Agricultural Extension: Teach You to Build a Productive Mini Farm
Being content with poverty is my wish, but there are still often times when I struggle inwardly.
Recently I accepted an invitation from Kang Ning Junior College of Nursing and Health Sciences to found a student club on campus called "Real Life Club" (abbreviated as Shi Sheng Club). The first activity of the club was to build a small two-layer firebrick kiln. After discussing it with the school's teachers, I went to Yingge to buy the needed firebricks and fireclay, and beforehand poured the needed fireproof kiln shelves at home; on the day of the activity, I drove the materials and tools to the school, spent half a day teaching the students how to lay bricks, mix fireclay, and actually build this PIZZAkiln.
After the work was finished, on the way home I stopped at a baking supply store to buy some tools and ingredients needed for baking bread and PIZZA, and then the very next morning I fired up the kiln with the students and baked the first wood-fired PIZZA and bread; because the following week happened to be Kang Ning Junior College's anniversary celebration, the Shi Sheng Club students baked the bread at school the day before (and ended up sleeping at school that night), and the next day sold kiln-baked PIZZA at the anniversary celebration.
A month and a half later, just after the school's final exams had ended, I asked the club president to notify and invite the members: we would use the three consecutive days of winter vacation to build a pavilion in the red soil area behind the school by means of a barn raising.
I first simply drew a sketch of the pavilion at home, then contacted a lumber mill to order wood, bought hardware parts, and prepared woodworking tools. Then, at the agreed time, even though the weather was not very cooperative, I still led the Shi Sheng Club students in the intermittent drizzle and completed the pavilion within three days, while also making a wooden table 2.4*0.84 m in length and width.
On the second day of the building work, because "red bricks" were to be used as the paving for the pavilion floor, some students used carts and some carried by hand 1500 bricks, 2 bags of cement, and 15 sandbags (because of the rain in the previous days, the sandbags had gained a lot of weight).
Although I did not take attendance, about nearly twenty students from the Shi Sheng Club sacrificed their vacation to take part in this barn-raising activity. During the process, someone injured a hand from being crushed by bricks, someone strained their back, and several students ruined their nice shoes and pants because they went up on the roof to apply asphalt. Regarding the enthusiastic participation of the Shi Sheng Club students and their willingness to contribute labor without compensation, I actually felt much emotion in my heart.
…………However, through the founding of the Shi Sheng Club, I want to explain the "economic activity" that occurred on my part in all of this.
Throughout the entire process of building the kiln and the pavilion, I drove back and forth from home to Yingge once and to the school six times, traveling more than 500 km in total. Calculating by the standard I used ten years ago when I drove my own car on official business, when according to company rules I could receive 7 yuan per kilometer, I spent 3500 yuan on driving costs. As for work hours, counting only the time spent on campus leading students to build the kiln and the pavilion (not counting preparation and purchasing time), the work hours were at least 32 hours or more.
Unfortunately, before finishing the pavilion and preparing to pack up and go home, something happened that surprised me quite a bit. I finally spoke up and asked the school teacher how my club advising fee was calculated, and the answer was that each semester a club can apply for ten lecturer guidance fees, calculated by "session," at 500 yuan each time, with a maximum of ten times per semester. Although the Shi Sheng Club was founded only after the middle of the semester, and club activities were held only twice in total, for 5 days (sessions) at the school in total, the teacher in charge of student club affairs still calculated it at the maximum of ten sessions, so for building the kiln and the pavilion I could claim 5000 yuan in lecturer fees. If the driving costs are deducted, (5000-3500)/32, then my hourly wage is 46 yuan; if the driving costs are not counted, 5000 divided directly by 32, then the hourly wage is 156 yuan.
However, to this day I still have not received this 5000 yuan lecturer fee, and even the entire material cost for building the kiln and the pavilion was nearly 30,000 yuan, which I advanced myself. Here I made a technical mistake: when the school invited me, I should first have asked clearly how the lecturer fee was calculated, and then decided whether to accept the work; but on the other hand, from beginning to end, until I spoke up and asked, no one at the school had told me either.
I think I am willing to engage in volunteer service, but in reality I do not have the means to be a volunteer. If the advising for Kang Ning's Shi Sheng Club ends here, that is also OK; I can even forgo the 5000 yuan and not claim it. However, I still single-mindedly hope to carry out the original plan - to complete with the students at Kang Ning a "productive mini farm."
At this point, how should things continue from here?
Looking back on more than four years of working in agricultural extension, from 1 junior high school at the beginning to now 4 junior high schools, 2 community colleges, and 1 kindergarten, my annual income has gone from several tens of thousands of yuan at first to about 20-odd ten-thousands now (note: teaching a high-care class at a junior high school is 400 yuan per period, while a club class is 360 yuan; community college hourly pay is higher, at 800 yuan. In addition, I also teach at a kindergarten, and the hourly rate I negotiated with the principal is 400).
Before I began working in agricultural extension, all my savings were less than a few tens of thousands of yuan in my account, and I am just a farmer's child, without a rich father. But even so, when I first began working in agricultural extension, I told myself that this was a vocation I had promised myself, and that I should not wait until I had money and a stable life to do it; I should act immediately when the thought came to me and while I was still young. So at the same time as I began, I required of myself that "I must obtain from what I do enough money to live on, without relying on organizations and without fundraising."
And so I have come all the way to today.
Think about why I want to write this article: because this matter is very practical and also very important. I do not want to be merely a special case; I even hope that in the future someone will choose to walk the same path as I have, so I must prove (or at least explain clearly) how much practical financial return I can obtain while doing this work.
Because almost my entire current life has been invested in agricultural extension work, my work time each week is about 4-5 days (when schools are on winter and summer vacation, I am also on vacation, except that school teachers are paid while I am unpaid). Over a whole year like this, my income is about 20-30 ten-thousands of yuan (including fees from occasional outside lectures and work-holiday programs, writing articles, roasting and selling coffee…and so on).
Perhaps you may think such an income is not high, but I want to tell you: this version of me lives very happily, although in some places I must learn to be calculating (for example, I must discuss with the Kang Ning teacher whether my club advising fee can be raised afterward). At the same time, I live quite contentedly and gratefully, even though I may not have enough economic foundation to marry, have children, and buy a house and property like most people.
Is this good? I think it is very good.
I only hope that through this matter of agricultural extension, I can bring help to all the children, adolescents, young people, adults, and elderly people who come into contact with me, so that they may improve in life, character, and spirit. In that way, my life will be enough.
