Wanbao Food and Farming Mini-Trip: We Invite You to Become a Watermelon Owner Together
Lead image/ Hong Jiangbo Photography in text/ Huang Jianbin
NewsMarket, in partnership with Parenting magazine, presents a monthly column starting in April introducing "food and farming mini-trips" on the land of Taiwan, China, published in sync with Parenting.
Wanbao in Miaoli is a designated agricultural zone suited to both paddy and dryland farming, abundant in dry crops such as watermelon, sweet potato and peanut, and also producing rice. Starting in 2011, a group of experienced local farmers, with the enthusiastic participation of a group of young people, turned Wanbao's watermelon fields into the best field classroom for "parent-child food and farming experiences." On April 14 this year, Wanbao will "find owners for the watermelons" - let's go take a look!
Hard-won soil improvement: Wanbao suits both paddy and dryland farming
On an early morning at the end of February, walking along the farm roads of Wanbao, the cold wind still made people shiver. That day, Zhang Mucun again got up at four in the morning to go prepare the fields. In no time the field was full of water, and some weeds could be seen poking out their heads. "After planting dry crops like sweet potato and watermelon, there are always more weeds in the field. Flooding the field is to let the weeds rot. Counting from now to early March, it will be about time to transplant the rice seedlings," said Brother Mucun. The timing of the flooding is quite an art - even a little late won't do. Once the rice paddy transplanting is done, before long the season for planting watermelons in the dry fields arrives!
"Generally, the three weeks before Qingming Festival to the two weeks after are the most suitable time to plant watermelons. Too early and they easily suffer cold damage; too late and they easily get fruit flies." He usually starts planting watermelons after Arbor Day, so that they can be harvested by mid-June.
Wanbao is a corner of Houlong Township in Miaoli, and those in the know recognize it as the birthplace of "Houlong watermelon." In fact, in the past it was hard to see rice paddies in Wanbao, because being near the sea it has sandy soil, and most land grew dry crops such as watermelon, sweet potato and peanut; it was not until the 63rd year of the Republic of China that farmers painstakingly hauled in clay to cover and mix in for soil improvement and only then began growing rice. Now strolling through Wanbao, you find neat rectangular farm fields and well-planned irrigation and farm-road facilities everywhere, making it a "designated agricultural zone" suited to both paddy and dryland farming.
Because watermelon cultivation has a long history, local farmers have a special affection for watermelons. Su Xiufeng, a retired teacher from Dashan Elementary School, said: "In the past, as long as my father drove watermelons to the 'wholesale place' to sell, everyone would automatically make way for 'Houlong watermelon'!" Farmers would find a way to fill a whole truck, just so they could sell at a good price there. If a typhoon day brought poor business, the farmers had no money to eat and would just eat watermelon to fill their stomachs.
And now, Wanbao watermelons are not only as sweet and juicy as back then, they are grown together by old farmers, university students, little farmers, and moms and dads!
Letting children feel the soil and get to know food
The NCCU Return-to-the-Grain youth, formed by a group of university students concerned about rural development, are important "revolutionary partners" in the eyes of Wanbao farmers, because three years ago they accompanied Wanbao farmers Hong Xiang, Zhang Mucun and others through the nightmare of land expropriation, and worked hand in hand to preserve this good farmland.
Return-to-the-Grain member Wu Zhenyi recalled this journey: "At the time I felt that besides keeping them company, I couldn't help with anything else. We decided to step out of school and actually go to the countryside to experience rural life, starting by bending down to farm. It was only through the process of hands-on work and labor that we realized: beyond production, the good life, ecology and diverse cultural values of the countryside had not truly been discovered yet."
So Zhenyi and a group of Return-to-the-Grain classmates stayed on to compose a rural dream together with Wanbao, from "finding owners for the watermelons" to "planting potatoes with your feet." Through a series of fun parent-child farming experiences, children learn to take responsibility for the crops they plant, and more importantly, the growing process is all friendly cultivation, with absolutely no chemical fertilizer or pesticide used!
Zheng Naizhen, who lives in Taipei, brought her two children Enlun and Enxiang, from planting watermelons and potatoes to pulling radishes, and the whole family has become "super good friends" of Wanbao.
Naizhen said: "In the past when buying vegetables I always considered price, comparing back and forth, just to buy at a cheap price." Only after going into the fields herself did she understand how hard farmers work, carefully cultivating everyone's food under the blazing sun. "Now when I buy, what I see is not just price but 'value.'" She deeply cherishes farmers' hard work, and has begun actively supporting crops grown in a land-friendly way.
