Let's go, Minami-horo, enjoy vegetables! Team "Noen" formed by young people in Minami-horo

Noen" is a team formed by young people in their 20s and 30s, mainly farmers living in Minami-horo Town, Hokkaido, but also town hall employees, cram school instructors, and others in various capacities.

Image courtesy of Nozaru

The team's mission is to make children growing up in Minami-horo feel that "farming is cool" and "farming is fun," and they are taking on new challenges, such as experiencing farming and developing processed products, centering on the summer festival "Yasai" held in Minami-horo.

Yasai" T-shirt image courtesy of Nozaru

It has been six years since the "Nozaru" group was formed.

A teacher who had taught me judo since I was a little kid asked me if I could do something interesting in town," he said. I talked about it with my friends who often get together for drinks, and we agreed that we wanted to work as a free group that transcended the boundaries of various jurisdictions, such as the youth club of the agricultural cooperative, the youth organization of Minami-horo Town, the town office, and the agricultural cooperative.

The activities of "Nozaru" are all about making Minami-horo fun, delicious, and interesting to the fullest. Let's take a closer look at their activities.

The "Yasai," a festival to enjoy Minami-horo to the fullest

In 2016, the first activity after the formation of Nozaru was a festival called "Yasai. In addition to the sale of first-class vegetables such as pure whites and tomatoes produced in Minami-Horo-cho, which are not readily available in the town, the festival also includes an exhibition of the latest tractors, tractor test-rides, tractor tug-of-war, and many other programs that allow children and adults alike to enjoy agriculture from various perspectives.

Flyer for the 4th annual No-Matsuri Image courtesy of Nosaru

The Noh Festival has been held for four years since 2016, with the number of visitors increasing from about 500 in the first year to about 4,000 in the second year, and doubling in the fourth year. a visitor survey in the fourth year revealed that some visitors came from far-flung places.

The 4th "Field Festival" in 2019, image courtesy of Nouzaru.

What was the impetus for the birth of such a No-Matsuri that is loved by people from both within and outside the town?

When we were little, there was a festival called the "Nampolo Rice Festival. It was a very fun festival that attracted a lot of people and had interesting programs such as a "muddy cycle race" in which participants rode their bicycles across a narrow board that was passed over the rice paddies for a prize. We started a festival called "Nosai" while talking about how we thought it would be good to have such a fun festival in the town, and how we wanted people to eat first-class vegetables and learn about the charm of farmers.

At first, the "No-Maru" was formed by eight young farmers, but after two or three years of activities, the group was joined by town hall employees, cram school instructors, and other farmers who said, "I want to do it, too. The group of people who want to convey the charms of agriculture and the town have gathered together to create an interesting movement in the town.

Image courtesy of Nouzaru

The 2020 and 2021 editions of "Corona Disaster" will be held on a reduced scale, with vegetables sold through a drive-through service!

A light truck in the field? A unique agricultural experience to create a fun and memorable experience in Minami-Horomachi!

The activities of "Noh Monkey" are not limited to just holding the festival. We are also involved in "food education," where people learn about the food of Minami-horo through agricultural experiences.

One day, a friend of ours who sends her children to a nursery school in Sapporo asked us if we could do something about the reduced number of activities at the nursery school due to the Corona disaster.

He said, "The children can't go to Minami-Horomachi, so I asked them to come to the nursery school. So, we decided to put the entire field of corn and cabbage, which were just about to be harvested, on a light truck and take the whole field to the nursery! So we held a "light-truck field trip. We had each person pull a stalk of corn from the field with the light truck, and also cut cabbage with a knife to experience the harvest.

This video shows how it went. The smiles on the children's faces are the best part of the event!

The "Light Tractor Field" led to calls from within the town of Minami-Hororo, who invited children from nursery schools and kindergartens to experience harvesting corn, small tomatoes, cabbage, and other crops, as well as tractor rides and other hands-on programs tailored to the season and age groups.
The program also offers students from Minamihoro High School an agricultural experience every year for the past 3~4 years, including planting rice in May, planting corn seeds in June, weeding and management in July, harvesting in August, and opening a booth at a product exhibition.

