Sugar-making lessons: The experience Mr. Kong taught me
This year marks the completion of 6 full years of my practice of Shu Mei natural farming. They say three years brings small success, ten years brings great success. These 6 years have truly been filled with every kind of hardship, and I have tasted all the sour, sweet, bitter and spicy of life. I have always been poor with words, unable to express what I think and feel. If I try to write it down, well, my writing star is afflicted by Wen Qu turning into Ji. It is like the awkward plight of Han Xin who stuttered, or Wang Xizhi with a disabled hand.
Facing the tricks and arrangements of my innate fate, only at the age of 40, the year of no confusion, did I finally see my own shortcomings clearly.
During the 6 years since I returned to my hometown to farm, I also went a full 6 years without being able to finish a single book. In the past I never let go of a book. Facing this change, I am very optimistic and thankful. I know that all of heaven's arrangements are carefully designed. I very much look forward to what surprises this period of time will bring me.
Back to the point. After more than ten years of things not going smoothly, I changed 12 jobs and moved house 12 times. In the past, I did indeed spend a period blaming heaven and resenting others, complaining that heaven did not open its eyes and made me so miserable. I came through by relying on faith. Although I sometimes complain, most of the time I still learn to walk on with gratitude. The saying I understood most deeply during this period is: every arrangement encountered in life is God's careful design. It all depends on the angle from which we look at it.
4 years ago, God's guidance led me to start brewing enzymes. The first year sold quite well. But good times do not last. The second year did not sell as well as the first year. When you fail to get what you seek, turn inward and examine yourself. After reviewing and asking consumers for their opinions, the conclusion was that it was too sweet. After all, it needs sugar to brew, so of course it will be very sweet. Lowering the sugar ratio would of course be somewhat better. But when the sweetness is not enough, it in turn creates the problem of spoiling easily. On top of that, the sugar, which accounts for half of the usage, is not something we produce ourselves. Encountering all these kinds of problems was truly thorny. Just when I was wondering whether to give up, I happened to meet a benefactor who had drunk an enzyme that was delicious yet not very sweet. And even the sugar was grown and processed by the producer himself. This shocked me greatly. Because how much land, how much labor, how much care and skill would it take to produce such a bottle of enzyme? Who grows white sugarcane and makes their own sugar these days? How troublesome that would be! But that is considered from the producer's point of view. If we stand in the consumer's position and can drink such an enzyme, how blessed that would be. If it were me, if there were such an enzyme, I would also want to buy it and savor it properly.
But this is merely pure fantasy. Because I am just a small farmer. And a natural farmer who cannot even keep three meals on the table. So this thought can only be kept in my heart.
Not long after, a senior friend who had practiced in Taipei, China for more than 20 years told me that the quality of sugar on the market is poor and there may be concerns about heavy metals. These words shocked me even more. I thought to myself, no wonder it is so hard to be healthy. There is pollution everywhere.
At that moment, I understood the saying that all arrangements are God's careful design. I felt that I should begin trying to brew that bottle of enzyme the benefactor had drunk. I should begin trying to find land, find white sugarcane seedlings, and learn to make sugar. Wow! What a massive undertaking. But in my heart there was an inexplicable excitement.
Wow. A whole series of so many unknown fields to explore. My fibrous roots can reach out there. To me, learning is exciting and joyful. And through it I can meet God. This is how I have always met God. Moreover, when I was little I also harvested white sugarcane, so being able to relive childhood memories is even more something I look forward to.
December 21, 2009. After several months of planning, the sugarcane planting finally began. Early in the morning, before I had even eaten, I was already excitedly rushing to begin. About one fen of land of sugarcane. It was all planted before even a morning had passed. As the sugarcane grew, I began to build a dream belonging to me and belonging to everyone. Perhaps it will succeed, perhaps it will fail. But all of it is a precious learning opportunity.
Now, after 3 years of effort, I never imagined that back then, knowing nothing, I was only thinking of boiling sugar that consumers could eat with peace of mind. Such an original intention actually matches what Confucius said: The gentleman seeks the Way, not food. In plowing, hunger may lie therein. In learning, reward may lie therein. The gentleman worries about the Way, not poverty.
In the past I changed 12 jobs. On reviewing the reason for failure, it was precisely worrying about poverty and not about the Way, seeking food and not seeking the Way. That is why I kept tasting bitter fruit. Now with one correct thought, I have instead received God's favor. Think about it. Now sugarcane and brown sugar products have already become the main income of Luo Jie Farm. Success is one thought. Failure is one thought. How cautious should we not be.