Li Shenghong, a natural farming practitioner in Zhubei, cultivates with a craftsman's spirit

Li Shenghong has been farming for two years. He rents seven fen of land in Zhubei City, Hsinchu County, and lives with his wife and two children in a small house of just over ten ping next to the farm. He practices natural farming, selling his crops at a stall at the Zhubei Farmers' Association and the 13 Good Market. Though his yields are modest, he has built up a loyal group of customers. His farming income is unstable, but after two years, the family of four has never gone hungry.

Seeking the Craftsman Spirit, with Akinori Kimura as His Model

Before he became a farmer, Li Shenghong had done more than ten kinds of work, including career soldier, reporter, photographer, real estate agent, matchmaking agency planner and chef. Once he took on a project filming a documentary for the 50th anniversary of Tainan's Yongxing Furniture. Founder Ye Taiqin explained each step of traditional furniture making one by one - shaping, joinery, carving, polishing. Such craftsman spirit, maintained for fifty years, filled him with deep admiration.

Not long after the filming, the founder died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Li Shenghong said: "The film I shot left behind the founder's final image, and his craftsman spirit has stayed in my heart."

"I had always been drifting, unable to find a field I wanted to devote myself to for the long term." Li Shenghong changed jobs again and again, but kept up his reading habit. He often went to the library to borrow all kinds of books. Once he read a book by the Japanese natural farmer Akinori Kimura, and from then on he worshipped Grandpa Kimura.

Two years ago, Li Shenghong's mother died of a heart attack in the living room at home, which made him even more determined to farm: "The human body cannot grow vegetables and fruit. Only by being humble before nature does humanity have a future."

Not Just Selling Vegetables, but Selling an Idea

(This article was funded by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation for personnel costs, but with absolutely no interference in news topic selection, interviewing or writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)