Storing Winter Vegetables in the Cellar

After the Minor Snow solar term, the weather turns cold. Following northern custom, radishes and cabbages should be put into the vegetable cellar. Autumn harvest and winter storage—spending the winter in the North makes one feel this all the more deeply. Last year, as soon as November began, friends who garden started digging vegetable cellars one after another.

According to the land-rental agreement, digging vegetable cellars was not allowed on our plot. I am an honest sort and followed the agreement strictly. This year I grew quite a lot of cabbage; without a cellar to store them, it would be a pity if they spoiled. It so happened that a neighbor who gardens together with us said that the plot we rented last year was inviting everyone back, and that on that plot one could dig cellars. So a few days ago I spent 3,400 yuan to rent next year's plot there in advance, planning to garden there next year. This year I can just dig a cellar there to bury my radishes and cabbages. As long as these vegetables are kept well, they will last through the whole winter.

By the time I had finally finished digging the cellar on my newly rented plot, more than ten households on our own plot had already dug cellars one after another; the management side of the garden had not strictly enforced the agreement, turning a blind eye. So today I asked Master Zhang, who manages the garden, whether digging cellars was allowed after all. Master Zhang said that in principle cellars were not allowed, but as long as a tenant renewed the lease the following year, they could be allowed to dig one. Had I known that, I would not have gone to the trouble of renting land at the old garden plot.

After thinking it over in the afternoon, I decided to keep renting the plot I am currently farming next year and sublease the old-plot land I had just rented. If I really cannot sublease it, next year I will use it to grow soybeans and corn instead of vegetables. I like the plot I am farming now, because it is close to the hills, with an open view and good sunlight; gardening here makes me happier. So I told Master Zhang I would renew this plot, and then borrowed a shovel from him to dig the cellar. After more than two hours of digging, a new cellar was ready.

The nighttime temperature is very low now; as soon as the cellar was dug, I hurried to put all the cabbages in. Then I found two pieces of discarded greenhouse insulating cloth to cover the cellar, and covered it with another layer of soil about 10 cm thick, leaving only one opening for taking out vegetables. This winter is very cold; without such covering, the cabbages would easily freeze.

In my plot there is also a bed of quick-growing vegetables covered with plastic mulch. This mulch was lent to us by a neighbor who gardens together, who also taught us to use plastic film to insulate autumn and winter vegetables. With this insulating mulch, my small bed of vegetables is growing very well, and the recent severe cold has hardly affected them. Inside the insulating film are purple lettuce, four-season choy sum, romaine, milk cabbage, crown daisy, pak choi, tatsoi, and xiao youcai, among other varieties; all are now ready to eat. So recently, my family's dining table has had no shortage of leafy greens.

After the pandemic began, life changed greatly due to social controls; my family was forced to stay in Beijing most of the time. This small vegetable garden not only solved our vegetable problem, letting us reduce trips to the market and supermarket and lower the risk of virus infection, but also brought us much joy, letting us live happily even in this relatively closed life.

Pandemics often change human history, and this time will be no exception. COVID-19 has profoundly changed the lifestyles of people around the world. We used to scramble for fame and fortune, constantly going outside in search of novelty and excitement; now it is as if we have slammed on the brakes, and we must learn to adapt to a new way of life.

The survival history of humans on Earth can also be called a history of struggle against plagues. We can see the influence of pandemics in many psychological traits and behavioral habits of human beings. Pandemics have made all of us lonelier than before, but loneliness can increase our chances of survival; we must learn to coexist with loneliness. If we cannot adapt to this change, we may be eliminated by nature.