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Since I Been Gone

Since I been gone / I can breathe for the first time / So I'm trekking on, yeah, yeah / Thanks to you, GROW Externships
-Kelly Clarkson, paraphrasing

    Hello Loyal Readers. Happy New Year(!). What have I missed? Seriously, as far as I can tell it was some pretty uneventful days around the homefront. But, I can hear you all asking: where have you been, Max? Well, I was out of town. Actually, I was out of country - and in Japan!

 
Actually, what a place to spend December 7th...

     So, how did I get there? Although I did ironically visit Matsue - the entire City of which, from the mayor on down, is encouraging learning and building with Ruby - I was unfortunately not brought to Japan for programming reasons. Which is to say - I was, very fortunately, brought to Japan, by a company for other reasons. Specifically: my agricultural skills.

    For those who don't know me, a little background may be of benefit: at one time I was a farmer. I had my own back-forty, flock of chickens, and various projects around the cute little house. I spent time working in the Agricultural sector across several years of my life in two States (Oregon, pictured above, and then in Vermont), before I moved to New York City, where I both grew up and live currently. 
    Growing up with the perspective of a "City Kid," it was indeed eye opening to move into rural areas where, in addition to learning new skills, I would also learn about some of the challenges facing the American agricultural industry - namely, an aging, declining workforce, in addition to any number of environmental obstacles. While I was working in that sector, and connecting with many individuals looking to address those problems domestically, I also connected with one person who was looking to solve those same issues - in Japan!

    It turns out an inordinately high percentage of Japanese nationals, like Americans, live in urban areas. Unique to Japan, their national population statistics are among the oldest in the world. And, where these two meet: many (but not all!) of the youth that do live in the country's rural areas find themselves pursuing the opportunities that made available to them by joining their peers in Cities. Being there, and seeing some of these ramifications (empty houses, derelict fields, closed businesses) up close, it got me into the local mindset of wondering: what can be done about it?

    The Japanese government is not taking this challenge lightly. Before Covid-19 they were already partnering with tourism agencies to entice burnt out urbanites "back" to rural areas. And, although there was some hope that Covid would actually make those same, enticing arguments - starting this year the government has resorted to straight up cash to families who make that same move. Enter into this system my contact and his company: GROW Externships.


From left to right: Yuko Kudo, Avery Peterson, Danielle Clarke, Benet Gennovesi, Max Lerner (Executive Director), Claire Hannum, Max E (me!), and Omori san, local farmer and new owner of the land behind us. Rear-Left: Kana san, filmmaker for local station DojoccoTV.

    Hoping to address at least some of these issues, GROW brings, on a volunteer basis, young scientists looking for professional experience to areas in need of labor for projects. The right-most figure in the above photo, for example, is a full time strawberry farmer - who just found himself with a whole extra plot of land after the cost of repairing an on-site collapsed greenhouse exceeded the value of the land itself. The GROW crew spent several days on the above site (just one of the worksites, on the Winter 2022 trip) clearing overgrown brush and greenhouse debris in the hopes of making the land accessible, and even viable again.
    All of that may be well and good - but how does it affect me, a young technology professional? Well, much like the numbers of urban workers finding themselves drawn to the rural lifestyle, I jumped at the chance to take a step away from the screen and get my hands dirty, offering GROW my services as an Agricultural Consultant. Although it meant some time away from tech, several weeks, several projects, several incredible meals, one new Instagram account, several valuable lessons and several new friends later, I am so grateful to have had the time and the chance to benefit such a dynamic young company with my experience. 
    
    Glad to be back in my own home, glad to be back among my software community. But because I'm not sure of the next time I'll have the chance, I'm also very glad to be able to say: since I've been gone, I've been down on the farm! 

Now...what have I missed?

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