pass a string through it.

While they're raw, I let them freeze from the cold outdoors.

When you let them dry out like that, you get frozen daikon that'll last for the entire year.

It's find to just hang them up raw, right?

Folks 'round here let 'em freeze after boiling 'em.

My wife's family does it the same way you've got it goin'.

It's plenty tasty fro what it's worth when you don't get much time to spend on it.

- I'll be leaving then.
- Okay.

Bye!

Frozen daikon is indispensable for nishime.

When you cook it together with dried herrings

that have been reconstituted with water left over from washing rice,

it soaks up all the flavor and is really delicious.

I just cook them by adding whatever vegetables are in season.

But they go well with mountain ginseng and nemagari bamboo.

As the daikon is set to freeze , we become anxious in our wait for spring.

Digging in.

In autumn, while the persimmons are still hard, they're harvested, brand and all, for making dried persimmons.

There!

This is hard.

Sure was a big harvest this year.

Yup, we got a whole bunch.

We picked too many.

We sure did.

Here goes.

One, two!

- Have you hanged it?
- I'll let go.

Wow. They have great color.

The skin that's left on the stem gets peeled.

The branches that are T-shaped are inserted into rope and hung up under the overhangs of roofs.

If they get squeezed by hand every once in a while, they'll end up as soft dried persimmons.

They can be enjoyed with tea as they are,

or cut them into thin slices and put into some daikon namasu.

It has a beautiful color, where the vinegar's sweetness and the dried persimmons compliment each other and it's delicious.

- Here you go and have some.
- Whoa!

- Don't mind if I do.
- Go on and eat.

- Oh. It's delicious.
- Good.

It's hard when it gets too cold, but there are also things that you just can't get done if it doesn't get cold either.

Yeah.

"The cold" is also an important seasoning.

Don't you have to clean the chimneys at your place?

- We've got a fan heater at our house.
- That's nice.

How about you replace this too?

Hmm... But kerosene is ridiculously expensive.

That's true.

- Remember when I left?
- Yeah?

I took rice and miso with me. But I had to buy vegetables, right?

Oh, the air intake is much better now. Great, bring over the sweet potatoes please.

Gotcha.

And there were fees for water and sewage too.

We don't have that in Komori, huh? Everyone takes care of that by themselves.

When the bills came I panicked. I hadn't included them in my calculations.

I had to try to save money.

In the beginning, I was only eating instant ramen and rice everyday.

I thought it was fine cause they had meat and vegetable extract in them.

That's awful!

Then, I wondered if I'd be able to grow some vegetables or something.

I filled the bowls from the ramen up with dirt.

I tried planting some radish seeds. At least they only take a month to grow after all.

Welcome!

There was this guy I got along pretty well at my part time job.

- Huh? What are you looking for?
- Somebody asked me where the canned tomatoes were.

Oh, those are in the spaghetti corner. Over here.

Here.

Wow. You sure know where things are.

- Oh, thanks for earlier.
- Nah. It was nothing.

- I'll go on ahead then.
- Bye!

He's really thin.

- Here.
- Okay.

Ah, this is a bit heavy.

Huh? It's not heavy at all.

- You're just super strong.
- Hey.

- Here goes.
Got it.

Huh? Is that what you always eat for lunch? Just a sweetened bun?

I make sure I take some vitamin supplements.

But still, I think that's just not enough...

But then again, I'm not much different.

Wit the rice at home.

Oh.

I made some grilled onigiri with miso.

Adding some improvised pickled radishes.

And my mother's deluxe rolled omelet.

This omelet is awesome!

The secret is honey.

Wow. You made this all from stuff you grew? You sure know a lot.

No, not at all. I didn't grew the eggs.

Or so I thought...

What's taking him so long?

The other day, I received a hand-knit scarf.

Whoa! You know what that means! If you cheat on her, she'll kill you!

Scary! Wouldn't it be better to just throw it way?

I said that you can always buy some gift. If she got time to make one, just get a job!

You can say that again.

Then what? You didn't give him the lunch you made because of that?

Yeah.

Sure, there are people like that. But food's got nothing to do with it.

I know but...

Remember when I entered middle school? I got bullied by the kids from the main school.

They said I was a wild monkey from the branch school.

They said I was just an idiot from the same village.

