On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, Mie Forest & Forestry Academy students presented the results of their projects online. We would like to share the results of the presentation on our website in the hope that people will become more interested in forestry.
The project we are proposing, "Forest to Eat," is a project with the vision of making sustainable mountain management possible by utilizing mountain resources, even in small forest areas.
Supplementary information
I made this presentation much simpler than the interim presentation. The previous document had a yellow background, the text was hard to read, and the fonts were all different, so I tried to unify them. I was once told that design has nothing to do with the materials.
But I like to do it, so I took on the challenge. The tool I used for this project was canva. I highly recommend it!
Hello again, everyone.
We run a landscaping business called "Pruner Sky" in Komono-cho, Mie Prefecture. We moved to Mie 10 years ago, and this year marks the 8th year since we started our business.
Supplementary information
The presentation was done in PDF format, so the images are not designed to move, but if they are not too difficult to see, it may be okay to use moving images.
If it is not too hard to see, it might be good to use moving images. We hope that our catchphrase "To the garden of Mie Prefecture today" will someday also be "To the mountain of Mie Prefecture today".
When we started up, we started with just a pair of scissors and a used light truck that we drove to Shizuoka to pick up for 50,000 yen.
I had a lot of time on my hands, so I borrowed books on how to attract customers from the library and read them all, studying hard and repeating trial and error.
Supplementation
The lecturer advised us that we would get more sympathy if we included our own story in the materials. It's a funny story now, but at the very first site we went to for an estimate, we got a My Stepladder by offsetting the cost of the broken stepladder from the estimate amount, and that was the beginning of Pruner Sky.
If only I could attract more customers! With this in mind, I created my own company website and started posting information about my garden on my blog and SNS, and little by little, more and more people started looking at it, which led to more work.
The PV of my website gradually increased, and I received many requests and consultations last year.
Blessed with human connections, the number of trusted fellow craftsmen also increased, and here we are today.
Supplementary information
We may not have as many PVs as some of the major websites and blogs, but we are very grateful that people read our homepage, which is very text-heavy, and consult with us. While SEO and other measures are important to attract customers continuously, the most important and effective thing is to keep updating the homepage steadily.
Next, I would like to share two backgrounds and how we came to this project.
The first background is from our work in the landscaping industry. In the landscaping industry, we create gardens that use the mountains as borrowed landscapes, and we apply and utilize the blessings of the mountains, such as by using the mountain ecosystem and its trees as samples.
As I came into contact with greenery through landscaping, I wondered why there are so few people who know about the current situation of Japan's mountains and the actual sites, despite the fact that this is a job that utilizes the blessings of the mountains and nature.
Supplementation
I often hear things like, "That gardener has a tree with a good shape that was picked from the mountain. However, in our personal opinion, there are not a few people who are not very interested in the actual situation of the mountains. If we are given the benefit of the mountains, isn't it important to pay more attention to the landscaping industry and the mountains and act accordingly? When we hear the word "forestry," there is an image that it is somehow different from our landscaping industry, and some people in the forestry industry have wondered why landscaping is in the mountains. I think it would be good for those who love the same nature and find value in it to cooperate with each other, rather than being separated by the human concept of "forestry" as a separate industry.
The second is my personal feelings. We are currently living in the mountains at the foot of Mt. Otakayama in Komono Town, Mie Prefecture, and looking around, we see a lot of bushes and illegal dumping.
I wondered if there was anything I could do to help the forests that were in such a state of disrepair.
These two thoughts led me to want to learn more about mountains, and as I studied about mountains on my own, I learned about the lack of progress in mountain maintenance in Japan and that there are various edible nuts and fruits in the mountains.
Additional information
Not all of Japan's mountains have become garbage dumps, but this is a situation that does occur in some cases. There is less illegal dumping in managed mountains or mountains where people are constantly coming and going, and there are many satoyama, etc., where the mountains themselves are supplemented by a close relationship with people.
