Organic production, sustainable farming methods, and agroecological practices.
Editor’s Note In the previous instalment of this column, Sister Yiguo showed us how she uses her ‘Little Dining Table’ in the city to provide her friends with wholesome, delicious meals. Even more dedicated than her is the producer of the rice served at that table—Chen Ying, the owner of…
I. Devastating Yield Loss: The ‘Super Lean Year’ for Lychees Conghua District in Guangzhou is one of the primary lychee-producing regions in Guangdong. July is the peak harvest season, but some sights that were once commonplace are vanishing. Where branches used to bow under the weight of fruit, there are…
“These oats were sown in mid-October last year; we’ve found that the ‘Eagle’ variety performs best. If we use dense planting, the yield per unit will be higher.” “Have you tried sparse planting?” On 12 June, at Gut Wilmersdorf, an organic farm an hour’s drive from Berlin, a group of…
Foodthink Says The rainfall in the south this year has been distressing; we have not only seen the devastation in the news but have also received a steady stream of bad news from our farming friends about reduced yields. Our old friend Kouzi, based in Fujian, has seen almost total…
From the 1844 Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers to food and farming practices in Chengdu, Beijing and Taiwan, readers can see how consumer co-operatives and farmers’ co-operatives connect producers and consumers, and explore healthy, fair and sustainable food pathways.
Our guest for this episode of Food Talk, Huang Guoliang, is a veteran rural development worker. Like many of our friends in the field, we are more accustomed to calling him “Lao Liu”. Since dedicating himself to rural reconstruction in 2005, Lao Liu has worked in the countryside for nearly…
Editor’s Note In the Yulin community of Chengdu, a vegetable “blind box” from farmer-friend Hu Xuemei brought a little “shock” and an unexpected change to Xia Lili, the cook of the Little Dining Table. This is the fourth instalment of “Master One-Pot’s Little Dining Table”, which will discuss Xia Lili’s…
I. Setting Out with Questions In late March, I began a three-month internship at Guixinyuan Farm. Partly, it was to see if I was cut out for a life of agricultural labour; partly, I was searching for an ideal model of farming: what should be the relationship between agriculture and…
I. My Story with Fireflies As a Northerner, I had never seen a firefly before the age of fifty; my limited knowledge was confined to the idiom “studying by the light of reflected snow and fireflies in a bag”. That was until I found myself immersed in a sea of…
Editor’s Note In the opening of the “One-Pot Abbess’s Little Dining Table” series, Xia Lili begins with a series of memories, explaining her “dining table” philosophy and the origins of the Little Dining Table project. In this piece, Xia Lili takes us into the vivid reality of the project. Stationed…
