Meinong White Jade Radishes: Help You Welcome a Season of Abundance

Information and photos provided by / Li Hui-yi, Zeng Xue-mei, Liu Chong-feng, Dou-zi

Lately, when you come to Meinong, the fields are a fresh expanse of green. Hidden beneath the leaves, radish seeds are quietly absorbing the rich nutrients of the soil, growing bigger by the day, heralding the imminent arrival of the harvest season for Meinong's White Jade radishes!

This year, two dedicated farmers, Le Ma Hui-yi and Auntie Xue-mei, have launched subscription programs for Meinong's specialty White Jade radishes. Their aim is to invite everyone to step directly into Meinong's rural villages, to personally experience the joy of farming and harvesting, and to savor the wonderful warmth of country hospitality.

The White Jade radishes grown at "Le Le Farm" are affectionately nicknamed "Le Le radishes." They are the "signature work" of Le Ma Hui-yi, who farms alongside her one-year-old son Le Le. Healthy, chemical-free, plump and tender, they need no peeling no matter how they are prepared. When they were first offered last year, they won enthusiastic support from friends.

This year, Le Ma has launched an activity called "Human Feet Have Fertilizer." She says that in Meinong Hakka there is an old saying, "Human feet have fertilizer" (in both Hakka and Hoklo usage, "fertilizer" means "nutrient" or "nourishment"), and it carries two meanings. First, plants are the protagonists of the field; the farmer's task is to work diligently to help the plants by loosening the soil often, going into the fields more, and earnestly talking to the plants, thereby helping to create a favorable growing environment for the crops.

Le Ma goes on to explain that "Human feet have fertilizer" also reminds us that in dealing with others we should not only respect them and treat them as equals, but also know how to be considerate and take the initiative to care. When friends come to visit the home, we should treat them with courtesy and bring out the best food, tea, and wine to share together.

Starting from the proverb "Human feet have fertilizer," this year "Le Le Farm" invites everyone to become shareholders of the "Le Le Radish Garden." From the moment the radishes are planted, whenever you wish to come to the field to take photos, relax, or check on how the radishes are growing, or during harvest season to bring family and friends to pull up the radishes you subscribed to and, through the labor of the body and abundant sweat, purify (and quiet) yourself within, you are most welcome to come stroll around the farm.

Le Ma hopes to encourage consumers to walk into the rural places of production, to break the long-standing "supermarket-style buying habit," to close the distance between consumers and producers, to let consumers directly contact producers, understand farming methods, enter the ecological cycle, and even further come to know the traditional wisdom and values of rural villages. "In return, we also hope that through consumers' actual participation, we can bring more stimulation and interaction to rural areas, and let older farmers regain their confidence and pride in farming."

Le Le (sitting in a cardboard box) has followed Le Ma into the fields to grow radishes since childhood, and is also a little farmer!

Another Meinong farmer, Auntie Xue-mei, has also launched a subscription program for White Jade radishes. As she says, "After farming for decades, now that I'm older, I should have more contact with people and try a different way of living."

Chong-feng, who often visits Auntie Xue-mei, passed along an article written by Dou-zi: "Auntie Xue-mei's backyard always has crops growing freely through the four seasons, lush and abundant. When needed, you just go to the backyard and pick a few handfuls, and there you have a fresh dish. This traditional way of thinking, following the seasons and letting nature take its course, seems ever new today when slow food and LOHAS living are advocated."

"We can start from what we eat and return to a more natural and simple life. So buying directly from nearby farms, or even subscribing before sowing to friendly-farmed produce, and using practical action to shorten the distance from field to table and reduce the energy consumption of refrigerated transport -- in this way, we not only eat the freshest, cleanest food and treat our bodies well, but also fulfill the intention of saving energy and reducing carbon to protect the Earth," Dou-zi says.

In the crisp, bright October of autumn, Auntie Xue-mei has quietly planted a garden full of hope -- "white jade born from the soil, gold brought forth from the earth" -- the White Jade radishes. She loosens the soil, hoes the weeds, and fertilizes as carefully and gently as if tending her own family. And those who subscribe need only invest a small subscription fee and great trust and care to reserve, forty days later, the sweet taste of autumn in full harvest.

On ordinary days, subscribers entrust the field to Auntie Xue-mei. On holidays, they can bring the whole family to Meinong, follow Auntie Xue-mei into the field to see how the White Jade radishes are growing, or stroll along the field paths and chat with her in the evening breeze about Meinong's past and future. At harvest time, we can sing "heave-ho, heave-ho," roll up our sleeves, and pull radishes, enjoying the fulfillment of arms full of soil and green leaves. "As if beneath the gentle Moonlight Mountain, Meinong's irrigation channels wind out a path back to childhood and into intimacy with the land," Dou-zi describes.

The chain of opportunities opened up by "reserving a season of harvest" can truly let us understand where our food comes from, experience the hardship and abundance of small farmers, and, while safely swallowing down what is clean and healthy, feel even more gratitude and respect -- for farmers, for food, for the land. We invite you to reserve this season's harvest together!

Auntie Xue-mei sows the tiny radish seeds and reserves a season of harvest

[Le Le Farm]
Share subscription details: Subscribe to one share for 1,100 yuan and become a shareholder of the "Le Le Radish Garden." You may reserve visits to the radish garden to tour, take photos, weed, exchange farming experience, and inquire about cultivation matters, and you may join the "Year-End Meetup," which has four sessions in total. The deadline for share applications is November 27, with harvesting expected to begin on November 25. Please contact: Li Hui-yi 0927-050579, Zhu Xiu-wen 0937-387700
For complete information, see the Le Le Farm blog

[Auntie Xue-mei]
Subscription details: Subscribe to an area 23 m long x 60 cm wide (2 Taiwan feet), subscription amount 500 yuan. You may reserve visits to the radish field to tour, experience, and harvest. Please contact: Zeng Xue-mei 0982-259303
For complete information, see Facebook: Follow anytime the growth record of the big, sturdy White Jade radishes

[Meinong Mini Trip]
Le Ma Hui-yi says that some friends come to Meinong from as far as central, northern, or even eastern Taiwan, so she specially provides information on some private spots, snacks and local specialties, and places to stay for everyone's reference, hoping to add richer content to everyone's year-end travel plans. The following attractions can be arranged by theme or mixed and matched; in short, a mini trip to Meinong is all about going "slowly" and not rushing the itinerary.

1. Irrigation channel route: Zhuzimen Power Plant, Shishan Irrigation Channel, Meinong tobacco fields and tobacco curing barns, Zhongzheng Lake, Hakka Cultural Museum, Xiazhuang Irrigation Channel…
2. Literary route: Zhong Li-he Memorial Hall, Mother Forest, Yellow Butterfly Valley…
3. Old Street route: Meinong Yong'an Old Street, East Gate Tower, Jingzi Pavilion, Jinxing Blue Shirt Shop, Qishan Old Street snacks…