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Posts tagged ‘耕作 farming’

真和假第二期 True and False 2
家作坊@北京有机农夫市集
HomeShop @ Beijing Farmers’ Market

7月27日周六上午11点到16点在颐堤港购物中心将举办“真和假”活动第二期。家作坊再次现身农夫市集并推出两项活动。

On Saturday July 27th, from 11:00 to 16:00 at INDIGO mall HomeShop will hold its second edition of True and False as part of the Beijing Farmers’ Market and Country Fair, hosting  two activities.

12:00 pm — 酒仙桥艺术之旅 Jiuxianqiao Art Tour

艺术的转基因作用,被转基因后的艺术。假作真来,真亦假。真作假来,假亦真…与 “见”赏大师一起去发现有机艺术…

This tour of the new international art works in the Jiuxianqiao area addresses the transgenetic function of  art, and the genetically modified art: When the false is considered true, the true is the false, when the true is considered false, the false is the true… Let’s find organic art together…

全天 all day — 蔬菜洗礼仪式 Vegetable Purification Ceremony

修女艾丽萨 安妮 玛丽 玛丽亚 主持的蔬菜祝福服务主持。
为了保证口味十足,带你的农产品来接受祝福。

Led by Sister Eliza-Annie-Mary-Maria
Bring your produce for a ritual blessing. Guaranteed to enhance taste. 

真和假 True and False
家作坊@北京有机农夫市集
HomeShop @ Beijing Farmers’ Market

2013年夏天,家作坊将作为“北京有机农夫市集”的特别嘉宾出席每半个月一次的“真和假”艺术项目。

“真和假”项目第一期:

6月10日周一上午11点到17点颐堤港购物中心将举办“真和假”活动第一期。澳大利亚艺术团队“平常美术馆”(Normal Gallery)将展出一些他们从澳大利亚买回来的“澳大利亚原住民纪念品”。这次展出的纪念品都是在中国制造,然后出口往澳大利亚,并卖给在当地旅游的人——而这些人大多数是中国游客。 “平常美术馆”(Normal Gallery)(Matthew Greaves, Daniel Stephen Miller, Rohan Schwartz) 将这些纪念品带到中国公众面前,而无需他们乘坐长途飞机去澳大利亚购买。“平常美术馆”还把这些原住民纪念品重新涂上了颜色,让它们看起来就像白人冲浪者,可以说是用一种扭曲的循环方式转变了不同文化符号。 家作坊也将在当天展出自己种植并制作的产品。

待续: @farmersmarketbj
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_725ab7d40101mje7.html

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Over the summer of 2013, HomeShop will participate as a special guest of 北京有机农夫市集 Country Fair & Beijing Farmers’ Market in a bi-weekly series of artistic contributions titled “True and False.”

True and False #1

For the first edition, from 11 am to 5 pm on Monday June 10th at Indigo Mall, Melbourne-based collaboration Normal Gallery (Matthew Greaves, Daniel Stephen Miller and Rohan Schwartz) will be selling 400 hand-modified miniature figurines of Australian Aboriginals (originally made and hand-painted in China) repainted as archetypal caucasian beachgoers.  The figurines will be sold in their country of origin at the original cost price (4RMB each) to address the sovereignty, provenance and legitimacy of these exemplars of Australiana.

HomeShop will also offer a number of home-grown objects to the public.

More info: @farmersmarketbj
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_725ab7d40101mje7.html

春天来了!起床,来城里种菜

在过去的两个星期,家作坊与北京都市农耕联盟的简明清准备了一个很NB的项目:复合养殖! 想法是在屋顶上构建一个鱼与植物的共生系统。具体措施是在一个面积15平方米的穹形暖室中,放置一个容量为2千升的鱼缸并在鱼缸的周围种植蔬菜。计划目前尚处于筹备阶段,在基本结构完成之后,我们会在下个月开始养鱼。如果你有种植,养鱼,工程设计,网页设计,翻译等方面的才华,并希望加入到这个项目中,那就尽管来吧。

3月9号(周六)下午两点,我们将在家作坊召开一个项目筹策会,给参与者介绍一下本项目与复合养殖的基本知识。超希望你的参与!欢迎!

