Surrounded by the flourishing verdure at Herb Chikura, Hiromi Sasaki could not be more in her element.
While leading a small tour group through her lushly fragrant farm located along the southeastern coast of the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, Sasaki instructs her guests in what sound like advanced lessons in botany. She might invite them to nibble on fresh raspberry or shiso (perilla leaf) as they meander through the winding paths. She might then parse the textural and flavor differences between her several varieties of sage and mint, or explain the subtle seasonal changes in particular herbs and plants from among the more than 100 she grows. Whatever her mood, you’re bound to learn something.
Sasaki's extensive collection includes numerous varieties that are difficult to find elsewhere in Japan: black hollyhock, turmeric, bergamot, pomegranate and ginger, just to scratch the surface. Visitors to Herb Chikura are free to explore the garden — which is categorized into sections by use, including plants for tea, cooking, aromatic decoration and medicinal healing — and pick a bag of fresh herbs to take home.
“Plants like sugina (field horsetail), tanpopo (dandelion), dokudami (chameleon plant) and yomogi (Japanese mugwort) are often regarded as bothersome weeds,” Sasaki says. “But, in fact, grandmothers have been picking and eating them in Japan for generations.”
Sasaki says she wasn’t always so country-minded. In 2008, she was working as an accountant in central Tokyo when she felt a calling to leave the rat race and make a drastic life change. So, she took a risk and moved to rural Chiba, inspired by the concept of “han-nōu han-X” (“half agriculture, half X”) — a term popularized by environmentalists that encourages people to live sustainably by combining farming with another interest or skill.
Today, Sasaki presides over perhaps her proudest achievement, Herb Chikura, where she invites those who share her interest in the natural world to have the full sensorial experience of walking among the herbs in her garden while being treated to her raft of knowledge on the topic. Working as an organic farmer, herbalist and massage therapist (the “X” part of the han-nō han-X lifestyle), she has become largely self-sufficient in terms of food by growing her own rice, wheat, soy and an impressive array of vegetables.
Sasaki had previous experience growing food on her small home plot in western Tokyo, but building a life through farming represented a next-level challenge. This required intense self-study, on-the-ground training with local farmers in her new community and, most importantly, hands-on practice.
She gestures toward the tiny bulbs forming on a persimmon tree in the center of her herb garden, which will produce its first harvest this year.
“This baby fruit is the result of many hours of research,” she says. “But, in the end, there are some things that no book can teach you. These plants are alive, and it’s only by getting my hands in the dirt and working with them directly that I have learned to feel them on an energetic level.”
Sasaki’s herb garden was nothing more than an empty lot covered in bamboo roots and tangled bramble when she first began cultivating it. And while she got some help along the way, the process of bringing her vision to life was essentially a solo pursuit. In each of her fields, Sasaki has prioritized natural farming methods: composting, crop rotation, minimal mechanization and absolutely no chemicals.
“As I continued working with the land and the plants, it felt incredibly healing both for me and for the environment, like an ongoing circle of positivity,” she says of the dawning realization that she had found her life’s work. “And the more I experienced the purity of nature, the more I looked back on how artificial my life in Tokyo had felt.”
Eventually, Sasaki decided to share her love for nature with others who have a similar passion — particularly those in need of healing from the stresses of city life, as she herself once was.
“This right here is a superfood,” she tells her Herb Chikura visitors while gesturing toward rows of kikuimo (Jerusalem artichokes).
Packages of chips made from the nutty, earthy kikuimo roots are among Sasaki’s lineup of organic products. Also available are herbal teas, sachets of bath potpourris and white sage, and foods that she grows via traditional hand-cultivated methods at her neighboring field, Happy Farm. These include genmai rice, barley nuggets (which she advises sprinkling atop fresh rice furikake-style), and tender shoots of makomo (Manchurian wild rice). She also partners with local markets and several select area cafes and hotels, all while preparing products for her garden visitors upon advance request.
As if that’s not enough, Sasaki also has an online shop in the works. Being a one-woman operation, however, her business remains small-scale — and she is clear that this is by choice.
“My relationship with the plants is a direct one, and I want to prioritize this at all levels — whether it’s by limiting visitors to individuals or small groups to preserve the quiet spirit of the garden,” she says, “or by focusing on sales of my products to individuals who share my vision and with whom I have a close connection, rather than turning it into a formal business.”
Sasaki’s social media accounts are also brimming with her accumulated wisdom. Posts might show her daily morning smoothie of banana, sweet fennel and black peppermint (with some salad burnet occasionally thrown in for extra bite), as well as tips on zero-waste farming and cooking, such as using wheat straw as mulch, repurposing food scraps to create umami-rich tsukudani paste, and repurposing fallen flowers as home decorations.
She also occasionally holds workshops and collaborative events with other gardeners, herbalists and chefs. Recent topics have included cultivating lemongrass, creating tinctures with medicinal herbs such as Saint John’s wort, and a cooking event with a local cafe that featured Thai gapao rice made with sprigs of her holy basil.
“One can easily buy packaged herbs, but the experience of seeing, smelling, touching and tasting them in their raw and wild natural environment is incredibly powerful,” she says. “The climate here along the coast is perfect for growing herbs, and the ocean air makes them even more potent.”
To Sasaki, immersing oneself in nature is a vital experience that is becoming more important each day as the modern world tilts ever further from its roots.
“The wisdom of nature is perfect,” she adds. “It gives us exactly what we need, at the exact timing that we need it.”
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