It felt like it did back then.

In the end, I couldn't take another step forward.

Doesn't it smell good?

It probably has gotten all nice and soft.

- Ouch!
- Wanna use a mitt?

Whoops.

Oh. You put heat resistant bricks on top of the stove.

The heat radiating from it gradually warms them up.

If you put a pot on top of it,

you can reheat curry roux, and it won't burn even if you leave it alone..

Wow! That's so useful.

And that goes also with these sweet potatoes.

That satsumaimo from this year kept really well.

Well, it didn't get all that cold either.

Yum.

Hot, hot, hot.

I'm going to make sure to build a woodshed this year.

Cutting frozen timber sure is tough.

I use sweets to relieve stress.

That's why red beans are indispensable during the cold season.

They go well mixed with mochi and hatto too.

I knead wheat flour, salt and baking powder with water.

I let them ferment for an hour.

I then pack the red beans inside.

I sear them in a frying pan to get something like oyaki.

If I steam them, then I get manjuu.

With our soil, there's no need for fertilize in our read bean fields.

If I use it, then the leaves will grow thick and there will be no beans.

When it's the beginning of summer, I plant them directly into the dirt.

Then I completely abandon them when all it does is rain.

Summer.

The flowers bloom from the bottom. Falling.

When it's autumn,

I won't be able to help myself and end up eating these immature red beans.

When I open the pods that are still green,

the faces of these fresh, orchid-colored, young red beans peek out.

They haven't gotten hard yet. It makes me happy that I can just boil them quickly and eat them whenever I want.

Nevertheless, they still have that faint fragrance of red beans.

You can use them as ingredients in soups as well.

I boil these slightly sweet red beans and blend them into a muffin batter and bake them.

They're fluffy and aromatic.

Chill them until they're nice and cool.

Then eat them all before they're completely ripe.

The slight sense of guilt is also part of their flavor.

I preserve them to enjoy throughout the year.

I harvest red beans in order, starting with the pods that turn brownish in color first.

If I leave them in the fields for too long, the pods will burst open.

With the long rains of the season, there are even ones that end up sprouting while they're still in the pods.

When this line's green color disappears, that is when I harvest them.

There are some that harvest the beans earlier saying the pigeons will eat them otherwise.

But my fields have never fallen victim to pigeons.

Perhaps it is because I'm diligent so they are distracted by the weeds and are unable to spot the beans.

When I harvest them, I first air out the pods until they're completely dried out.

I know them around with a wooden mallet and separate the pods and the beans.

Then I dry the beans in the sun even more.

It's just about the busy farming autumn season, so I leave them to dry for about a month until things finally reach a standstill.

Besides, I can't be busying myself with that minute kind of work.

Once they dry out, they become even more fragrant and won't get infested with bugs during storage.

Winter starts.

I sift through and separated the bad beans and other scraps,

and put them into bins.

This sure is meticulous. I've made too much.

This time, I put the beans that look good and plump somewhere else.

I will use them to sow the fields when the end of springs comes around again.

In Komori, there is a set day every year that we plan the red beans on.

They won't turn out well if you plan them any earlier or later than that.

It will be too cold while they're seedling, or there will be long spells of rain when they want dry weather.

They won't cope well with the temperature while they're growing. They might get ill or suffer from insect easily.

The other crops each have their own planting days.

They are to be planted considering the situations of the the mountains' flowers and birds during the season.

It's the result of heaps of experience over time after all.

That's right. Everything has got its own proper timing to do it.

Guess so.

That's right. Probably,

I left here earlier than I should have.

I'm sure of it.

You mustn't be impatient.

When you're making red bean pastes add the sugar too early,

no matter how long you cook it, the read beans will never soften.

You put the sugar in after you can easily smoosh the red beans between your fingers.

I get a craving for "hatto" on snowy days.

To make hatto, you knead flour with water

until it's about as solid as an earlobe and then let it sit for over two hours.

If you don't let it sit long enough, the hatto won't have any snap to it.

That's why I prepare it before going snow shoveling.

After fermenting, you tear it into parts.

From there, you stretch it thin and boil it in a soup.

Time to eat.

It tastes especially tasty when I'm hungry after I'm finished shoveling.

Today, I suddenly decided to try mixing in wheat bran.

