The Swallows around my area have left. Since I started growing vegetables here in Japan, I have always noticed the arrival of the Swallows, as I enjoy seeing them about the sky and I also enjoy hearing them. Sometimes they arrive early, around February, but I have noticed that with each passing year, they arrive in my area of Japan later each year and they depart earlier.

Yes, they leave Japan, they head southwest over to Korea and follow the coastline down for warmer weather during the winter months were they can catch insects on the wing. The swallows that I knew as a boy in the UK, also leave for warmer places in the autumn and they head for Africa. I find bird migration fascinating. As it tells me about the seasons and current climate around me.

This year as a grower of high Nutrional vegetables it has been a difficult one for the plants. Bright Leaf Science uses natural systems, no chemicals are used with in our system.No synthetic fertilizer is used either. Soil structure and soil life is very important to our way of Organic/Regenerative/ Polyculture growing.

We do not disturb the soil very much, we try to keep the soil structure, we promote soil life and care for soil microbes and fungi. Just like you should treat your digestive system. Plants plunge (grow) their roots through the soil and soil microbes connect to their roots and supply needed nutrients in a plant available form.

Animals and humans, eat food and this food/soil travels through the digestive tract and our microbes get to work on breaking it down. So please remember, plants have soil on the outside of their bodies, humans and animals consume their soils and it passes through them.

We do not use harmful NPK fertilizer! We always try to protect the soil surface with a mulch and living plants. Weeds are not weeds, they are not bad plants as they also give benefit to the soil and its life. Weeds are not weeds, they are indicator plants, as these plants will tell you about your soil conditions.

Humans, animals and soil life all need minerals to stay healthy. These days, shop bought food and vegetables are deficient in minerals, because the farmer has been taught that they only need NPK fertilizer and maybe a little calcium every 3 years or so. Bright Leaf Science does not use any chemicals to kill pests, because insects are another indicator of lacking minerals or probably too much chemical Nitrogen in the soil.

Humans suffer disease and sickness when their diet lacks vitamins and minerals. Our vegetable beds (soil) get treated with Seaweeds, Amino acids, Molases, Zinc, Boron, Selenium, Copper, Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, Iron, Sulphur, Cobalt, Molybdenum, so that our customers can be confident that our vegetables are nutrient dense. They also get mixed vitamins to help with stress. Yes, plants can become stressed, from transplant stress, weather stress, insect stress, harvest stress etc.

We also pick crops like tomatoes when they are ripe and ready. Supermarket food comes from around the world and is generally picked early, no doubt you have seen, green unripe bananas in the shop, they lack beneficial nutrients, again your health is not boosted from eating such food.

We also eat the vegetables that we grow and ship. This year, we grew the Korean pumpkin for the first time, hopefully you have all had a chance to enjoy eating it.

A few weeks ago, we had five (5) ladies visit Bright Leaf Science, I was pleasantly amazed at their stamina against the heat of the sun, as they were given a short presentation, the sun was very hot on that day. Also they all watched and saw our wasps, bees and butterflies flying about, as I was worried that they would start flapping about, but everyone just observed which was great.

Article　by　Dale