Spring is in the air! Let’s wake up from hibernation and plant the city.

Over the last weeks, we (HomeShop and Beijing Urban Farmers Union’s Jonas Nakonz) have been preparing a pilot project for urban aquaponics in HomeShop. The aim is to grow fish and vegetables in an integrated system on the roof. So far, we’ve been gathering information and creating a rough design for a 2000 Liter fish tank and about 10m2 of vegetables, in a geodesic dome greenhouse. Now it’s a matter of refining the design, sourcing components, and starting to build. We hope to add fish to our tank within a month from now. We would be glad for any contribution of ideas/skills in gardening, fish farming, building, engineering, web programming, translation, etc. Everybody is cordially invited to join our learning journey!

We meet at HomeShop this Saturday, March 9th at 2pm for a kickoff meeting. For newcomers, the idea of aquaponics will be introduced. We’ll discuss where we’re at and how to proceed. With a little luck, we may be ready to build the greenhouse structure that day. (If we aren’t killed by sandstorms.)

北京都市农耕联盟
Beijing Urban Farmers Union

日期/时间 date__ 9月7日周日,下午5点 | Friday, 7 September, 17:00
地点 location__ 家作坊 HomeShop

(在家)堆肥工作坊,北京都市农耕联盟

第一次北京都市农耕联盟的活动反响不错,大家都表示要继续开展一系列的工作坊和会议来继续学习如何在城市内种植。第一步当然是土壤,但是如何获得土壤和有机肥料在城市里一直是个难题;而同时,周围的填埋场63%填埋的却是厨余垃圾,在污染环境。所以,厨余堆肥毫无疑问是都市农耕的优先行动之首。

2012年9月7日下午5点,也就是本周五下午5点,我们很荣幸的邀请到一位很特别的专家来分享户用厨余堆肥技术,她是来自日本旅居柏林的艺术家、园艺师Ayumi Matsuzaka。在过去几年中,Ayumi Matsuzaka在全世界推介她在食物,废弃物及自然循环方面的知识。最近她也参加了在伊比利亚当代艺术中心的“改变的力量!美学与可持续性的探索”系列活动。如果你错过了她在伊比利亚当代艺术中心的活动,人生将在家作坊给你第二次机会,不容再次错过哦!

我们将会了解有关在柏林的都市农耕运动,重点学习这种适用于公寓、阳台或者楼顶的小规模无臭味的堆肥方法。如果你有一个有盖的桶或者箱子(不超过40L),你可以带来参加这个工作坊,之后就可以带着属于你的“启动工具包”回家!

请提前注册,我们好准备相应的材料。谢谢

Beijing Urban Farming Union: home composting workshop

The first Beijing Urban Farming Union event has met with great interest and we vowed to continue a series of workshops and meetings to learn about growing food in the city. It all begins with the soil, but accessing soil and organic nutrients has proven to be a problem in the city; meanwhile, the dumpsites are still filled with 63% kitchen waste, polluting the environment. So practical solutions for home composting are at the top of the priority list.

This Friday (7 September 2012) at 5pm, we will have the pleasure to learn a proven home composting method from a very distinguished specialist. Ayumi Matsuzaka is a japanese artist and gardener living in Berlin; she has travelled the world spreading her knowledge on food, waste, and natural cycles for several years; in Beijing she also takes part of the sustainability/art series “Examples to Follow” at Iberia Art center. For those who couldn’t meet her there, life gives you a second chance at HomeShop. Don’t miss it!

We will learn about the urban gardening movement in Berlin and focus on a small-scale non-smelly composting method for your apartment/balcony/rooftop. If you have a used bucket or box with a lid (up to 40 liters), you can bring it to the workshop and take home your starter kit.

Please register in advance for us to prepare the materials.