I joined the academy to acquire knowledge and skills related to mountains in order to realize a forest where people can eat, and I learned more about the current situation and problems in Japan's mountains.
Supplementary information
I was advised that I did not understand the meaning of "safety first" in the material, so I captured it here
I believe that both garden protection and mountain protection first require proper knowledge and skills, and then safety follows.
The forestry and landscaping industries are very prone to industrial accidents, and first of all, it is better to enter the mountains based on the principles and principles of the mountains in order to safely access the mountains. There is a boom in buying mountains, but I think it is difficult for people to enjoy themselves safely in a forest full of hindrances without taking care of it.
Why do forestry workers wear helmets properly when they enter the mountain and bring in equipment and other items? If you think you only need to wear a helmet when logging, you can get seriously injured on the road.
I would like to talk a little about the current situation and problems of Japan's mountains. Japan is one of the most heavily forested countries in the world, with 67% of its land area covered by forests, and in Mie Prefecture, 65%, or more than half of the land is forested.
Supplementary information
I would have liked to go into more detail about the problems occurring in Japan's forests, but due to time constraints, my oral presentation was rather abbreviated.
However, many of Japan's mountains are planted with cedar and cypress trees that were planted during postwar afforestation expansion and are now in the harvesting season.
Another reason for the deterioration of mountains is the gradual shift of people's lifestyles away from the mountains due to the postwar fuel revolution.
As more and more people feel that mountains and people are not close to each other, many inherited mountains have been neglected as a "negative legacy," and large-scale landslides have frequently occurred in mountains throughout Japan.
Supplementation
Under these forest conditions, spectacular mountain disasters have occurred in many parts of Japan. In August 2014, there was a landslide in Hiroshima City caused by torrential rains; in 2018, there was a large-scale landslide caused by the Iburi East Earthquake in Hokkaido; and in 2019, there was a large-scale long-term power outage caused by strong winds from Typhoon No. 15, which felled a number of grove-rotting Yamatake Sugi trees in Chiba Prefecture. Other natural disasters, such as record-breaking rainfall, earthquakes, and extreme weather events have occurred in many areas, making it impossible to maintain the land and forests.
If the mountain had been continuously tended to, wouldn't all this have happened?
Addendum
However, with the "fuel revolution," the value of wooded areas and natural forests in the satoyama diminished, and broadleaf trees were cut down and replaced with conifers such as cedar and cypress, which have high economic value as building materials. The "expansion of afforestation" proceeded rapidly.
From the Paleolithic Age (50,000-60,000 years ago) through the Jomon Period to the present day, people have lived with the blessings of forests and built a long-lasting tree culture.
We believe that the most important issues facing the mountains in the future are to "continue to take care of the mountains" and "increase the number of people who pay attention to the mountains in order to do so.
Although the "edible forest" project document I brought to the academy interview was very vague, I felt that if we could complete the "edible forest" project by focusing on even small forest areas as one way to solve this issue, the potential of Japan's mountains would expand even further.
Supplementation
The "edible forest" is positioned as a multiple-use forest management system, which is a forest that combines timber, special-use forest products, and production forests, while utilizing special-use forest products. It is important to establish uniformity while systematically changing the way of maintenance and management, etc., so that they can be applied to smaller forest areas.
Private forests, state-owned forests, school forests, corporate forests, and forests owned by the company.
It is desirable to start with company-owned forests in order to properly identify where the needs are, but we have not yet found any mountains.
No mountains have been found yet.
It is also important to work with partnerships to promote effective mountain development from the planning stage and to make mountain development sustainable.
Economic and sustainability are the most difficult issues.
During the two years of the Academy Director Course, we have decided to explore and develop the roles and goals of each of the three divisions in order to complete the Eatable Forest as a business.
The first is to expand forest maintenance work as a forest maintenance division at Prunery Empty, which is responsible for the landscaping business.
