Previously: A young woman from Taiwan went to the Tanaka family in Miyazaki, Japan, to help with farm work, stepping right into a traditional Japanese farm household and the fields themselves, and wrote a farming diary. [Miyazaki Farming Diary]08 is also the final chapter of the farm notes. How does a citrus grower with an especially long harvest season handle labor allocation under different workloads?

After twenty days of tightly scheduled harvesting of two varieties, Nichinan No. 1 and shizuku (Shizuku of the Sun)two-variety harvest, November 7 finally brought the end of the Nichinan No. 1 harvest. Because Nichinan No. 1 and shizuku are the two main commercial varieties occupying the largest area at the Tanaka family's farm, it must be said that during the simultaneous harvest every day felt like chasing a schedule, hoping to finish this sweet burden as early as possible and mark a stage-ending comma.

On November 7, the Nichinan No. 1 harvest was finished a little after 3 p.m., and even Papa Tanaka was startled by how far ahead of schedule they were. According to his son Nobu, in past years Nichinan No. 1 was usually finished around November 20. Finishing two weeks early (and this year was again a higher-yield year) could be partly credited to the ample manpower this year; at the fullest staffing, Japanese workers plus Taiwanese helpers reached 14 people, enough to split into two harvesting teams.

To read the full "Miyazaki Farming Diary" series, please click here