Go Out! The Answer Is at the Farm

II. The Romance of Field and Furrow

In the farm courtyard there is an open-air washing station. It is a bit like an office pantry or a village square, and it serves an important social function. When there are plenty of people about, ten or so will gather at the washing station in the morning — sometimes farm workers, sometimes students and teachers from study camps. New faces keep joining, and everyone greets the rising sun with a “Good morning.”

“Morning!” “Morning!” — the calls rise and echo in all directions, and this is my favourite moment of the day. Every day is new, just like the sunrise and sunset. Every day deserves to be taken seriously; yesterday’s joys and sorrows are all turned over.

I like wearing light-coloured clothes, I have a habit of sitting on the ground, and I often duck into the vegetable garden, so practically every outfit that has been out in the field is stained with grass juice or vegetable juice. At first I would scrub them out carefully, but after a while I simply stopped bothering. And why not? What wonderful patterns — all gifts from nature. Tie-dye is all the rage online these days, and mine are made entirely from all-natural dyes. I ought to treasure them properly.

Then an artist came to the farm. One day, while I was making prune jam, he specifically asked me to save a little of the juice for his painting. Come to think of it, our farm’s palette is incredibly rich: prune purple, apricot yellow, tomato red, mint green… It reminds me of the young onion, kakitsubata (iris) and ochikuri (fallen chestnut) shades from Japanese Traditional Colours. Truly the romance of field and furrow.

In the evening, while simmering apricot jam, I was drawn by a purple sky and ran out to watch the sunset; at night, while washing up, I would look up to see the stars glittering, and the Milky Way too, and dash out to the courtyard with my toothbrush still in hand to stare into the distance; sitting on the ground among the endless sand dunes, doing a yoga set, I felt the world cradling me gently.

In mid-June last year, Alxa welcomed its first rain. The moment the raindrops touched the earth, it was as if a current shot through me, and every fibre came alive — I was dancing with joy, stamping my feet, because we are so desperately short of water! I ran out into the sandy soil to check on the saxaul; after several great sandstorms in spring, they could finally have a good, long soak. Then I dashed over to the foxtail millet field, stood on the bund and looked all around: across more than a thousand mu, no one else in sight. Pea-sized raindrops struck my face until I could barely open my eyes; with nothing to break the wind, a force 5–6 gust blew straight through from chest to back. The sky went dark, and the wind howled.

At first there was fear, but excitement soon won out. Celebrating alone wasn’t enough of a rush, though, so I ran back to the yard and called out to fellow intern Zhang Bin, dragging him along to take photos in the field. We laughed the whole way, snapping away — being wild children once again, what pure joy! This sudden downpour washed away some of my delicacy. Accustomed to life in steel-and-concrete rooms, I had always assumed I couldn’t cope. But in truth, I am far more capable than I give myself credit for. When faced with changes in the environment you cannot control, don’t rush to doubt yourself or blame the circumstances. Let it happen, then find your way through — because we are, after all, part of nature. That is what Alxa taught me.

IV. “Together, We Guard the Land and the Table.”

Desert melons are the main cash crop at Zhiliangtian Farm. Every year in July and August, the melons ripen and go to market, sold primarily online to customers across the country.

We are often asked: why are your melons so expensive? Admittedly, to the average buyer, a melon that looks much the same as anyone else’s costs twice as much at ours.

What they don’t see is the enormous investment in labour and resources that Zhiliangtian makes to protect the environment and restore the ecosystem. The melons are fed with clean sheep dung from the pasturelands and green manure grown on the farm itself, and weeds are pulled by hand three times a year. Only one melon is kept on each vine; where others might sell four to five thousand jin per mu, we produce just twelve hundred.

Yet even those twelve hundred jin must first pass a magpie “inspection”, then a hand-sorting, and survive the jolting of courier delivery before arriving safely in a consumer’s hands — truly the very finest fruit in every melon patch. Such melons boast a richer flavour, a gentler footprint on the land, and greater benefit to health. Eating is an agricultural act, and every purchase is a vote. I hope more and more consumers will come to recognise the environmental and agricultural stories behind their food, and support producers who truly farm in harmony with nature.

V. Go Out — the Answer Is on the Road

Here in Alxa, I have seen the grandeur of “Lone smoke rises straight above the vast desert; the setting sun hangs round over the long river”, and I have come to feel the truth of “Where the heart finds peace, there is home”. When I first read those lines they were beautiful, or profound — words on a page. But here, in the open field, they have settled into every breath I take, indelible now. Thank you, food, for guiding me here. How grateful I am for this encounter.

 

Foodthink Author | Old Man of the Farmstead

A slow-food devotee, a life on the move; weeding in the field and cooking are my surefire ways of unwinding. I chose the pen name “Old Man of the Farmstead”, dreaming of being a neighbour to Dongpo Jushi.

About the Ecological Farm Internship Programme

Foodthink’s second Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme is now accepting applications, with the deadline just two days away! In 2022, eighteen young people from diverse backgrounds took part in the first round, heading to twelve ecological farms across the country to complete internships lasting from three months to a year. We hope these farms will be able to distil their invaluable experience in farm management, production techniques, marketing and outreach, so that young people hoping to return to the countryside and pursue ecological agriculture have something to draw on. In turn, interns with varied skills can contribute their strengths, bring fresh energy to the farms, and lower the learning curve and cost of trial and error should they later start their own ventures back in their hometowns. If you too dream of returning to the land and farming in harmony with nature, fill out the application form now!

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs in this article were taken by the author.

Editor: Ze’en