Something we hadn't gotten a chance to do since living in Misawa, but that I always wanted to check out, was Nanbu Town. A whole town of farmers growing lots of fruits that can be picked year round. Well depending what is in season, of course. Less than an hour away from where we live, this activity seemed perfect for our first day in Misawa.
We arrived at the Vistor's Center and discovered our only fruit picking option for the day was peaches. No problem!
So we waited for the farmer to come and meet us at the center and then we followed him to his farm for peach picking.
Mind you we speak little to no Japanese, so this was an interesting experience. Of course we didn't understand what we were supposed to do, but we saw baskets so we decided to just start picking. See the knives there? That is an important piece of information here. We were supposed to pick what we wanted to eat sitting there. The knives were so we could cut the peaches. Having never done this before and having only picked fruit in the US where you pick to take home, we had no idea we only picked what we would eat. Oops!
But as you can see we certainly had fun in the process (and we paid for the extra peaches we picked and took home- still a bargain in the long run since they cost nearly $4 each in the commissary). For 500 Yen a person you can pick and eat all that you can handle (and for an extra 1000 yen, about $10 US, you can take a good amount home!).
Here is my sister having fun picking peaches.
My sister and husband picking.
Mmmmm
Tons of peaches!
After we finished at the farm we decided to see what was around in the area. We found a tree lined road which used to have a thousand pine trees lining it.
This torri gate marked a special landmark.
This is the sign with info about the really old tree that remains from the pines that were here.
Here is that tree. It is the only one that remains.
Here I am with my sister. It would have been better if there weren't so many bugs.
The next sight to see on this road was a tree known as the Grandfather Cedar.
There it is up in the background.
Then we headed to the temple, which is over 700 years old. This is known as Hokoji Temple.
Lots of trees all around and a very tranquil setting.
It's hard to see but there is a 3 story pagoda behind the temple building.
Lots of bonsai trees.
The bridge from another angle, as we were leaving.
On the way home we tried out a different route, which was fortunate for us because we discovered a bakery that was new to us. And boy was this a good one!
Hello fresh cream puffs!
Kabocha pie
Cookies
Strawberry baked donuts
Then we headed home to do something with all these peaches.
We decided on a cobbler and thought rhubarb would be a nice addition. I found a recipe online that looked simple and quick, which is what we needed.
Lots of peaches!
Here is the peach and rhubarb ready to get topped.
The topping called for just adding cake mix on top...
and then butter and cream cheese.
YUM! I think we need to make cobble more often. Especially with fresh fruit. And I will definitely go fruit picking more often in the future, especially now that I know how the whole process works.
QUESTIONS: Have you ever gone fruit picking? What is your favorite kind of cobbler?
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