Seven Years of Growing Vegetables on the Outskirts of Beijing

Last weekend I returned to Beijing and took some time to turn over the soil and spread two bags of farmyard manure. After finishing work yesterday afternoon, my wife insisted on accompanying me to the mountains of Mentougou to see the spring wildflowers; she was probably feeling for her husband, now studying and working at full capacity around the clock, and wanted me to get out and relax.

By the time we reached Mentougou it was 5:30 in the afternoon. It gets dark early in the mountains, so we could only admire the flowers in the twilight. Mentougou is cooler than Haidian; the blossoms on the hills were not yet in full bloom as they are here.

We strolled along the mountain road and reached Dianjiatan village. A few years ago a flash flood devastated many villages in Mentougou; Dianjiatan was hit especially hard, but now it has recovered, and the newly built memorial archway is grand. Dianjiatan lies beside the Yongding River; after the flood, fertile new farmland silted up at the village entrance.

Wandering through the village we happened upon a woman growing vegetables who warmly urged us to buy her produce. I asked for some lettuce and romaine seedlings, which she packed in a discarded foam box for me to bring back. This morning I planted them in the garden. A neighbor who gardens alongside me had extra cabbage seedlings, so I took some and planted those too.

I have grown vegetables on this plot for seven years now and am well acquainted with the neighbors who garden nearby. People who like gardening in the suburbs are generally even-tempered and easy to get along with; I enjoy their company. Although our ages may differ greatly, our love of gardening gives us much to talk about.

These neighbors are also very kind. When I am busy and ask them to look after the plot, they gladly help. Now that I am at school and my wife is busy at work, without their help we could not manage this garden.

This little vegetable plot is my paradise. Close contact with nature gives a grounded, peaceful happiness. The real world is always full of unsettling news; in recent years, pandemics, wars, trade disputes, and new technological revolutions have made many anxious about life and work. We have gradually forgotten that we are children of nature and that, in fact, survival need not be so complicated: enough to eat and clothes to wear is enough to live.

I think I will probably keep tending a small plot of land, so as not to be cut off from nature, nor carried aloft on the great wings of modern society, anxious because I cannot see the ground beneath me. Only with our feet on the earth can our hearts be at peace.