Freshness and Fermentation in Oirase

On yet another prefecture-sponsored trip, we traveled back to the east side of the prefecture, to roughly the same place as the salmon festival we attended in the fall. It's the usual long 2-hour haul from Aomori City, but it's worth it for a day of fun and an escape from deep snow.

Our first stop was at a place called アグリの里 aguri no sato, which quite literally translates into "ugly hamlet." Despite the rather unfortunate language mistake, this place is a small conglomeration of agricultural buildings, like greenhouses and animal pens. They've got cute bunnies and chickens that you can feed, as well as a goat and a pony to keep the little kids entertained.

There is a greenhouse used to grow tropical fruits, such as bananas, papaya, passion fruits, dragon fruit, and even coffee!

Papayas! In Aomori! =O

If you didn't know, coffee beans are actually the pit inside the red coffee fruit!

Since it's winter now and freezing temperatures are not suitable for growing vegetables, a few other greenhouses are reserved for out of season farming. Using hydroponics, they grow different kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, and several other greens that I couldn't quite identify.

The largest amount of greenhouse space, however, is reserved for only one plant: strawberries! Our main purpose for coming here was to pick strawberries. At first, I wondered how in the blazes we'd be picking strawberries in the middle of winter, especially at a place called "the ugly hamlet". Here in the space of 3 greenhouses combined, kids ran around the raised aisles of strawberry plants looking for ripe berries, while large bees hummed about pollinating the plants.

One of the special points about this place is that the greenhouses are built with universal design in mind. The rows of strawberries are elevated above the ground for easy picking, and the aisles are also wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through.

Besides growing food, Aguri no Sato serves the food it grows in an all-you-can-eat buffet (called viking in this country for some strange reason). They've got unique food like strawberry pizza, the freshest of salads, and vegetable curry made from the vegetables grown on site. You also get to eat your food off of a round wooden tray (I hesitate to call it a plate). It's all yours for a relatively modest 1300 yen.

Later, if you'd like to relax and unwind, they have a footbath as well. I unfortunately stepped under the water draining fountain and didn't notice it flowing all over my shoe because it was warm water, so I spend the day with a soaked right foot.

After the agricultural village, we headed toward the Momokawa sake brewery. I'm not a big fan of alcohol, so most of the experience was lost on me. We took a tour of the brewery and packaging facilities, and then sat down for a taste test. I've been to a much smaller brewery before and had some hands on experience with the brewing process, but since the preparation at the Momokawa brewery was already completed, all we really did was look around. Also, alcohol tastes gross to me, so the taste-testing was less enjoyable and more of torturous than anything. Anyways, obligatory pictures of sake!

Their most expensive, handmade sake. It's really not that expensive nor delicious...

That's all for this time! Many posts about my winter trip to Kyuushuu coming up soon!

また国際交流会の旅行なんですが、今回サーモン祭りと同じ所の「おいらせ市」に行ってきました。車で２時間かかるんですけど、楽しい経験のためにはむだな時間ではない。

最初は「アグリの里」と言う場所に到着。英語では「アグリ」は「みにくい」という意味ですから、名前は少し残念です。とにかくアグリの里に動物も植物もあって大人でも子供でも楽しむことができます。

温室内いろいろなトロピカルフルーツが育ちます。バナナ、パパイヤ、パッションフルーツ、ドラゴンフルーツ、コーヒーでも！

今、外は寒いので、温室に外で育てない植物を育てます。レタス、トマトなどが「ハイドロポニックス」と言う水耕栽培でうきうき成長します！

一番大きい温室の中に全部いちごです！この三つの温室を合わせた広いスペースに、今日のメインディッシュはイチゴ狩りです。そして、ユニバーサルデザインに考えたので、いちごが小高い広いプラットフォームにしました。車いすに乗っても狩りやすい！

農家の天国以外、温室から取った食材を使ってバイキングもあります。とても特別な料理（イチゴピザ、新鮮サラダ、手作り野菜カレー）を食べることができます。

そして、食べた後休みたかったら、足湯もあります。

アグリの里に出発で、桃川の醸造所に行ってみました。私が酒を飲まないので少しもったいないです。それでも醸造所のツアーして、いろいろな酒を味見しました。前、もっと小さい上層所醸造所に行って酒造りを経験しましたが、今回はもう終わりましたので、何も見えなかったです。そして、私にとって酒はまずいので味見タイムも楽しくなかったです。