Farming and Reading Notes from the Foot of Liyu Mountain: Days with a Field in My Heart
Text/ Xu Siting Photography/ Dawang Caipuzi Agroecology School
Essay (1): November 6, Lidong (Start of Winter)
It is already November, yet today feels hot. After finishing lunch in the small hut, my eyelids closed of their own accord, so I lay down on the rattan chair for a short nap.
I was shaken awake by gust after gust of cool wind. Stepping outside, I found that the cool wind came because dark clouds had already shrouded Ji'an, and were about to head south toward Shoufeng. Lidong comes in three days, the time to prepare for harvesting the second rice crop, the beginning of winter storage, a reminder to all things to begin preparing for winter dormancy and storing grain. At this time, if there is too much rain, the rice combine cannot enter the fields to harvest, and the rice, once fallen and soaked in water, will sprout.
There is a proverb: "The tenth month brings a little Indian summer..." It refers to Lidong in the tenth lunar month, when several days of strong sun still appear. But then it quickly flips into a climate of strong northeast monsoons. The full moon comes in four more days, when the moon's energy is strongest, suitable for sowing, and people too are suited to begin eating warming, nourishing foods.
Last week, the partners of the Agroecology School, together with Naoki Shiomi, planted red beans, potatoes, a plot reserved for wheat that can be planted in winter, and a plot for next spring's rice. Besides that, everyone has also been allotted a small plot to develop as they wish. I often walk around the field at different times, feeling the direction the wind blows from, observing changes in the light, the rise and fall of moisture, the changes in the crops already planted, and enjoying the flow of body and mind that nature gives me.
In the end, I still gave up my earlier imaginings about permaculture planting plans and chose corn, which has low soil demands, as a start. The corn was F1 waxy corn, saved by Allen himself, given when I went to Allen's field. In the future, the corn stalks can be turned into the soil as nutrients.
As for the rest, just take it one plot at a time, slowly At the start of the lunar year, after buying the seedlings for practicing planting, I happened to visit a fairly large-scale organic farm in Ji'an with A-Tu nearby. The farm owner tested me: "Why should a new plot of land start with corn?" I said corn can be dry-farmed, needs little water, and after harvest the corn stalks can be turned into the soil to increase nutrients. The farm owner said: "There is another very important factor you did not mention. Corn is very easy to grow, and it can be used to absorb the undesirable substances left in this land before. After planting corn once, then starting to grow crops can lower the risk of heavy metal residue." In any case, the soil in the field still needs waiting, nurturing, and observation of its changes, even though this plot has already passed organic certification, so there is no need to worry about pesticide or heavy metal residue. But that state, in my heart, is still not enough as a way of being kind to the land. Certification guarantees that the food source is non-toxic, but the land does not necessarily have vitality and energy. The heart, after all, is too impatient. Eager to carry out any planting plan and looking forward to the harvest, the dialogue with the earth still constantly reminds me that my heart is not yet steady enough. When I mentally calculate how to plan that small patch of land, it is like imposing shaping on a child before the child has grown into his own form, while he is still toddling and babbling, and filling him with society's expectations of gentleness, goodness, modesty, and restraint. A piece of land that is restricted and planned in advance can only respond with its limited energy. Between the planting plans in human consciousness and cultivating soil in accord with natural laws, between action and non-action, there is still something to ponder. After walking meditation in the Zen manner, silently praying blessings in my heart, and planting the corn, just as I was admiring it, I found that nutgrass was growing very lushly. Then, I casually pulled up the nutgrass that had grown back after the field was worked. Last year, in the Agroecology School's communal field provided by Brother Wu, the ecology was rich and the grass species diverse. For some unknown reason, for nutgrass, which has such tenacious vitality, I always want to keep its seeds to smell closely. This afternoon, while hoeing weeds on the soil that had been worked, I saw that nutgrass had already emerged, and with a gentle pull, a string of three or four large nutgrass tubers, nearly 1 cm long, came up with it. Every