Satomi Hirobe is a young woman who runs her own farm, 100 Seeds, just outside Omihachiman in the Shiga Prefecture of Japan. She grows rice, lotus roots, and field crops and makes her own miso and value-added products. She does everything by hand including growing and harvesting lotus root.

When I visited Japan with Stacey Givens of the Side Yard Farm & Kitchen, Lola Milholland of Umi Organics and Kara Gilbert of Vibrant Valley Farm, Satomi let us experience harvesting some of her lotus root.