From City to Satoyama: A Decade of Farming for Two Intellectual Farmers

Have you ever fantasised about escaping the city, returning to your roots to farm, and embracing a pastoral life? Have you ever held romantic notions of a “self-sufficient” existence? But life on the land is far more complex and demanding than we imagine—yet it is also far more moving.

Wen Zizi and Chang Jiaoling are Millennials who graduated from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Starting as complete novices, they spent ten years creating a “Satoyama” in the foothills of the Beijing suburbs: Gaia Worth Garden.

Unlike the remote, untouched wilderness of the deep mountains, a “Satoyama” refers to the “boundary between human settlements (*sato*) and the mountain forests (*yama*)—a transitional zone where humans and nature coexist. On these 30 *mu* of land, they grow vegetables, raise chickens, and provide nature education; they also write books, paint, and make malt sugar. They converse with the land, adapt to climate change, learn from elderly village farmers, and live in symbiosis with the insects, birds, and plants.

Three years ago, they documented their farming life in the book *Rooted, Not Rustic: The Satoyama Life of Knowledge Farmers*, which became a favourite among gardening enthusiasts. This year, they published a new book, *Farming in the Satoyama*, sharing the paths they’ve trodden and the mistakes they’ve made without reservation, while weaving in their profound reflections on nature, ecology, and lifestyle.

Click here to learn more about their first book, *Rooted, Not Rustic*

Our conversation began with this “curry rice made entirely from the mountain”, leading into a discussion on what “Satoyama” actually is, how humans and nature can share a piece of land, and how farmers constantly adapt to the volatility of climate change. Apricots destroyed by hail, autumn crops washed away by rain, French beans failing to fruit, and rice flourishing due to a prolonged rainy season—amidst these uncertainties, they maintain an extraordinary mindset: no use blaming heaven; just get to sowing. Like all life in nature, as long as one can keep growing, the cycle continues. They speak of it with ease, yet every detail is steeped in a decade of experience on the land.

They also discussed writing, education, the philosophy of living with the land, and why growing even a small amount of your own food can transform your relationship with food and nature. They further explored the spiritual nourishment that comes from this coexistence: how farming dissolves urban anxiety, and why “sorrow never lingers overnight in the fields”.

In short, we invite you to listen to this episode and step into this Satoyama, a place of lemongrass, magpie nests, and everlasting hope.

Our Guests

Wen Zizi ♀ & Changjue Ling ♂

A pair of urbanites born in the 1980s who graduated with Masters degrees from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, specialising in ecological conservation and environmental education. In 2014, they co-founded Gaia Worth Garden, embarking on a self-sufficient Satoyama lifestyle in the far suburbs, 70 kilometres from Beijing. Their vision of an ideal life: maintaining a balance between wilderness, farmland, and human habitation, allowing the coexistence of humanity and nature to unfold quietly upon the land.

Host

Tianle

Founding Editor of Foodthink and organiser of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market.