Organic water bamboo shoots grown with natural spring water, safeguarding a grandfather's legacy and a daughter's growth
To protect the farmland their grandfather left behind, Jiang Fengze and Lei Jiayun, a husband-and-wife team who both graduated from horticulture programs, bring along their newborn son and four-year-old daughter as they hold down full-time jobs while insisting on growing organic water bamboo (Zizania latifolia) and corn. Jiang Fengze recalls that his grandfather always rode his bicycle to the fields, and even into his seventies, when his body could no longer handle working the land, he would still often mutter: "The farmland! Once it lies fallow, it has no value!"
Growing organic water bamboo on the natural spring land their grandfather left behind
Jiang Fengze, who followed his grandfather around from childhood, spent almost all his time after school with him because his parents were busy with work. Often, while his grandfather worked in the fields, he would follow along and watch. Without realizing it, he found that he was quite interested in farming as well. When his grandfather discovered his grandson's interest in agriculture, he became even more enthusiastic about sharing agricultural tidbits and old wisdom.
For example, "once a crop is planted, even with a fever and ringing ears, it still grows night after night" means that people can fall ill, but crops will still keep growing. These vivid descriptions filled Jiang Fengze with an interest in agriculture, and he went all the way through to graduate from a horticulture department. His wife, Lei Jiayun, graduated from the Horticulture Research Institute of National Taiwan University, and the two of them walk the path of agriculture hand in hand.
Out of interest on one hand, and reluctance to let go of his grandfather's land on the other, Jiang Fengze began four years ago to bring this long-fallow field back to life. This paddy field, located in Neizha Community, Daxi Township, Taoyuan County, has a hillside on its left and a waterway that is a tributary of the Dahan River on its right, shielding it from outside pollution. After testing the soil and water quality, it is currently in the organic certification transition period.
Jiang Fengze says this field never dries up all year round, no matter how long the sun beats down, there is always a layer of water underneath, especially in the area near the woods. To make full use of the natural underground spring, Jiang Fengze chose to grow water bamboo, the crop his grandfather once cultivated.
But precisely because of this persistence, plus the fact that both husband and wife have full-time jobs, the pressure is enormous. Lei Jiayun often feels conflicted, wondering whether she should tell her husband to stop farming. But when she thinks that if they stop, the land will lie fallow, and when she thinks that her grandfather was very close to her husband and would surely have hoped for and enjoyed seeing them do this, then no matter how hard or difficult it gets, they have persisted for four years.
To take care of this field and their two young children, Lei Jiayun works in Taipei, commuting back and forth from Daxi to Taipei every day. She gets up at 5:30 in the morning and must leave the house by 6:00 at the latest, and when she gets home at night, even on the earliest days, it is almost 7:30. She still remembers that when the baby was six months old and about to start eating baby solid foods, she often stayed up until 3 in the morning preparing them, then slept a little and had to get up again. She was truly exhausted! "But there's no choice. If I don't work, supporting a family of four would put more pressure on our lives."
She hopes that in the future she can build a small wooden cabin, where adults can bring children to come and listen to stories about farming and crops. "I love it most when children come! Agriculture needs to be deeply cultivated and taught from a young age." In addition, she also hopes to gradually recruit ten families for weekly deliveries. At present, they mainly offer fruit corn, glutinous corn, and water bamboo, and in the future the crops can become more diverse. This is how the organic path goes: "What nature leaves behind, we eat; if we eat and there is still extra, we share it with more people!"
(To get to know the couple Jiang Fengze and Lei Jiayun, please click the "Daxi Aying Leg" fan page. The name "Daxi Aying Leg" comes from the fact that these water bamboo shoots were once tended by Jiang Fengze's mother, whose nickname is Aying, hence the name. Jiang Fengze says they did not call it Daxi Beauty Leg because all beauty legs actually come from a pair of hard-working legs; it is these pairs of hard-working, not-so-pretty legs that bring about each delicious beauty leg.)