Mr. Ogose Haruo, the owner of the tea plantation, told me about the work he does at his tea garden.
The First Harvest Is Dedicated To The Nature Gods.
Only at the beginning of the first tea harvest, we pick the tea by hand.
It is for offering to the nature gods.
The rest of the harvest is done by machine.
Harvesting tea by hand is a tough and hard task. If we had to do the harvesting by hand, the price of tea would be much, much higher.
ea harvesting, photographed by Mr. Ogose. The top row is picked by machine and the bottom row by hand.
But The Air Is Clean And The Work Fun.
However, harvesting tea by machine is not an easy task.
My tea garden is located in the mountains and the ground is not flat. If I stumble during the harvesting process, I will end up harvesting extra things.
The blades of a tea cutter are sharp like surgical scalpels and can be very dangerous.
We work in pairs, breathing together, to harvest the tea using a machine.
While harvesting tea, you cannot see your feet, and if you are not used to it, some people may sprain or strain their legs.
Also, we all sweat a lot during the work. During the harvest, we prepare several changes of clothes.
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