The second is to manage the production of edible forest plantations and nuts as the food forest (afforestation) and production division. Third, as the processing and sales division, we will establish "Kitori Shoten" to distribute our products.
I would like to present some excerpts of what we have been exploring and doing during our two years at the Academy to make the three divisions work together.
I would like to present excerpts of what we have been exploring and doing over the past two years at the Academy.
At the same time as the academy started, we started forest maintenance in the training forest as part of our forest maintenance department.
The location of the training forest is a part of the property district where we now live. The elevation is about 200 m and the area is about 440 square meters, which is small but just the right size for a reduced model of an edible forest.
Before the forest was established, the canopy of the forest was covered with tall evergreen trees, and the understory was covered with many toxic evergreens such as Japanese knotweed and asebi, which deer and other predators do not eat.
After thinning and clearing the undergrowth to allow light to penetrate the forest floor, seeds that had been dormant underground sprouted, and understory plants such as kouyabouki and toadflax gradually began to sprout.
October 2020
We made a prototype for the processing and sales department. Looking at the growth process of the toadstools and other trees that sprouted under the forest floor in the training forest, it still takes time for them to bear fruit, so in order to find ways to utilize the nuts, we stocked up on nuts and made jam and alcohol.
The slide shows a jam made from mountain grapes. Compared to ordinary grapes, yamabudou contains 5.5 times more malic acid, 3 times more vitamin B6, 5 times more iron, 4 times more calcium, and 3 times more polyphenols, and has been confirmed to be effective in inhibiting the development of skin cancer.
There are about 100 kinds of edible nuts, berries, and herbs in Mie Prefecture, and if they can be utilized as forest products, the potential of the mountains will expand even further.
We now have a place to put the wood and a woodworking lathe, etc., and have begun product development!
February 2021 Here is a list of the results of our forest maintenance division over the past year. Thankfully, as we have continued to provide information about the mountains on the Prunery Sora website and social networking sites, we have begun to receive inquiries about forest maintenance, and our forest maintenance work has gradually begun to increase.
We will start the second year of the academy by looking back on the past year and organizing what is needed to realize a forest where people can eat, and also by putting our own thoughts and feelings into the academy.
April 2021
This is an activity of the forest maintenance department. I have been studying about the maintenance of terraced rice paddies in satoyama and forest maintenance with Dr. Shino Yofu, a doctor of agriculture at Wakayama University, as a result of my work in forest maintenance.
In order to further increase my knowledge of the mountains, I have obtained qualifications related to nature, such as an intermediate level of Environmental Restoration Doctor and Assistant Nature Restoration Specialist.
June 2021
The forest maintenance section continues. We visited the site of Enomoto Forestry, an instructor of the Academy Player Course, to observe road surface treatment.
Enomoto Rinsho's road treatment is a company that still carefully carries on the techniques of Keizaburo Ohashi. The Ohashi method of road construction is designed to minimize the burden on the environment, and it is durable and long-lasting, thus reducing the economic burden. We would like to continue learning about the Ohashi method of path construction and apply it to our forests where we can eat.
July 2021.
As part of the Food Forest and Production Division, we conducted a survey on the distribution of tree nuts. In the course of researching various edible nuts, I learned for the first time that there is a term for "special-purpose forest products.
Special-use forest products are foods, substances, and materials obtained from forests other than timber.
While searching the Internet for information on the distribution of special-purpose forest products, I came across a document on the Forestry Agency's website titled "Production Trends of Special-Purpose Forest Products.
In addition to mushrooms and wild vegetables, there was also a section titled "Others," so we contacted the Forestry Agency to find out what kinds of items were included in the "Others" category. We learned that the department for special forest products is separated from the department for nuts and berries, and as shown in the slides, nuts are produced and distributed as specialty fruit trees.
I was able to reconfirm that there is no small demand for Japanese native tree nuts, and that the possibilities will expand depending on how we communicate with the public.
August 2021
In order to develop processed foods from tree nuts, we participated in a food innovation program sponsored by Mie Prefecture.
