Japanese August 22, 2005: A joint meeting
	Oita GOF's Wasada Branch is located in the western suburbs of Oita city. We have some members in Oita county as well. Today, we had a joint meeting of Wasada and Kujuu branches at a farmer's house in Shounai district.
The meeting site was on the hill slope from national route #210. Cool breeze blows up from the valley under the sight..
	Korean morning glory grows up at the terrace.
So many lovely red flowers enjoy early autumn sunlight.
	Unusual flowers were everywhere.
It is called Nata-pea, they say. The size would be about 20 centimeters, good for cropping.
	The leaves of the pea were large enough to make a good shade. Today's lunch was already under cooking in the kitchen.
We were asked to pick up cucumbers to be served in the lunch. They were really fresh and beautiful.
	What was the white pillow-like fruit? It is called Tougan, or winter melon. It will grow larger soon, the farmer said. Compare the size of it with the cucumber we have just picked up.
Around the farm were beautiful flowers like this, called Tora-no-O, or "Flower tiger tail."
	Hatsuyukisou, or "The first snow flower."
A neighbor came in. He is the teacher of pear growing.
	This Shounai area is a production site of Japanese pear. He started to grow pear for the first time in this area, Ms. Aso explained to us.
He is a strong supporter for Ms. Aso whose parents became too old to grow pear. She is still learning how to grow pear. She explained us about the actual process of pear growing, checking, and shipping.
	Homemade lunch was really fantastic.
We-were-there-picture of the day.
	After the afternoon talk, we visited pear field nearby.
More than 50 pear plants hold much fruit already.
	It was hard after all to test the fruit by tapping outside paper bags. We tore the bag a little to check the growth of the fruit and then picked some of them.
Today's souvenir was Shounai pear called "Kousui." It was very juicy and sweet. We have had a pleasant meeting today.
	Reported by Nagano