Usually, the wheat bran are parts of the "wheat's skin" that are removed in the manufacturing process.

Looks so healthy.

Wait, isn't this...

Lemme see... What was it called, again?

Some gutted and headless dried sardines.

Dried shiitakes.

Carrots.

Daikon.

Burdock.

Taro.

Cut-up fried tofu.

Water, sake, mirin and throw them all together in a pot.

You can season it with soy sauce and ginger once you come back.

Place it on a stove with red hot coals.

It's so pretty.

I think I'll go take a walk.

Yesterday, I got into a fight with Kikko.

We were talking about a friend she works with.

Why not? She was just asking for help.

Just because she asks for your help,

doesn't mean it does her any good if you bail her out every time.

I don't think you really have her best interests in mind.

Ichiko...

Who do you think you are?

What?

Do you really know what you should do for her?

Do you really know what's in a person's best interest and what isn't?

Are you really that so experienced with things like that?

Even though you don't really know that person?

You always run your mouth as if you're some know-it all.

But that's all talk.

Have you ever faced anybody and said something straight on like that?

A rabbit...

When the clouds drift away,

and the sun starts beaming down,

snow falls from the branches.

But it stops once there's shade.

Light beams down.

I guess it's because I'm not able to face people straight on that I came back to Komori.

I'm so stupid.

All right. Time to get shoveling.

Welcome back.

I made some curry. Let's eat it together.

Okay.

I said too much yesterday. I'm sorry.

It's okay.

- I'll get the rice ready. Gimme a minute.
- I'll heat up the curry.

Whoopsie.

- Is this bread? Hatto?
- Yup.

- But you see, that's...
- Yeah?

Ah, I know!

Hmm?

Add powder in the table.

Set it in place.

I guess three?

Cut it into three.

Then roll it out with a rolling pin.

Fry both sides on high heat in a preheated netting.

- I'll go stretch this.
- Okay.

- Kikko. Look.
- Hmm?

Ah!

- Wow! It inflated!
- I know right.

Wow!

It's swelling!

It sure is swelling.

- Ah, it's connecting.
- It grows!

- They connected!
- Awesome!

- Are you sure that's okay?
- Yeah, it's good.

Now, let's turn it over.

Wow! It looks delicious.

- What are these called?
- Chapati.

Chapati?

Though you're actually supposed to leave it overnight before making it.

- Oh, just like hatto then.
- Yup, like it.

Coming up with tricks for making good food really is universal.

- Here you go.
- It looks so good! Smells good too!

It's an authentic Indian-style chicken curry loaded with spices!

Yay!

Okay.

Let's eat!

- Is it good?
- Yep!

Wow!

- How is it?
- It's delicious.

The champati's good too.

Tomorrow will be hatto again, but this time with a soup.

Whoa!

- Here goes!
- Let's go!

That was awesome!

- I'm worn out.
- Wow.

Tomorrow's another day of snow shoveling.

Ah! This feels good!

The vegetables in storage have almost run out.

I take out the salt pickled vegetables that I couldn't bring myself to open before, for fear of wasting them.

Brackens I harvested in spring.

After planting the paddies, the old ladies of Komori each enter the mountain

- Hello.
- Oh hi. Hello.

Look at how many bracken I harvested.

and harvest so much bracken that they almost can't carry all of it back.

They pull them up directly by their roots and pluck them where they'll snap easily.

They're best before their sprouts open.

The portion that will be eaten right away is covered in vegetable ash

then blanched and left in water for a night.

That will get rid of the astringent taste.

For salt pickling, they're left raw.

You can't skimp on the salt when it comes to this.

If they're not left completely buried under salt, then...

for some reason, they'll melt.

Oh no...

When you're going to use them, you leave them in water overnight.

Then once you've removed the salt, you quickly boil them and eat them.

Time to eat.

It's tasty and refreshing with some ginger soy sauce.

They can be put into stews or used as ingredients for miso soup.

Everyone eats them all year round,

but I'm really "kabaneyami" so I never seem to have enough.

"Kabaneyami" means a lazy person.

It's not just with bracken either. I often end up ruining the harvest

that took so much work just because I didn't spend a little more time on it.

In complete contrast, the people of Komori are all diligent and hard workers.

We gathered here today to discuss about the stagnated soil found at the east side of the village.

