Looking at my dear neighbor, Mr. Yoshizo Sugiyama’s garden this morning I realized that winter was about to fall on us in spite of the prevailing mild weather.

The telltale signs were the fruit and vegetables hung out to dry as the climate will turn very dry and cold enough for such a process.

I know he has a few persimmon/kaki/柿 trees in another plot he’s lent for some time.

Dried persimmons are a typical Japanese delicacy, and they certainly don’t come cheap on the market. It is definitely worth drying them yourself!

The persmmons are first peeled, then a twine is passed through them under their sepals before they are hung to dry.

The fruit will reduce to less than half their size and will be delicious with all their concentrated sugar!

The daikon of the same garden were being for takuan/沢庵 or Japanese pickled daikon!

In spite of their crazy shapes, these dailon will make excellent pickles.

They were first thoroughly washed before being hung.

Beside them you can also freshly hung persimmons and more that are almost completely matured into dry fruit.

The picture shows you how easy to hang the daikon.

Their heavy leaves are used as a counterweight with the result there is not need to secure them with twine.

After the daikon have dried to almost half their size they will be pickled for the whole winter!

The same picture shows you again the persimmons!