Shearing sheep n racing pigs

It felt like we were in a countryside either in Australia or New Zealand. We wish. It was Maza Bokucho (Mother Farm) in Chiba but it was fun anyway. We had actually planned to pick strawberries there but arrived too late (the lady said, "come by nine a.m. and you'd have a good chance of getting into the greenhouse"... yeah right... that means leaving home at 7am! I love strawberries but I love sleep better ;) ). They have a daily limit of the number of people who pick the stawberries so that there'll be enough strawberries to go around every day.

The land was vast. Cows were grazing, sheep were begging for food, bunnies burrowing, and ducks laying eggs. There were pig races and dog shows. People get to try their hand at milking cows, bungee jumping and riding horses. Lots of flowers and a few fruit orchards (strawberries, blueberries and kiwis mainly). There is even an amusement park for those who don't like feeling they are in a farm for an entire day. Minori had a time of her life!

We thought it wouldn't be crowded because it was the final day of the Japanese fiscal year. Although it's the school vacation, fathers would be too busy at work to bring their families to the farm, we thought. We got half of it right. Fathers probably stayed in the office to close off the fiscal year. Kids arrived in throngs with mommy and grandparents.

It's great bringing up children here in Japan.