It's not really managed properly.

We have reports that there are outbreaks of shield bugs in the perimeter of the paddy.

And the agriculture cooperative is quite far to handle it.

We have previously gathered data regarding this.

Kindly turn to page three of the handouts you're holding.

It might be hard for you to see the data because they're small

but what's written there is how effective we will make use of the paddy.

It's also written there the salary you will receive.

Added are the plans regarding the landscape and the paddies in Komori.

We just want to give you an idea of these roles we are thinking.

Here you go.

Thank you.

Hey Ichiko. That's enough. Come on and seat.

No, it's okay.

This whole place all used to be a forest.

We pulled those trees out one by one.

We didn't have machines for back then either.

It was all done by hand. We pried every one of those tree stumps out.

And that's how we turned the whole place into paddies like how they look now.

Komori's a rocky mountain area.

One time, we found this big boulder lying around.

At that time, we had to use logs and shove it onto them.

Then move it and got it out.

I took care of the horses and cows long ago.

They eventually became the tillers of the land.

They did the same what tractors do.

They did quite a lot of things.

My old man used to be really amazing at it,

though it didn't mean much after they came out with the chainsaw.

He'd wick-wack through the tree no matter.

It's a slope all around here, right?

So the tiller was slipping and falling over.

They were really heavy too.

They were about to crush my toes.

It's not like that's all they're doing at times like these either.

They're growing several kinds of vegetables.

They also make grains.

They process them so they can be eaten.

They still take care of housework.

And they also raise children.

They still go out to work in the mountains and the streets.

They make provisions for winter.

Every day.

Day after day.

Day after day.

It's around that time when Yuuta comes to talk to me about what I would be doing from then on in Komori.

We have to do something about that stagnated paddies. Everyone's old after all.

Yeah.

Listen.

I thought that it's really impressive that you've been giving it your all by yourself with things.

But it somehow feels like you've actually been averting your eyes from the main point of it all.

And in order to hide that fact, and to fool yourself,

I feel like you're trying so hard at all those different junctures as a way to make up for it.

In reality, that's just running away, right?

I fell completely silent.

It's because he's trying to live a proper life in Komori after all.

He's accepting those things and taking them upon himself.

That's why the old men and women at Komori

are enjoying their lives from the bottom of their hearts.

But as for me...

A storm always comes at the end of winter.

Mom's letter had words like "going around" or "winding" in them.

But it doesn't actually say what she's doing, where she is or whom living with.

On that day, there is a raging tempest, as snowstorms and spring light rush about, switching places.

It's clearing up again.

I saw the sky split completely into two between pale light and dark clouds.

It's just like me...

Komori (Little Forest) is a small settlement in a village somewhere in the Tohoku region.

There aren't any stores here,

but if you have a little shopping to do, there's a small farmer's co-op supermarket

and some other stores in the the village center, where the town hall is.

The way there is mostly downhill, so that takes about 30 minutes,

but I'm not too sure how long the trip back takes.

During winter, you have to go on foot because of the snow,

so that'll take you something like a good hour and a half.

But it seems that most people

do their shopping at places like the big suburban supermarket in a neighboring city.

When I decide to go there, it nearly ends up taking the whole day.

Komori suddenly changed where the apricots, plums, cherry blossoms and edible wild plants sprung up.

When I head to the mountain, I find...

Shidoke, there they are.

Using it for ohitashi or tempura really brings out the flavor.

I should hold on to them for now.

Enreisou.

Katakuri flowers.

Nirinsou.

Shiraneaoi.

Taranbo. Got it!

I wonder how's the koshiabura.

And the kogomi.

Have they all been snatched up already?

Time to eat!

There was a time at Komori when heavy snowfall occurred.

Snow?

You should wake up a little earlier. Help a little with shoveling the snow.

I'll miss the bus so I need to go. Ah!

I told Kikko that I'd make some bakke miso for her.

Since it snowed and you're off to the mountains anyway. Would yo get some bakke?

You'll just have to pluck them. I'm off!

I've got to shovel all the snow off the road.

Ah.

The bakke might be hidden by the snow.

Does she have any idea how long that's going to take?

Oh well.

Kikko!

- Morning!
- Morning.

The snow's crazy.

It's been snowing since last night.

It's already spring. It'll be the last time it snows for awhile.