Image courtesy of Nouzaru

In addition to their work in agriculture, the farm monkeys also engage in a variety of activities at nursery schools, high schools, and many other places. What are their thoughts behind their nutrition education activities?

I hope that people will remember that there were adults who did such things in Minami-Horono-cho, that the festival was fun, and that Minami-Horono-cho was fun. People are connected to each other and act accordingly. The children of today may become adults and engage in the same kind of activities that will enliven Minami-Horo-cho. I hope that this will be a trigger for them, so I make appearances in various fields.

I think it is the same for everyone, but you only know about vegetables when you see them being sold. I want people to know how they are grown and harvested, so I put a lot of effort into nutrition education.

The members of "Nozaru," who are professionals in agriculture, teach us how to harvest vegetables directly from the fields, and then we harvest them with our own hands and eat them freshly picked. Through such experiences, they learn the fun of farming and develop an appreciation for and interest in vegetables.

Yumepirika is made into donuts and pancakes! Yumepirika rice flour with outstanding sweetness and flavor

In Minamihoro Town, where rice cultivation is flourishing, various varieties of rice are produced, including the Hokkaido brand rice Yumepirika, Nanatsuboshi, and Oborozuki.

We are passionate about the rice we grow here in Minami-Horoshima. The rice flour from Yumepirika was born out of a desire to find a way to make the rice we grew with such passion even more enjoyable.
One of the pastry chefs who produced the Sime Parfait, Chef Oki of "The Recipe for Happiness Suite," was very impressed with the rice flour. He told me that this rice flour had an outstanding rice flavor and sweetness, partly due to the characteristics of the Yumepirika variety. This led to the joint development of doughnuts made from 100% Yumepirika rice flour. Since they are not fried in oil, they are safe for children to enjoy as a snack.

Rice-flour doughnuts image courtesy of Nozaru

When the Corona disaster began, he and Chef Oki worked together to develop a pancake mix using Yumepirika rice flour as a follow-up product to the doughnuts. The main ingredients, rice flour, sugar, and buttermilk powder, are all made in Hokkaido.

Yumepirika pancake mix made with rice flour produced in Hokkaido

When we deal with rice, we often hear about gluten-free products and that there are quite a few children with wheat allergies. When we gave pancake mix as a gift to students at Minamihoro High School, one of them told us, "I usually can't eat pancakes because of my wheat allergy, but with this I can eat them. I was really happy that I had made it. I want people who suffer from wheat allergies to try these pancakes.

Unlike wheat, rice flour has no gluten, so she recommends using a smaller pan or mold when baking. The gentle sweetness of rice that cannot be experienced with wheat flour pancake mixes and the fluffy texture make these pancakes addictive!

I want people from various parts of Hokkaido, not only from Minami-horo Town, to enjoy "Nosai" and Minami-horo Town.

In addition to the No-Matsuri, food education, and product development introduced here, No-Maru is involved in a wide range of activities, involving and being involved with many different people. We asked Mr. Jochi about his future ambitions.

We asked Mr. Joti, "How can we make it more fun while maintaining the basic events and activities? We are always in the process of upgrading our activities by thinking about what we can do to make them more fun. I would be happy if people from all over Hokkaido would come to the event called "Nosai" in Minami-Horomachi! I always want to challenge myself, and since I have children, I want to show them that I am willing to take on new challenges.

I also think that there are various groups of young people who are working to revitalize their towns, and I hope that we can interact with them, not only in Minami-Horo-cho, but also in other towns in Hokkaido, and that we can "join forces with all the young people" to do so. I would like to break down barriers and jurisdictions, and share the fun with everyone.

That's why my ambition is to conquer all the provinces. Laughs.

The members of NOUZARU are always up to something interesting. We look forward to their future activities!