WWOOFing experience at Nan'ao Natural Farm, let's go down to the fields together
Text and photos by Han Sen Po Yi
Rice has shaped Chinese culture through its long, unbroken history, a span that seems as distant as 5,000 years.
Everyone can recite the line "Who knows that every grain on the plate is the fruit of hard toil?" But farming? Not my business. Working the land? Not my calling. Where does rice come from? The supermarket & the big-box store.
But something surprising came out of a Yahoo poll asking people which unsung little person they most wanted to thank: "Farmers" took first place. The mental image is all bamboo hats and sun-darkened skin, a hoe over a stooped back, leading an ox and sweating in a plowed field.
But after a Sunday event held by Yahoo, the "Nan'ao Natural Farm Experience," my view changed completely: through "labor exchange" you come to know the land and then respect it; through talking with farmers you come to understand the world of rice.
Three farmers full of energy: A-Jiang, Chao-Chung, and Shih-Tsung, plus part-time farmer Kuan-Yu and wetland volunteer Hui-Chih
With a dream they believed could be achieved and the grounded idea of building that dream step by step, these three came together by chance. A-Jiang, who left Hsinchu Science Park; Chao-Chung, who has won an iF Design Award; and Shih-Tsung, who seeks a natural life, launched a "rice revolution" on this pure stretch of land in the back mountains, "Nan'ao, the homeland of the Atayal people."
The most profitable rice production SOP today>>
Flood the paddy>till the soil with a cultivator>spray herbicide on the field ridges>soak the seed in pesticide to prevent pests>plow again before transplanting and spray pesticide in the field to suppress weeds>then spray more pesticide to kill apple snails>during the 4-month growing period, spray herbicide in the field once more so the fertilizer is not absorbed.
This is called "conventional farming"; it gives the highest yield, but it must go through five rounds of pesticide contamination plus chemical fertilizer.
Because people fear that pesticides harm their health, "organic farming" has become popular, and prices have risen because yields drop; its yield is only a little more than 1/2 of the farming described above. The biggest difference is that it gives the soil organic matter so crops stay healthy and uses no pesticides or herbicides. But there is a risk of trust!
Yet these three simple, honest farmers are promoting "natural farming," whose yield is only 1/3 that of conventional farming. Apart from checking the water in the fields after transplanting, you do nothing but wait for the harvest. I'd call that lazy-person farming! When I asked what to do about apple snails, A-Jiang said happily: I should thank the apple snails, because they are my weeders.
With them around, the weeds do not even get a chance to poke out, because they eat only tender shoots.
I asked curiously: then won't the rice seedlings get eaten too? A-Jiang laughed and said: just replant them! My god! Is that natural optimism? I guess not, because they have already become part of the natural ecosystem!
Walking through the 12 jia of rented farmland, I kept seeing patches of mixed woodland. Chao-Chung said: that is part of the ecology, a place where birds and animals can perch and take shelter.
The average yield from 1 sq m is only 2 to 3 bowls of rice, and they still let land go fallow or leave it uncultivated. Aren't they fools?
Everyone strolled around taking photos to record it, and the air was filled with a free, fresh feeling that made you want to hold on to it.
When we wandered over to Kuan-Yu's rented plot, everyone opened their eyes wide trying to find the vegetable garden and roselle he had bragged about,
especially when he pointed at a weed-choked patch and said proudly and happily: this is my vegetable garden, there are many kinds of vegetables in it.
Heh heh, after he pointed them out, quite a few hidden vegetables turned out to be lurking there, and they were growing very healthily. This proves that living things will find a way under low-intervention natural conditions.
When we came to the experimental plot, the especially introduced hairy one was called "upland rice," the rice that Indigenous peoples used to grow in the mountains. Because its yield was low and it did not meet economic value, it was cast aside. Kuan-Yu said excitedly: the texture and aroma are amazing! I have a year's stock of it. Everyone could only drool.
Everyone was willing to spend a day exploring the knowledge of "rice." The "labor exchange" was all for that one bowl of rice at noon. Think about it: rice from half a tatami mat can only cook 2 to 3 bowls, which makes this bowl of rice especially precious. Look, this rice shows a faint pink. Hui-Chih said: this was grown locally and used as seed rice, and it has already gone through several cycles; the different colors represent the special character of Nan'ao natural rice. Of course, taste it first.
This mouthful of rice, chewed for a long time, is sunshine, air, and water in every bite, enjoying the sweet taste and eating slowly.
Nan'ao Natural Farm, contract-farm your own natural good field http://tw.discount.yahoo.net/
What is the Taiwan Good Field movement?http://tw.topic.
Do you want to experience this kind of hands-on farming, with free food and lodging, the "labor exchange"? The detailed method is as follows:
http://ajnaturefarming.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html
Nan'ao Natural Farm https://sites.google.com/site/nanaozirantian/
Farmhouse address: No. 13, Lane 427, Section 2, Suhua Road, Nan'ao Village, Nan'ao Township, Yilan County
Labor Exchange Guesthouse: No. 85-1, Nan'ao Road, Nanqiang Village, Su'ao Township, Yilan County
Contact phone: (03) 998-2183 Chao-Chung: 0921-205327