I don't think it's ever snowed in May before though.

What? It has!

It will be for awhile.

Huh?

I'm home!

Mom?

Ah.

The bakke miso's ready.

But it needs more sugar.

Maybe she had to go to a meeting...

With that, my mother had disappeared.

Hey! Ichiko!

Stop gazing off and move it!

I bet you leave all the housework to you wife, don't you?

When you get home, the house is probably all warm.

All you do is talk about how it's been a long day at work.

If the laundry's piling up, all you probably do is complain.

But you know, I've got to do it all by myself no matter how tired I am.

I've got to earn the money, but there's nobody to split the chores at home.

While I'm working here, none of them are getting done.

I've got to take care of every single thing at a time.

If I'm shoveling the snow, then there's no way I'm going to finish chopping the wood.

Don't act all high and mighty telling other other people to work harder

when you make your family do whatever you don't wanna do.

I've gotta do everything by myself here.

There's no way you people would understand how much effort it takes when you're pampered by your families.

You have no idea how difficult it is to not have a family...

Mom...

Did she really consider me family?

Ichiko?

Ichiko!

Another one.

How many bowls have you eaten?

That's the third.

Bakke miso's so good.

It's darn good.

Heard bakke miso will keep for around a year if it's in the fridge.

No way, I'll just end up eating it all.

You know, when mom didn't have time, she would put bakke miso in a soup bowl.

She'd pour some hot water in it and call it "miso soup".

Thanks. That sounds pretty good.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

Got some hot water?

Ah! It's not bad at all.

Told you.

It works!

- Yeah, it's good enough.
- Yup.

This is a horsetail root.

If I just leave something this small, a whole huge filed will grow in no time.

Till the soil, pull out the roots.

Till the soil, pull out the roots.

Mugwort roots. Bracken roots. Horsetail roots.

I pulled so many out last year too.

Till the soil.

Pull out the roots.

There was so much all over the fields, that I figured it would be a wate to not at least eat some of it.

But when you've got a huge pile of the, it's a such a chore taking off the husk one by one.

It takes a lot of time working on it, and your shoulders start aching.

But if you don't take them off, they'd end up in your mouth when you eat them.

Even worse, your finger tips end up all black.

So then you boil them.

It then shrinks in volume and you just end up with this much from that big heap.

You spend all that time and work but this is all you end up with.

Besides, even though you've put so much effort, it really isn't self-satisfying or something.

Like, you're already this busy and you spend so much time and effort and this is what you've accomplished.

Oh well. I think it's an extravagant dish.

- Well, eat up.
- Okay.

There.

Horsetails really are just weeds after all.

When they overgrow, no matter how many you try to pluck out, there's no getting rid of them.

The roots are so small that you just can't pull them all out.

Well. You might say that but...

We humans are the ones that created the environment that these horsetails grow.

We opened up these forests. And in the past, like in the 14k BC to 300BC,

there were very few places in which the horsetail could grow.

Instead of being a weed, it could have been considered a precious source of food.

They might be regarded as a blessing of the mountains that mark the beginning of spring.

And maybe the people from ancient times must've considered the horsetail very important.

How would I put this...

They might be the tiny spirits of the green earth, gallantly aiming towards the heavens.

And besides, this is really yummy.

You can really taste the flavor of the horsetail. You're really good at cooking, Ichiko.

Okay!

- Did it lit?
- Yeah.

- Okay!
- Thanks.

He's two years my junior that attended the branch school.

I guess I must have a weak spot for tall men that are say wax romantic.

Oh. Hello.

Hi.

I came to help with the wood chopping.

- Is Mr Mino going to work at the mountains?
- Yup.

- I was about to do that later this day.
- You're in luck!

Ah. I'm going to harvest some nobiru. Help me and get the strainer.

Okay.

- That?
- Yup.

The nobiru grows surrounding the house.

That's quite a lot.

Also the bok choy that were planted too late the previous year.

They are left in the fields and continue living under the snow.

But in the spring, they extend their stalk and form buds.

You know,

I use these young leaves as ingredients for soup.

Making the buds into ohitashi is quite tasty too.

Really? But people say that they're no good once they flower.

Well, that's because if there are flowers, that means the root crops aren't going to get any bigger. Then the leafy parts going to get stiff.

