You can see so many ume trees along the shore of Mikata Five lakes. It’s estimated that there are 70,000 ume trees in this area. Ume is the key products and has shaped the unique culture here.
June is the harvest season of Ume and the sweet smell spreads out all over the area. You see many farmers or helpers picking up Ume everywhere.
In picking up, poeple use ladder and yellow bag in the picture below. That’s the typical style for picking. Ume tree is not so tall so we can do it without ladder sometimes.
Picked up Ume is being gathered and separated by the quality. Some of them have damage on the surface. Good ones goes to JA : Japan Agriculture, and are sold as raw ume for plum sake or Umeboshi. Farmers are literally busy because they have to pick up before ume fruit ripen and fall down. So if you are interested in picking up, please join us! Let’s do it!
