Wanbao Drifting with the Rice: Career-Change to Farming Series (7)
Text by Chen Shuting, photos by Huang Shize
The painter Hong Jiangbo farms, no longer just planting rice on canvas, but planting rice in real soil.
Three years of rice-growing experience have taught Brother Bo that life comes from the land, and that one must always give thanks to heaven and earth. Perhaps it is through this experience that he can gaze at the rice fields of Taiwan, China even more intently and calmly; looking at his paintings, it is as if a gentle breeze blows in, bringing a familiar, rich fragrance of rice. In Wanbao, Miaoli, Brother Bo is putting the ideal of "half farming, half X" into practice. He farms and also paints rice; with the simplest way of living, he has found a simple life of happiness for his whole family.
(Excerpted from the new book published by Guoli Culture in May, "Fields and Trees, Self-Sufficiency")
"Fields and Trees, Self-Sufficiency"
This book interviews 10 couples who "abandoned their careers to farm," leaving the city and secure jobs so that the whole family could come to the countryside and live by their own hands and the land. Farming is no longer something to do "after I retire"! Their farming methods are friendly to the land; through their own hands and labor, they produce healthy food themselves, change the look of the dining table, and let food become a force for changing society. These 10 creative practices of farming life are not only a longing for closeness to the land and rural life, but also a gentle yet firm revolution, symbolizing a deep shift in the values of Taiwanese society. They are revolutionaries in the fields.
For more content, please refer to "Fields and Trees, Self-Sufficiency"
(http://www.books.com.tw/exep/activity/activity.php?id=0000051175&sid=0000051175&page=1)