But we're doing this to harvest the buds anyway.

The buds that appear can be eaten earlier than the other edible plants.

Washing the nobiru is such a pain.

We've got a little too much.

I grill the leftover salted sea trout.

Then boil some spaghetti.

I quickly toss both the green and white parts of the nobiru with oil,

add some pasta water stock and make a sauce.

I add the buds to the spaghetti that's done boiling,

then mix it with the sauce.

Aw, aw, aw, aw.

Next.

"Pasta with salted sea trout, nobiru and bok choy buds."

Mmm!

I just threw together what I had left. How is it?

The saltiness of the nobiru gives it a nice touch. Instead of using spaghetti,

it might be better if you make it into a stir-fry with potatoes.

The potatoes have pretty much all sprouted.

I've been weeding them but I guess it's time to stop.

Aren't the buds of the potatoes poisonous?

I think.

Maybe I should put some in my boss's tea.

Why?

It's nothing.

You seem to be so into it, Kikko.

Ugh! You know, I'm really sick of my boss.

All he cares about is covering his own butt and don't consider other people.

Like during our business meeting, he spends it just praising the president.

He's acting like someone from another company! He acts like he's so capable and a yes-man about taking on the work.

But he's justifying his own noose and can't ever finish it in the end.

Then he makes everyone else around him foot he bill and acts like that should be the way! It frickin' pisses me off!

If it's a failure, then it's all someone else's fault! If it's a success, it's all thanks to him!

So you are trying to relieve stress when you're chopping the firewood, huh?

That bastard got absolutely no sense of responsibility! He's completely shallow!

And on top of that! On top of that!

Who do you think you are! How dare you bad mouth others behind their backs!

If you pick up on others are being sly, then it means you've got same thing in your mind too!

All that's grown up about you is your body. What a pity!

It's been awhile since I've been scolded by gramps.

Yeah.

But I sort of feel relieved now!

I guess even you get a bit emotional during springtime.

I guess so.

It's all cut now.

Yeah, it's done!

Cabbage whites are harmful bugs.

"Cabbage white -> Kill" have became a conditioned reflex.

A long time ago, when Mom and I went around the city...

I can't forget the expression of the people that were riding the same bus.

They start showing up when you start sowing the seeds and plan the seedlings.

Every day, you go around checking the front and back side of the leaves.

You get rid of the eggs that were laid trying to hide somewhere.

Nevertheless...

These pests are just eating there!

They're so many!

They're all so big!

I'm pretty lenient when it comes to cabbage white butterflies. Considering what happened in the bus.

But I show no mercy to the caterpillars.

Cabbage is different from bok choy.

Their entire body curl into a ball for you. They're a very nice bunch.

Freshly harvested spring cabbage

can be eaten raw without adding anything and still be very tasty.

Also, when you put some perilla or olive oil in it, and sprinkle with a little bit of salt to taste.

It really brings out the sweetness and I just can't stop munching on it.

As for the leaves on the outside that are harder even if you boil or saute them,

you chop them and use them for mixed tempura (kakiage).

It's sweet and has a nice texture.

Cabbage's weakness is rain.

When rain hits the cabbages that are curled up and plump...

It causes it rupture.

Around this time of the year, the people at Komori wander around and survey each other's fields.

Hey~ How are things?

Yeah, it looks okay.

Oh, looks like it.

Ichiko! Hello!

Hello.

What did you plant?

- Yo!
- Hey!

Do you still have any cabbage left? I was asked to check up on them.

One after anther, the balled up cabbages are shared with others.

Every year, I plant too many and end up not being able to eat them all.

I always know I do, but I'm just so scared of bad weather that I end up planting more than enough.

I wonder if there are any new ways to eat cabbage.

I must get my hands on this hidden jewel...

Cabbage is...

Sweet...

Confections...

Cake...

Oh yeah.

You can make carrot cakes, so it might be possible.

Well, you can't grate it so I guess you have to use a food processor.

Flour, sugar and eggs.

Let's keep it simple for now and leave out the raisins.

If I'm doing that, instead of butter, maybe I should use salad oil.

And for the main flavor, I should use some sort of spice...

It's cabbage. So maybe squeezed ginger juice would go with it.

This is definitely gonna work.

I wonder why nobody has thought of this before.

