Remember that red barrow that is pulled by motorcycle-like engine? I drove that today while hauling someone standing on a cutting device. I felt like a reindeer.
What is that hauling device for? Because Wenxin does not use herbicide and he doesn't have time to get rid of weeds manually, he thought about a way to manage the weeds, having it as part of the fertilizer and still able to work with all the weeds growing around him. This hauling, cutting device travels through the fields and flattens all the weeds on the ground, giving Wenxin enough space to walk around. What is more amazing about this method is that with the weeds don't get completely cut, they still contain insects and bugs that are beneficial for the soil and the environment. This is what Wenxin kept repeating throughout the two days that I visit him. He couldn't stress it enough.
He flipped over one of the flattened weeds for us to see the soil beneath; he pointed out the presence of worm fesces that are super nutritious for the roots of the Tankan. From his expression, you see tell that he is very proud of his method of managing weeds. He says, one step of your footprint contains thousands of organisms that the human eye can't see, and with herbicide, you destroy all of that.
What else did I do today? I fed one row of Tankan trees (about 20 of them) vinegar, their beauty care. Wenxin's name for his farm is Orange eats vinegar (in Mandarin, it may sound like "orange is jealous" at the same time). The vinegar is mixed with calcium oxide to replace the use of chemical fertilizer. He sprays all the Tankan oranges a couple times before harvest to make the oranges healthier and tastier. He also smudges some grammite on the Tankans that are more exposed to sunlight, so that they don't get 'sunburnt'.
While spraying the Tankan oranges with the vinegar, little sprinkles also got sprayed on me and I tasted some vinegar. I wonder how much vinegar Wenxin has drank while feeding these oranges. Looking at the vinegar and reflecting on his experiences, I understand why he refused to align himself with other farmers whose products he claims are pretty much controlled by pesticide companies. Whenever I look at the other farms that I pass by, I no longer think of them as simply farms, but the setting of a process of creating, killing and selling. How much patience, time and money do we have to use up to maintain the quality of not only what we consume but also where we live, so that we play fair with the environment, so that we no longer conquer it in our own way, so that we actually live WITH the environment.