Like other children, Enlun and Enxiang used to dislike eating vegetables, but because they came to Wanbao to work in the fields, they began to be willing to eat what they planted and more different vegetables, tasting healthy flavors. Once, the two brothers had just come back from playing in Australia, and a Return-to-the-Grain big brother tested them: "What is Australia's national treasure?" The clever brothers immediately answered "kangaroo." The big brother then deliberately asked, "Then what is Taiwan, China's national treasure?" They answered wittily, "Wanbao!"
Jiafu is a child from Guanxi in Hsinchu, and he always looks forward with all his heart to the next trip to Wanbao. When watering the watermelons, though small in stature he always insists on carrying the little bucket of water himself, not letting adults help; on the day the watermelons were harvested, he said he wanted to give the watermelons he planted to relatives and friends, and proudly told his classmates, "This is the watermelon I planted in Wanbao!"
Brother Mucun is the field teacher who teaches children to plant watermelons and potatoes. He says with full confidence: "Before I even go into the field, I can tell which watermelon will set fruit early and which will set fruit late - I even have a rough idea of the quantity in my mind!" He revealed: "The trick is to observe the watermelon vine, that is, the distance from the mother plant to where the watermelon sets. The shorter the distance, the earlier it sets; the longer, the later it ripens."
The children always follow him around, asking this and that. He jokes that these kids are like "city bumpkins," excited and nervous about being able to dig soil and pull weeds, and as soon as they see chickens or geese in the field they run over to watch. "Many city children have never heard a chicken crow, nor seen a chicken walk on the ground."
"In the past, the wider environment always made us feel that farming doesn't make money and that farming is useless, but think about it: what our countryside has, the city doesn't have at all, and instead they envy us a lot. Now I suddenly feel that farming is very dignified!" said Brother Mucun, who has farmed for several decades, with emotion.
Enlivening the rural economy: Return-to-the-Grain and residents together
With the students' dedicated help, Wanbao's food and farming experiences are extremely sought after, almost "sold out in seconds the moment registration opens." Residents are moved in their hearts, and have even more imagination for the community's future development.
Wu Shuling, a ceramics teacher at the Wanbao Humanities and Arts Studio, also began this year to grow her own organic, non-toxic sweet potatoes, "hoping to attract more residents to carry out organic farming together." But if she only asked everyone to grow, and afterward couldn't help sell it, that would be hard to explain, so she "hopes to set up a production-site farmers' market directly in Wanbao, assuring community farmers that as long as they farm well, someone will buy, and they can also sell their land-friendly agricultural products nearby," which would certainly make the rural economy more vibrant.
Wanbao's village chief Xie Xiuyi knows the ins and outs of everything big and small in the whole community. The ideas and actions of this group of Return-to-the-Grain youth in Wanbao fill him with anticipation: "I hope it spurs the local kids to stand up for themselves!"
For example, Sister Hong Xiang's youngest son, Zhang Zhijie, currently in his first year of senior high school, has been influenced by his family and Return-to-the-Grain, and though he seems quiet and not very proactive in speaking, he has his own ideas when talking about Wanbao; he even teamed up with classmates to apply to the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation's "Youth Dream Realization Project," the content of which is concrete action plans for Wanbao's imagined future, hoping to put them into practice step by step afterward.
Seeing Wanbao people begin to stand up for themselves, Return-to-the-Grain's Wu Zhenyi could hardly hide her emotion: "We used to think farmers' ideas were rather conservative and that they would have many worries, but Wanbao's farmers are all brave in breaking through, open in attitude, and constantly trying any new possibility."
Now Wanbao dares to dream, but what exactly is their dream?
A different Wanbao: let's build the "Dream Dream House"
Beyond a one-day experience itinerary, residents plan to combine "environmental education" and "holiday farming experiences," so that guests big and small who come from afar can stay overnight in Wanbao, make friends with local farmers, and experience a simple, plain way of life close to the land - so, let's build the "Dream Dream House" together!
Hong Xiang, who once led Wanbao farmers through the nightmare of land expropriation, is called the "Wanbao justice heroine," and was chosen as a representative figure of the 2011 social movement, said:
"I have always wanted to be with everyone, to make a different Wanbao, to turn it into a new base for city people to relax. If everyone wants to farm, come farm in Wanbao!"
That day, at the home of resident artist Hong Jiangbo, everyone chattered about what the Dream Dream House should look like: "The simpler the better, showing the countryside's original appearance!" "Don't be like an ordinary homestay with a TV and internet - let everyone chat and make friends." "Build it as a mud-walled house, so that even if it's torn down it can still be used for farming!" "Everyone has to draw their own Dream Dream House!"...
With everyone chiming in, the discussion went on until past nine at night and still wouldn't stop. Usually at this time the countryside is already silent, but Wanbao's dream is still going strong.
Village chief Bo, Hong Xiang, Zhang Mucun, Hong Jiangbo and Wu Shuling also sincerely invite friends big and small to come together to Wanbao and "ㄑㄧˋ ㄊㄡˊ"!
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