“Konan Agream”, the facility for agricultural exchange and experience

“Konan Agream,”a facility for agricultural exchange and experience, is located in Konan-cho, Takamatsu City in Kagawa, and is close to Takamatsu Airport.
15 kinds of fruits and vegetables are cultivated on this farm of 5 hectares, and you can find various kinds of agricultural and cooking experience all year round.

You can feel the full impact of nature when you stand on this land with green as far as you can see.
Today, we experience the harvesting of sweet potatoes and kaki (persimmons), which is the taste of autumn here.

Feeling the season through the harvesting experience

There are 2,500 Naruto Kintoki plants(a kind of good tasting sweet potato) in the field, and I dig the soil under the instruction of Mr. Hayashi, one of the Konan Agream staff members.
One of the important points is to dig carefully and avoid harming the sweet potatoes with the tip of farm tools.

I could find these vivid sweet potatoes shortly after we started digging.
Their beautiful crimson color tells us the season of autumn is here.

Only 2 plants have given us so many sweet potatoes…!
You can bring them home with you, so enjoy thinking about how you will cook or eat them.

My next experience is harvesting kaki (persimmons) at the kaki farm.
The kind of kaki I harvested is called “Fuyu-gaki,” one of the representative kinds of sweet kaki in Japan, and it is well known for its characteristic beautiful orange color and strong sweetness.
Mr. Hayashi tells me which ones are good to harvest, and I cut the stemswith a scissors.

Mr. Hayashi told me “Just eat it. It’s delicious!” so I just bit it without peeling it or anything.
The texture was pretty crispy, and the taste was simple, but I was surprised at its steady sweetness.
Mmmmm, I couldn’t stop eating it, and I don’t know how many kakis I can eat…!

Let’s try making handmade Sanuki Udon!

There are many more experiences you can try here.
Actually there are 6 kinds of cooking experiences at “the handmade workshop building,” such as making pizza, sausages, Udon, pounding mochi (rice cakes), and so on.
Maybe it is pretty hard for you to choose one…!

In my opinion, the “Teuchi (handmade) Udon making experience” will be the most interesting one because you can experience making Udon directly from wheat flour!
It should be special 2 hours for you to make it, and of course, to eat it.
You mix the flour and knead the dough with your hands, and moreover, you even step on the dough to make proper Sanuki Udon.

After 20-30 minutes, you can see the familiar shape of Udon after cutting!
Now, it is ready to be boiled and served.

You will be surprised at the chewy but smooth texture of Sanuki Udon!
You can choose “zaru-udon” (chilled and eaten by dipping into sauce) or “kake-udon” (warm and noodles in soup), and served with freshly fried “kakiage” tempura (mixed vegetables) and a special ice cream! WOW!
In the wintertime (between November and March), you can also experience making “Shippoku Udon” (warm Udon with simmered vegetables), a specialty dish in Kagawa Prefecture.

One more fun experience in the field here is feeding goats, which are the mascots of Konan Agream.
They are so cute and will definitely make you smile.

The fruits and vegetables you can harvest will differ from the season to season, and you can have various kinds of farm products, such as bamboo shoots, onions, blueberries, cumquats (Chinese oranges), and so on.
Therefore, anytime you come, you can enjoy harvesting something here.
Besides the harvesting experience, you can try many of other programs, like “experience of making a bamboo container”, or “experience of sowing seeds of vegetables and flowers”.
We recommend you visit the nature-filled “Konan Agream” a sunny holiday with your family or friends, to stretch your bodies and minds.

Photographs and text by Megumi Yamada