Chapter 100
...Mornings begin early on farms in the Tokachi region.
Here in Kamishihoro town, during the busy farming season when potatoes and sugar beets are harvested, preparations begin while it's still dark in the morning, and the people are busy working until late into the night, every day.
As Kenichi explained, "Yui" is a collective effort within a community, so even after the harvest is finished in one's own farm, the members move on to the next farmer's field, continuing to work day after day with almost no break until the harvest is finished on all members' farms.
Potatoes and sugar beets are, so to speak, "living things," so if they are not harvested properly, they will all rot and become unsellable, so this was unavoidable.
The coldness of the mornings in eastern Hokkaido in late September was far beyond Ryosaku's imagination.
Although it is still autumn according to the calendar, it felt like the footsteps of winter were already beginning to sound in the area.
Ryosaku was immersed in unfamiliar work, experiencing the harsh natural environment of the northernmost part of Japan, which was completely different from the Kanto region.
The job assigned to him was to get into the large harvesting machine and pick up all the debris, except for the potatoes, that came up from the '' large conveyor belt '' installed in the center of the vehicle behind the driver's seat, including pebbles and broken stumps that came up from the fields, and throw them into the garbage bucket next to it...Ryosaku's role was to do this kind of '' sorting work.''
As Lisa's father's harvesting machine moved slowly across the vast field, several people stood in a row in front of the conveyor belt, listening to the radio or chatting lightly, busy with this "sorting work."
At first, Ryosaku was so nervous that he worked in silence, but he was unable to sort the stones and garbage coming down the conveyor belt in time, and ended up overlooking them and letting them go by. However, with the support of the other farmers who were working together, and with their warm support and words of encouragement, Ryosaku gradually became accustomed to the work, and eventually he was able to work while chatting happily with them and humming along.
During this "sorting" process, all sorts of things would come up from the fields.
Not only pebbles and wood chips from tree stumps, but also horse "shoes," "bird eggs" of some kind, and rotten, smelly potatoes... all these ridiculous things would sometimes come up on the conveyor belt and cause trouble for Ryosaku and the other members.
These fields where potatoes are grown are originally "poor soil" with lots of small pebbles rolling around, and every year, they come up on the conveyor belt... and even though they do the work every year, the number of them just doesn't decrease, so they're a nuisance.
What's more, Ryosaku had often heard from Kenichi that potatoes were not profitable compared to the yield, so they were a "good deal that wasn't worth it."
...rice has a much higher unit price than potatoes, and is therefore worth more in sales per unit...
Furthermore, on the day that Ryosaku was invited to a welcome party at Lisa's house, hors d'oeuvres including venison and wild boar meat were prepared, but from then on, their regular meals...could not be called "lavish" by any stretch of the imagination, but rather "simple."
"Barley rice," "boiled potatoes," "natto," "stir-fried eggplant," "spinach salad," "tofu"... These were all very simple dishes, and a stark difference from the high-calorie, meat-based, high-fat meals that Ryosaku had been eating at his home in the Kanto region. They were very healthy dishes, yet still had a strict nutritional balance, and were well-thought-out "healthy meals."
"The life of a farmer, Ryosaku-kun... it's not as easy as outsiders make it seem, so remember that."
Ryosaku had often heard about these realistic and harsh realities from Kenichi.
In any case, at first glance, this "simple food" may seem simple and tasteless... but by eating it every day, Ryosaku's physical condition was miraculously improved... and Ryosaku's body began to understand just how "well-thought-out healthy food" these ingredients are.
Even though the work was tough, Ryosaku would spend his days standing up and during "tea time" at 10am and 3pm interacting with the neighboring farmers, chatting with them about stories from his life so far, occasionally cracking a joke, or simply immersing himself in the hard work.
Lisa, on the other hand, would sometimes take time off school for Ryosaku's sake, and even when it was still dark in the morning and the sun had set and everything was shrouded in darkness, she would not go home and would help Ryosaku with the farm work right up to the final stage...working side by side with him, occasionally giving him valuable "advice" or teaching him "tricks of the job."
And so, before Ryosaku realized it, Lisa was always by his side, both at home and on the farm...and thanks to that, Ryosaku never got "homesick" and was able to spend his days at his farm training fulfilling, rich, and educational experiences.
Ryosaku was deeply moved by the honest and sincere heart of Lisa, who had encouraged him so much in City Y, and who had once again bravely supported and encouraged him during this tough farm work internship. Even though he was covered in the dust of the fields, he occasionally shed tears and expressed his gratitude for Lisa's warm and sincere heart. Eventually, his farm internship came to an end.