When we talked to the Oyamada Agriculture and Forestry Corporation of Iga City, which was in the same group at that time, about edible forests, they became very interested and invited us to visit their processing plant.
Oyamada Agriculture and Forestry Corporation is a company that processes rapeseed oil and food products, and they can also process nuts and other ingredients for consignment manufacturing.
October 2021
As an activity of the afforestation and production division, we purchased and planted a species of tree that grows wild in the mountains of Mie Prefecture and produces edible nuts in a training forest that is undergoing forest improvement.
Since deer and many other animals can be observed nearby, nets have been placed around the planted trees as a countermeasure against feeding damage.
I have only excerpted what we have been doing for the past two years, but I believe that the most important thing is how to connect what we have gained through our actions to our business.
As a landscaping business, we are involved with greenery, and our work is supported by nature. That is why we would like to be more involved in the mountains, and would like to promote the charm and culture of the mountains.
Two years ago, we set out to complete the "Forest You Can Eat" project by dividing it into three divisions. As a result of our efforts over the past two years, the forest maintenance division has been receiving an increasing number of requests for forest maintenance work and is expanding as a business.
In the afforestation and production division, we were able to take the first step forward by planting trees in a training forest.
In the processing and sales division, we were able to complete a woodworking shop and start developing woodworking products, and we were able to find a place to process woodnuts.
As one means of distributing mountain resources as a product, as mentioned in the processing and sales section at the beginning of this document, we plan to launch the "Woodbird Store" in 2024 through an online store and in a virtual space.
We plan to sell canned goods filled with the bounty of the mountains and accessories made from thinned wood, as well as materials harvested in the mountains, to promote the attractiveness of the mountains.
Eatable Forest Circulation Map
We are trying to complete the cycle of edible forests by establishing each of the three divisions of Forest for Food as a business. If we can complete the cycle of Forest for Food, people will recognize that we can utilize the mountains not only for Forest for Food but also for other resources other than timber, even for small areas of forest! This will increase the number of people who pay attention to the mountains and create a positive cycle that will restore the vitality of Japan's mountains.
Although we are just starting out, we will continue our activities with the vision of "making mountain management sustainable by utilizing mountain resources even on a small forest scale" and with the goal of getting as many people as possible interested in the mountains and thinking about and acting on mountain issues as if they were "our own business.
We have just taken our first steps and our knowledge and skills are still catching up. We hope that some of you who are watching today are
Those who are familiar with special-purpose forest products, those who are
forest owners, and
forestry who are practicing the Ohashi method of road building, beekeepers
beekeepers, beekeepers
farmers who produce medicinal plants and specialty forest products
Those who can implement a world in Metaverse (we would like to build the same edible forest in virtual space as the real edible forest so that the progress of forest maintenance can be viewed in virtual space).
If you are interested in this edible forest project, we would like to hear from you.
Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the Academy and to my classmates who have allowed me to study with them over the past two years.
Thank you very much for taking 15 minutes of your valuable time to listen to this presentation.
Supplementary Information
Mr. Hayami of Hayami Forestry, a special advisor to the Mie Forestry Academy, asked me a question after my presentation at the Academy, and I regret that I did not respond well.
Question from Mr. Hayami
What kind of forest body shape are you aiming for?
The answer I gave here was that we are aiming for mixed needle mixed forests, but to be precise, we want to manage commercial timber species to increase the economic value of natural forests, while at the same time, we want to cultivate the mountains with the production of NWFP in mind.
How do you ensure the productivity of tree nuts and other products?
In Japan, they are considered special-purpose forest products, but overseas they are considered non-wood products (NWFP) and tend to be actively traded in tropical forests. Some of them have been improved and are now cultivated as agricultural crops. We are currently exploring the possibility of applying examples of special-purpose forestry products, which are now generally distributed as commodities, but which were first collected as nuts and other products and secured productivity after a trial and error process.
