Yilan Xiaotiantian's future plans: you can only understand farmers by experiencing it with your body
Editor's note: Yilan Xiaotiantian is a team formed by a group of young people who care about rural Taiwan. This year is their first year trying to grow two fen of land worth of rice in Yilan using friendly farming methods. Mr. Lai Qingsong of the Gudong Julebu and Chairman Chen of Shengou Village (who is also the landlord of the two-fen plot) are Xiaotiantian's mentors. In terms of farming methods, they try to take a retro style, from seed selection, seedling cultivation, transplanting rice, picking up apple snails, weeding, all the way to harvesting and drying the grain, doing everything by hand throughout the whole process, relying on machinery to a very low degree. It sounds a bit silly, but if you do not experience the hardship of farming through the labor of your body and imprint the rhythm of rural labor onto your youthful flesh, how can you understand why conventional farmers choose to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Indeed, the intense soreness of muscles after weeding made the members of Xiaotiantian deeply understand why farmers so firmly believe in the changes brought by the Green Revolution; even so, their innocent romanticism has not yet been erased by the soreness, and they hope to learn the traditional farming methods that belong to Taiwan, and to find a way to settle down and make a living in the countryside.
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Rice grown by taking the Kamalan Bus
To be honest, at the beginning none of us could really imagine that we could complete one rice crop, because what we faced was not a report or an exam, but the life journey of rice, a journey as long as four months. Once it sets off, if you get off halfway, you cannot see the beautiful scenery at the destination. So after a series of hesitation, doubt, fear, and uncertainty, we finally rolled up our pant legs and farmed in Yilan.
Over this past year, because of Brother Qingsong's companionship and guidance, Chairman Chen's complete trust in us, and the field fans (netizens who liked our Facebook fan page) continuously caring about our updates, every like and share made us truly feel everyone's encouragement for Xiaotiantian. Moreover, because the Xiaotiantian team is a group of people, the once-a-week field labor sometimes felt more like a gathering, only the place was not a school or a cafe, but the field. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of doing things together, but every partner was actually willing to spare no effort and endure the hardship of travel, taking the bus back and forth between Taipei and Yilan every week, and during the busy farming season even going two or three times a week. We all jokingly called Tiantian Rice rice grown by taking the Kamalan Bus.
After Tiantian Rice was successfully harvested and sold, and after being overwhelmed with work for more than half a year, we finally had time to stop and look to the future. So we laid our hearts bare in a meeting to discuss whether to continue planting next year. Usually, while working in the fields, we often joked that we did not know whether we would continue planting next year! Maybe we would not plant anymore! But unexpectedly, everyone hoped to continue growing rice next year. I think this should be because of our ongoing dialogue with the land over the past year. She also seemed to be telling us not to be afraid, to be brave, that we can do it.
These days have also made us realize that learning to farm is the first step into rural life. Only by using the body to feel and remember the rhythm of rural labor can we truly understand farmers' worldview, and only then can the next step be possible. Understanding is the beginning of action, so we began to think about what else young people can do in the countryside.
