Summer arrives, and with it, another season for watermelon. Watermelons are inseparable from summer, just as the farmers behind the fruit evolve alongside their crop. Wherever there is land, you will find the watermelon farmers of Taizhou. Their history of enterprise dates back to the 1980s, forming another chapter in…
Last April, I arrived at Baicao Garden through Foodthink’s ecological agriculture internship programme. In Wule Town, Guigang City, Guangxi Province, where we were based, almost everything outside of Baicao Garden is chemical-based agriculture. On the drive into town, the sight of people spraying herbicides is a constant presence. I remember…
I. Returning to 2011 The reserve’s shuttle stopped by the side of a narrow concrete road, flanked by karst limestone mountains that seemed strangely familiar. We passed through a sugarcane grove; in fact, countless bare stone peaks in the area are surrounded by sugarcane. Unlike the black-purple skin of fruit…
As the twelfth lunar month approaches, the ultimate comfort food for people in Shaanxi is a simple bowl of mixed noodles: red-hued wide wheat noodles from Yan Gui Qing, oil-splashed chilli made from Qin peppers, and a topping of minced pork sauce made from mountain-roaming pigs—the true finishing touch. Every…
In mid-April, driven by a desire to learn how to run a farm, I arrived at the Letian Haiwan Farm in Shanghai. Before I knew it, my internship had come to an end after living and working here with my colleagues. Before I left, they asked if I still wanted…
Search for ‘rainforest trekking’ on Xiaohongshu and you’ll find countless bloggers using phrases like ‘primitive’, ’embraced by nature’, ‘off the grid’, and ‘organic vitality’ to describe the emotional resonance the rainforest provides. In September 2024, my friends and I also travelled to a tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna. There, the embrace…
Not long after moving to Kunming, I found a restaurant that I felt I simply had to share with my friends: Tusheng Shiguan. Now in its fourteenth year, it has earned a modest reputation in the city. Tucked away in a creative park on a steep slope, the ingredients and…
Starting an organic sourdough bakery was not a whim. In order to provide my family with quality carbs, I spent several years learning how to make sourdough using a natural wild yeast starter. Over those years, I often gave loaves to friends or brought them along to potluck dinners, where…
I. An Unexpected Village Party Secretary “Ecological farming?” Fan Hanquan, who had his back to us, suddenly turned around. “I want to try it.” I was slightly surprised. It was 23 February 2022. I remember it so clearly because since I entered E-Ren Valley in 2021, he has been the…
Editor’s Note I first met Jiang Ziqi at a book fair in Hangzhou in 2023, where she invited the Farmer Seed Network to give a talk on seed saving. At the time, I learned that she and some of her partners in Hangzhou cultivated their own small vegetable gardens and…
