Exclusive interview with Wu Jialing, farm manager at Yilan Xiaotiantian: Let the field keep me company

"Actually, after coming to Yilan to farm, I cried several times. Alone at night, I would run to the edge of the field and weep in front of the rice that was about to form ears, talking to the rice: 'Thank goodness I still have you,' and I couldn't tell whether I was the one taking care of the field, or whether this plot of land was keeping me company!"

At noon in the height of July, "Xiaotiantian manager" Wu Jialing is as open and bright as the Yilan sunshine; even when she talks about the tears and hardships of tending the field over the past year, she still clenches her fists and beams with energy: "Crying is crying, but I think I'm not bad - I've got real talent for farming, and I absolutely must keep planting! Heh heh!"

Since 2012, a group of young students involved in the "Taiwan Rural Front" movement, wanting to "learn farming" from the well-known returning youth Lai Qingsong, rented two fen of land in Yuanshan, Yilan, under Lai Qingsong's introduction, and named the field "Yilan Xiaotiantian." Xiaotiantian likewise followed Lai Qingsong's "grain shareholder" system to raise funds, and after the harvest delivered the crop to the grain shareholders, ensuring cash income from farming and sharing the risk of farming "dependent on the sky for one's food."

Foolhardy Leave of Absence, Going to Yilan to Guard the Field and Protect the Water

"We originally wanted to take care of the field by dividing the work and rotating shifts, but Brother Qingsong was very wise - he said absolutely not, you must find one person to be responsible, otherwise the field will surely go to waste." Lai Qingsong, who returned to the countryside to farm, knew well the rhythm of farming and the lazy side of human nature, and insisted that these students elect a field manager to be stationed long-term in Yilan. Wu Jialing, then in her third year of graduate school, resolutely decided to take a leave of absence, give up her rented room in Taipei, and come to Yilan to tend the field full-time.

"Right after I finished the leave-of-absence paperwork, actually I cried every day, boo hoo, I'm the kind of person who only gets scared when death is at hand! (The leave of absence) was decided too quickly; only after the paperwork was really done did I feel so down."

With the foolish daring of a farm kid who "doesn't know death," Wu Jialing began living beside the field, following in Lai Qingsong's footsteps, learning to fertilize, release water, work the field, and transplant rice seedlings. As Xiaotiantian's second-year rice crop gradually formed ears, she also got busy queuing for the rice harvester, sending the grain to the rice mill, and occasionally having to receive visiting groups who came because of its reputation; her life was very full.

"Only after coming to farm did I know that Brother Qingsong was right - farming can't be done in rotation; there must be one person specifically responsible." After a certain small "water-grabbing" war, Wu Jialing deeply realized the necessity of farmers guarding the field every day: "I observed that for several days in a row, the amount of water in the irrigation channel beside the field had grown smaller, but the field was exactly at the time it needed water, so I had no choice but to follow the channel to look for the diversion point."

When she reached the diversion point of the irrigation channel, the field's waterway had indeed been diverted by a farmer on the other side. Wu Jialing tried to secretly turn the water flow back up: "The farmer uncle on the other side happened to see me, and he wasn't too happy; he kept asking, how old are you? How many jia do you farm? How many years have you been farming? I was thinking to myself, that's not the point - the point is my field needs water!"

"Because I grew up in the countryside and was taught to respect elders, I didn't talk back, and still smiled at the uncle. First I rode my bike out for a loop, and after he left, I came back and turned the water up, hmph! If I didn't live here every day, I probably wouldn't have noticed the water getting smaller, or thought of going to find the diversion point myself!" Wu Jialing, who repeatedly stressed that she is very polite and respects her elders, still couldn't help adding: "I can finally understand why people in the old days fought with weapons over water! They really would start fighting!"