I feel like this could become a staple cake just like carrot cakes.

I could be a genius!

Hmm? Okay.

This smell of being baked...

It's new.

Wait.

It smells rather familiar.

It should be first in the world then why?

But I've definitely smelled this aroma before.

Cabbage...

Wheat flour...

Eggs...

Ginger...

Hmm...

What do you think?

Hmm.

It's okonomiyaki.

Do you have sauce?

Among the first things that I plan in spring are potatoes.

I always want to plan them as soon as I can.

But even if the snow has finally begun to thaw, because of all the melted snow, the fields are drenched.

I will have to wait until the soil dries to work.

That's why, I plowed the field before the snow fell last year.

I got everything ready that I could plant them right away then covered it with an agricultural-grade vinyl sheet.

The snow falls.

The snow thaws.

I make holes in the vinyl sheets, then set the potato seedlings in even intervals.

Then cover them with soil.

It may still be cold right now, but by doing this, when the potato sprouts start to grow and their faces peek out from the soil,

I've made sure that it'll be warm enough that I won't have to really worry about the frost.

For the sprouts that come budding out one by one, I prune them so that three or four are left on each plant.

If I don't do this, then I'll get stuck with mini potatoes that take a lot of trouble to peel.

After that, all I have to do is leave them alone.

Their pretty flowers will bloom.

Then once the stem and leaves start to droop, that's when they should be harvested.

I boil the new potatoes right away.

Then I just sprinkle some salt on top and eat them while they're still hot.

They're warm, soft and sweet.

There are some

that I pick at the watercress that has been growing around the ditches.

I add salt, pepper, shredded onions, some dressing mixed with oil,

together with the boiled potatoes that I cut into bite sizes and make a salad.

It's one of the entrees in the standard menu for breakfast.

Time to eat.

Then there's a "pain a la pomme de terre", the potato bread.

The dough contains mashed up potatoes.

It's light, fluffy and faintly sweet. It was one of the dishes my mother was always proud of.

There's a secret. Why don't you try making it? I guarantee that it won't turn out like this.

She was right. No matter how much I tried, I was unable to make it as fluffy.

Hmm...

It still needs something. But it's pretty good as it is.

The ingredients and their proportions are completely secret.

Okay. I'll let you in all the details when you turn twenty.

That's really unfair!

When it was autumn, a letter arrived from my mother.

It was pretty long and had excuses written on it.

How she was thinking about starting an orchard and such.

It had all sorts of things written in it.

But she didn't include her recipe for pain a la pomme de terre.

That's why, though I still don't know how my mother made it,

before I knew it, I came up with my own recipe for the potato bread

that was different from my mother's.

After harvesting the potatoes, I make sure that there's no sunlight hitting them.

I let them thoroughly.

Then pack them into a cardboard box.

After all, potatoes keep well. They're a valuable food source during winter.

If I happen to pen a box and find buds growing,

as long as I trim them off quickly, I can keep eating them till spring.

In other words,

the first thing to do after winter is over is prepare food for the next winter.

Living in Komori is a repetition of that.

This was my mother's letter.

"Every time I'm stuck on something"

"and look back at how I ended up getting there,"

"I think to myself that I always stumble on the same kind of thing."

"Though I was sure that I covered ground, it only feels like I've been going around in circles and got back to where I started."

"Once I am back from where I started, I get depressed."

"But I've gained experience from all that. So whether I fail or succeed,"

"there's no way I'm the exact same place, is there?"

"So I thought, then it's not a 'circle' but it's a 'spiral'."

"Even if it appears that I'm going around in the same place,"

"I definitely have to be moving a little bit up or down."

"I guess that'd be better than before."

"No. Maybe humans are 'spirals' themselves."

"They're going around in the same place."

"But whenever something happens, they either stretch further up or down or maybe to the side."

"The circle that I draw gets larger and expands."

"By doing that, the 'spiral' must gradually get bigger as well."

"And if I think about it that way, I feel like I'm able to try a bit harder."

When I first read it, I didn't really understand what she was talking about. But now...

Even though I've done all the preparations for the fields, I've decided not to plant potatoes this year.

Because I've decided...

...I won't be here next winter.

Hello.

Oh, why if it isn't Yuuta.

Is Kikko around?

