Bamboo shoot hunting

This weekend I went to the forest plot early in the morning (around 6) to look for and fetch a couple of frogs for my pond. Chika didn't go with because of her hay fever.
When I arrived and was about to turn into the main jungle area I was met by an old guy who was walking his huge dog and had parked his bicycle right at the junction and had just harnessed the dog to the bicycle. (Cool dog who stayed parked together with the bike) I gave him a happy good morning and led my bike past.
As soon as he saw me he asked "Where are you going?"
I answered that I was going into the forest, and walked on as I heard behind me "OK, but be careful."
I assumed he meant all the trees that kept falling down onto the road, so I turned around and said "yeah, it's pretty terrible all these bamboos falling. Better be real careful. Nice dog by the way, how old is it?" trying to change the subject. He told me it was 3 years old and I gave a couple of follow up questions whether it was a boy or girl and complemented it being so big and beautiful, while leading me bicycle into the forest.
Well, at least there are people around here. Good to know. Parked my bike next to my plot and took the tupperware I had with me and went into the other forest plot 100 meters from there where I had seen tiny frogs jump around every time before. 5 minutes of searching with no luck. I was pretty sure I would find them right away, but apparently they were hiding, and I was not gonna start lifting logs to find them. Lots of garden work waiting, so I turned to go back to my bike and was surprised by the old guy who had stalked me there apparently... It was pretty far from where he had parked his dog.
"What are you looking for?". Not looking for inquisitive old farts, that's for sure. But I got the feeling that he feels like he is the jungle security guy so I let him. After all, it is good to have free guard service with their eyes open on your forest plot. Although I felt like he was asking me all these questions because strange foreigner. Lucky me he didn't call the cops.
I didn't tell him to fuck off and take his questions elsewhere, and that he was trespassing in my land. In fact I didn't even tell him I own the forest plot.
"Ah, just looking for some frogs. They're not coming to my pond so I came to get a couple to it."
Following this was a torrent of rude questions about what country I was from, where I lived, if I lived alone etc to which I didn't really answer. He pretty much ended up asking for my address, but I just told him I was from Sweden and live five minutes bike ride from here. And was about to have enough of his questions when he apparently got tired and walked away. I suspected that maybe he is the owner of the neighboring plot to whom I had been planning to talk about buying, so I shouted after him "By the way, do you know who the owner of this here land is?", pointing to the next plot. He said that he did and gave me his name, I asked him if he knew if the guy was interested in selling, and this brought new interest into the old guy who turned back and right away started gossiping about the owner, to me who he absolutely didn't know. I guess he wasn't being rude with his questions, just being old and maybe shocked to see a foreigner in the jungle who could talk.
So I took the opportunity to find out as much as I could about the land owner by chatting to him but gradually got the feeling that all he know is the owner's name, and that the rest is made up. He did kind of look a bit soft in the head.
He told me that each of the plots, including the ones I owned, and the public road next to them are all owned by the same guy. "Oohhhh... really? Interesting." was my reaction and started looking for a way to cut off the conversation and not waste more time.
"And he is absolutely not interested in selling because he is." and here he formed a ring with his thumb and index finger and held it near his pocket. That is the sign for money, so I guess he meant that the guy is rich and doesn't need to sell. "Oh, too bad. Oh well. Back to frog hunting." was my answer. But oh no, he needed to know what I was planning to do with the land if I bought it.
Oh, all right, I told him what and he said too bad, but the owner is not selling. OK, bye.
Walking back to my bike I kept my eyes to the ground in case I saw a frog, but none. Instead I did see a couple of bamboo shoots coming out which I kicked to oblivion. So the bamboo season has now started.
On my way back home I thought to myself how naive these neighborhood "guards" are to think that they can spot and stop someone who is up to something strange by asking straight and simple questions. I mean if anyone actually is there to do... I don't know what, he probably makes up a solid story beforehand just in case. Well, I suppose they are so honest themselves that they think everyone, even shady people are as honest.
Rest of the day I didn't get much gardening done because we had real strong winds which almost felt like typhoon.
The next day I thought I should go back to the forest, cut some bamboos and get rid of as much shoots as possible, to eventually reduce the bamboo and be able to make an orchard... I also took with me the tupperware just in case.
No old farts this morning. I cut and cleaned about 5 more huge bamboos and got real tired. I did spot a green frog on a leaf, which I caught and put in the tupperware. After that, I went for the shoots.

Hard to spot

I went through the whole plot and dug up all the shoots I could find.

dig a bit around it, and then cut it with a single blow

It was pretty fun actually. Too bad I can't eat the stuff myself without feeling weird. But Chika likes them and I suppose my neighbors too.

This was all the Takenoko I found in one morning.

My bike tipped over when I loaded its basket with the huge bag of shoots, and the tupperware with the frog also fell out and opened and the frog ran away so I had to chase and catch it again. I leaned the bike towards a tree while going one extra last round to see if I could find more frogs.

These I kept. The rest went to the neighbors who got real real happy

No more frogs, but I did see a kei truck driving from the other end of the forest and parking next to the plot in the middle of my two plots. An old guy (not as old and farty as the yesterday one) came out with a bag and a shovel in his hands and headed into the forest. He didn't see me so I thought I should take the lead this time with stupid questions. I walked over to him as he just started getting ready to dig out a bamboo shoot in the plot next to mine. "Good morning, wow, are you takenoko hunting?" I asked with a smile. He said that he was cleaning out the bamboos. I asked him if he knew the owner of the plot and he said he does, and gave me the same name as I got the day before. He said he was working for the owner to keep his plot clean of bamboos. Oh...So this is how it was kept so well maintained.

clean the crap and cut the end a bit

I told him that if he wanted bamboo shoots for eating, he is welcome to use my plot. Indirectly telling him that I was the owner of the bamboo forest next to us. He lit up and said "Oh, so you are the owner? Oh, please give me give me." I wasn't sure what he meant so I asked, and he said please let me clean your forest of new shoots. "How much will that cost to maintain it clean?" I asked. He said he does it for free. I guess he sells the shoots so it is win-win. I thanked him and asked him to please do my plot too. If I ever want shoots for myself, the forest is still full of them unless I put mulch on top.

cut it into half. looks yummy. Oh why can't I eat you?

So my plan is to let the guy keep shoots at bay, while I gradually cut the existing bamboos. Once I have cut them all, I will cover the whole plot with cardboard and that should be the end of it. He told me he lived very near (he actually pointed and showed me his home) and I told him where I lived. Talking to him was much nicer... maybe cause he already knew I was not some random guy but owned the land. I did ask him if the owner seems interested to sell, and he gave me a bit of background on the plots. Apparently from beginning all these plots were one, owned by the same guy. I guess that is the time before the old guy of yesterday lost his mind. The owner divided the plots and gave half to his wife. Then they separated and she sold them and a bank got them and changed the type to forest, and then I bought it from its new owner who was a real estate guy.

cut the outer leafs and clean the heart out. Much smaller now

The old guy told me that the owner would probably not sell, and even if he did, the type of land cannot be owned by me as it is registered as farm, which I knew. Oh, well. The plots I already have are way too big for me now anyway. So let's start with them and see what can be done.
Fun fact, the old guy actually told me his name, so we were introduced properly. And he said that his sister lives just a few houses away from ours. Small town huh.

And this is all the takenoko, cleaned and ready to boil

I released the green tree frog in my pond, it swam a bit, and hung out at the edge for a while, and then escaped. I guess the frogs have to come willingly by themselves.