Sapporo Sato-Land Farm Park

For the past three weeks or so, Fiona and I have been trying to get together with Yoko, the wife of Jason's host at Hokkaido University. Not long after we arrived, she offered to take Fiona and I out for some site-seeing, but between our visit from Anthony and Allyson and Fiona's recent fever, we just finally managed to make it happen yesterday. Yoko had asked if there was anywhere specific we wanted to go, but figuring she probably knew about the best places to go, I asked her to pick our destination. Boy did she deliver!

Yoko picked us up at our apartment and told us she'd decided to take us to Sato-Land. It sounded vaguely familiar to me from all of my reading about Sapporo, but we had no idea how much fun we were in for - what a special place! I'll quote from their brochure because they sum it up well:

Under the themes of "interaction between people, farming and nature" and "coexistence of city and farming," Sato-Land provides comprehensive support for urban farming in Sapporo through its service where visitors can relax and enjoy hands-on farming and nature experimented in the beautiful greenery of the park.

No sooner than we had arrived, did Fiona set eyes on this amazing playground:

Her favoite? The zip-line!

I can attest to the fact that it was good fun!

Also bringing out the kid in me - this great slide:

There were also lots of rope climbing courses:

Yoko was the most amazing travel buddy for the day - she navigated the park expertly, figuring out what time different activities would take place so we could make sure to not miss anything. Knowing the gardens were opening soon for veggie picking, we wrapped up our playground play to make our way over to the gardens. It's a pretty big park and the walk to the veggie picking area wasn't insignificant, so we decided to rent bikes for the trip over. But, the plan for bike rental was quickly abandoned as soon as we spotted this sweet ride as an option! It was good for some serious laughs, but definitely not the most efficient mode of transportation...

I'm pretty sure veggie picking wouldn't have happened had Yoko not been there to negotiate it for us. There was a lot of conversation about it - not of which I followed - before we could get started.

But finally, the gate to the greenhouses were opened and in we went. First we picked yellow, orange, and red grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. How about the size of these plants?! I wish I could grow  tomato plants that looked half as healthy.

Next we picked cucumbers. Again, I was amazed by the plants. I'm definitely doing something wrong in my garden at home.

Feeling the prickles...

Helping Yoko cut a zuccihni. I was ready to pick a few myself so Fiona and I could make some zucchini bread, but just in time I remembered I don't have an oven to cook it in!

Once we'd finished our harvest, we hopped back in our buggy to pedal our way back across the park. Half way there Fiona yelled, "Mommy! Look!! Look!!" She was so excited to spot more of these bouncy hemispheres that are, as it turns out, pretty common here according to Yoko. She was surprised to hear we'd never seen them in the US. Of course we had to make a pit stop so Fiona could have a bounce.

We had to make it a quick bounce on this particular day because we had another fun activity Yoko had arranged - butter making lessons! Here's Fiona with our supplies. In front of her is a jar of fresh cream mixed with cold water.

Translated directions for Fiona and I:

The first step - shake hard for 10 minutes - was initially taken on with a gusto.

But I was quickly offered a very long turn.

It was pretty cool to watch the jar go from coated in the think white cream to this - separated into butter and water - in literally one shake!

Once we got to this stage, we rinsed the butter with ice water three times.

Then poured it into a bowl to strain out any remaining water.

We had to press the spatchula into the butter as hard as we could over and over again to squeeze out any excess water.

Finally, we mixed in a little salt.

Finally, we tasted the freshes, most delicious butter I've ever eaten!

We worked up an appetite with all that shaking and decided to reward ourselves with some ice cream. In my opinion, Yoko's "milk" flavored soft serve was the winner of the three flavors we tried.  Fiona had some very chocolately-chocolate with chocolate chips (she loved it!). In my continued efforts to try everything local that I can, I ordered the katsugen ice cream. Yoko did her best to explain katsugen as a kind of yogurt-like drink that's really only popular in Hokkaido. The flavor was both sweet and slightly lemony. Not bad, but not as good as the milk flavor.

As we were eating our ice cream, Fiona spotted a whole section of the park we hadn't explored yet - the farm animals! Once again Yoko made Fiona's day by getting her set up with a horse ride and a carriage ride. Seriously, it was a 6-year-old's dream day!

If I'm being honest, I don't know who had more fun at Sato-Land, Fiona or me! It was such a fun place made even better by the fact that we had Yoko to help us navigate the activities AND I got the rare luxury of adult conversation for day.

After more than five hours of fun, we were all exhausted. When Fiona and I got home, we were excited to have a dinner composed largely of our spoils from the day.

Perfect end to a perfect day! Needless to say, Fiona is already asking when we can go on an adventure with Yoko again. Thank you Yoko!