She headed over to Ichiko's fields.

- Then I'll try there.
- Okay.

Hey.

Yo.

Ichiko asked me t take care of the onions since she planted all the seedlings already.

Isn't this a bit much for just one person?

I love using onions in all sorts of exciting ways.

Cut them in half, dribbled with oil, oven baked, and seasoned with pepper salt.

Like entire boiled onions in a soup.

Once she decided on it, she sure left quickly.

Yeah.

But to be honest, I'm reconsidered my take on it.

Hmm?

You see, Ichiko has this side to her where she drags her feet a bit.

I guess.

Did she say something?

She said it didn't sit right with her to just continue staying in Komori like that.

If you remember,

Ichiko didn't have anywhere else to run to and only came back here because she had no choice.

She said that shouldn't be the case and wanted to properly choose

a place to live with the feeling that she was facing things.

If she doesn't able to establish a place she feels like she rightly belongs in even if it's in the city,

and still avoids the choice, she feels like it's disrespectful to Komori.

I see...

Well, she said something similar to me too.

But she cares a lot about appearances and hates losing.

She really overthinks things and isn't that very flexible, is she?

I mean, if she likes it here, then she can just live here.

- I think it's fine if she takes a detour...
- No, that's acting like some unhappy princess.

That's harsh.

Growing onions begins with cultivating the seedlings.

At the start of autumn, the soil must be packed well when seeds are sown.

It is covered with a woven mat for about five days.

Once they begin to sprout, you take the mat off. You grow them until they're about seven to eight millimeters thick.

Then you plant them permanently in a field that has been fertilized.

Let the winter pass as it is.

Once the snow is gone and it begins to get warm, the seedlings that can sprout onion heads will come out.

But you pull those ones up as early as possible.

The plants that have grown onion heads end up with tough onions and don't taste very good.

Really?

The onions that get pulled up early are still small but they're edible.

And their leaves can be used just like the onions.

You harvest them before the rainy season and pull them up while the leaves are still green.

You dry them until the leaves begin to wilt. Then string them up then hang them at the eaves of the house to preserve them.

With winter, it took ten whole months. They take an unexpectedly long time to grow.

That sounds similar to her, huh?

Aw, aw, aw, aw.

What happened to the old lady who plows Ichiko's fields?

Huh? That's me now.

If you leave it alone and try turning it back into a field wold be a lot of work.

That's why the old lady told me to take care of it.

I have helped with it before when things were busy at home.

But I've never taken care of one properly or grown vegetables before.

So I figured I might as well give it a shot.

So you're watching over the fields for her.

Besides, she'll probably be back soon anyways.

[ A Little Forest's Grand Harvest Festival ]

- These new potatoes.
- New potatoes, right up!

It won't be long till you harvest them. Yeah.

Ah. Ichiko.

- Ah hello. It's been awhile.
- I heard that you had come back, but I had no idea.

She went to town in order to get a husband, right?

It ended up like that, but I'm telling you that's not what I had in mind when I left.

Hello!

Oh Kikko! How's the baby?

My husband is looking over him.

- He's adorable.
- Thank you.

Would you like one of these?

- Ganzuki, huh? That brings back memories!
- Everyone at the women's association steamed up a batch.

There's hatto and amazake over there too.

Mom used to make ganzuki when I was a kid.

But I used to fight over them with my siblings.

This one's filled with walnuts. This one's with egoma seeds.

I made ones with egoma back in the day too! I remember everyone had to help.

Wow.

We're planning on having lots of kids and reviving the branch school.

You must be getting along well then. By the way, where's your husband, Ichiko?

Ah. He's getting ready over by the classroom for the kagura.

There would be a kagura?

Yeah, we haven't gotten together much so we lack practice.

- You're in it too?
- Yeah.

I have to also go and get ready. See you later.

- I'll leave them to you.
- Got it. Later.

Good luck.

Now that I remember, she used to be really into children's kagura.

She hadn't done it much after the branch school closed,

but she reached out to the alumni that were still close by, and said she was getting people together.

Everyone loved the idea.

It would be nice if it gets people to come back to Komori.

- Excuse me.
- Go ahead.

What's wrong? What's wrong, little Hii?

I don't get it. Here's mommy dear.

Are you hungry?

- What's wrong?
- I don't know.