July was certainly not a quiet month on our small farm in rural Tamba, Japan.

Shizuka started the month with a broken wrist, leaving her temporarily out of action at precisely the point when there was plenty that needed doing. Fortunately, things healed well, and the month gradually became a story of getting back to normal while the farm carried on growing around us.

In this month's farm diary, we plant our azuki crop and discover that the local moles have their own ideas about where the beans should go. The chilli fields go from small plants to being laden with fruit, bringing with them an ongoing battle with shield bugs. Meanwhile, around twenty cucumber plants produce a frankly ridiculous number of cucumbers.

We also look at the work involved in converting our unsuccessful rice paddy into raised growing beds, using azuki and  ...