year in spring and autumn is the time to gather nutgrass. Still quietly pulling nutgrass as if doing walking meditation, and collecting the tubers. Holding a big handful of nutgrass tubers, I gave them to my partner Zhongfen, who was standing nearby saying that nutgrass is hard to eradicate while shaking her head, and told her that I wanted to try a method of soaking the nutgrass grass in water to make liquid fertilizer, then grinding the tubers into powder and sprinkling it in the field. Brother Wu said last year that the grass that is pulled up should not be moved out of the field, but piled directly on the field ridge or beside the beds. The land itself will attract the elements it needs, just as people have the ability to seek the nutrients their bodies lack. So the grass that is hoed up should just be piled in place, and then the land will know that the elements it wants are there, and afterward it will reduce this kind of grass. What is needed next is to let go of the excessive desires held in the heart toward the land, to keep patiently watching over and nourishing it, and to give rise to trust that the earth can transform on its own and can wait. And nature will respond... [Solar Term Mini File ] Lidong [Plant Mini File] Waxy corn Nutgrass [Planting Mini File] Rural Village [Modern Agriculture Mini File ] F1 seeds Dawang Caipuzi blog [Must Know]: A Country Without Planting Biodiversity: Chapter 10 The Seed Wars: Plant Genetic Resource Rights VS. Intellectual Property by Professor Guo Huaren, Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University Designing with Nature: Permaculture. Inspiring the infinite possibilities of green living 
Falls between November 7-8, when the sun is at 225° of celestial longitude. Li means the beginning of a establishment, indicating that winter begins from this point. Dong means end, with the implication that after crops are harvested they should be stored away, and China also regards Lidong as the beginning of winter. Reference: Wikipedia
In waxy corn, the endosperm, due to a waxy mutant gene, contains branched-chain starch, which makes the kernels sticky and of high quality. Corn consumption patterns in the country are diverse, and waxy corn is loved by consumers. In view of this, the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station began collecting and introducing waxy corn germplasm from home and abroad in year 86, and after variety improvement, segregation and selection, disease resistance testing, comparative trials, and regional trials, in year 96 bred the new white waxy corn variety Tainan No. 23. Reference: Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station
Nutgrass (scientific name: Cyperus rotundus), also known as purple nutsedge, large nutgrass, earth fragrance (in Taiwan, China and southern Fujian), water nutgrass, and ground rush grass, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Cyperaceae family, with upright, triangular stems, 40 cm tall. Reference: Wikipedia
Through the audiovisual book Rural Village, the sun, moon, organic farming methods, and life techniques are combined together.
Unveiling the Wonders of Stone Age Farming
The author leads you into the world of subtle energies, explaining in detail how to use these energies in farming and gardening to promote plant growth. It also gives many practical tips, telling you how to produce healthy, sweet, pest-free crops in an economical and environmentally friendly way. It also explains the benefits and effects of the "strong energy tower." On the miraculous effect of paramagnetism in promoting growth, it takes us back to the wisdom of the ancient Irish ancestors and offers a modern scientific explanation.
Refers to seeds bought at a seedling shop. Usually whether the next generation can germinate is relatively unstable, and only after several generations of seed saving planted on the same plot does it tend to stabilize. At present, most planting in Taiwan, China directly buys from seedling shops, so this phenomenon is encountered.
On June 15, 1984, the American Wall Street Journal published a report by journalist Bill Paul, "Third world battles for fruit of its seed stocks," pointing out that the United Nations stated that India had banned the export of pepper seedlings, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia had banned the export of various fruit tree seedlings, and Ecuador had banned the export of cocoa seedlings. To Western countries, this violated the belief that "plant resources are the common asset of humanity." For this article on the struggle over plant resources, the opening line read: You have heard of "Star Wars", now there are seed wars; since then the term seed wars has been constantly applied, and the most alarmist saying of all is "whoever owns seeds can control the world."