价格 cost__ 20元

报名请联系 please rsvp__ lianxi@homeshop.org.cn

日历餐厅 Calendar Restaurant__ 七夕餐  7-threaded dinner
日期/时间 date__ 8月24日周五,晚上6点 | Friday, 24 August, 18:00
地点 location__ 家作坊 HomeShop

要预约 Reservation required

August 23rd is the 処暑 (Chǔshǔ) in 24 solar terms of Chinese calendar and known as the summer heat is decline. In solar calendar, it is July 7th; the day of well-known myth in China and Eastern Asian Country about the lover: princess and cow keeper could meet up on the sky with milky way only on this day. Calendar Restaurant invites 7 chefs that provide an evening for the 7 guests. We will explore our experience of Love (human kinds to romantic to friendship) with 7 dishes with sense of taste (Umami, Sour, Afrodiziack, Bitter, Salty, Hot, Sweet), 7 feelings, 7 music and 7 colors. Seasonal vegetables are also participating from HomeShop rooftop garden and Runtian Farm.

参 加厨师 Participating chefs__ 老羊 Lao Yang, 高灵 Gao Ling, 刘畅 Liu Chang, 马艾迪 Michael Eddy, Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga, Pilar Escuder, Petra Johnson
诗歌朗诵 Poetry reading__ 王尘尘 Wang Chen Chen

组织 日历餐厅 Calendar Restaurant by__ 植村絵美 Emi UEMURA and 方丹敏 Barbara FANG


支持 Supported by__ 家作坊 HomeShop, 潤田农园 Runtian Farm
价格 cost__  50元

 

日历餐厅介绍 About Calendar Restaurant__
日 历餐 厅是在种植季节期间每月开放一次的餐厅。它始于2010年7月至10月的一个艺术项目。自 2011年种植季节起,我们希望在日常生活和植物生长的时间表(这也是日历的来历)下探索这种实践。在日历餐厅,消费者变成厨师, 从我们的田园中采摘新鲜蔬菜, 并分享各自的经验。一起做好饭后, 大家围坐在一起,还会讨论一些更复杂的话题:健康、食品安全、社会、政治、天 气、中医、老北京烹饪、食物设计和储存-当然,这些看上去严肃的讨论并不会影响我们品尝美味。2011年我们的种植场地由小毛驴农场赞助,日历餐厅由家作 坊支持、2012年我们的种植场地由 潤田農園赞助,日历餐厅由家作坊支持。
 


Calendar Restaurant is a restaurant that opens once every month during the course of the farming season. It was initiated within the context of an art project from July to October, 2010. When farming started in 2011, we simply wanted to explore this practice within the framework of daily life and timeline of vegetables’ growth (that is where the calendar originates). In this restaurant, customers become cooks, working with fresh vegetables from our garden and sharing stories of their experiences. Once food is ready we sit together at one big table to discuss complex food issues: health, food safety, social systems, politics, weather, Chinese medicine, old Beijing cooking, food design and preservation ― but not to the point of making the taste muddy! This year our farm plot is supported by Runtian Farm and the restaurant is supported by HomeShop.

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“七线餐”由家作坊组办,是家作坊和“与我行走”项目合作的第二个活动。 “与我同行”由德国艺术家Petra JOHNSON发起,将于2012-2013年期间在科隆和北京同时进行。“与我行走”项目得到北京德国文化中心·歌德学院(中国)和德国科隆市支持。
Organized by HomeShop, 7-threaded dinner is the second installment in a cooperation between HomeShop and Walk with Me, a project initiated by Petra JOHNSON, to be realized throughout 2012 and 2013, between Cologne and Beijing. Walk with Me is kindly supported by the Goethe-Institut Beijing and the city of Cologne.

北京都市农耕联盟 启动会:8月11日,16:00 @家作坊
Beijing Urban Farming Union kickoff meeting: August 11, 16:00 @ HomeShop

诚邀您来家作坊参加这次有关都市农耕交流,来认识志同道合的朋友,了解关于都市农耕的实际情况和DIY自己动手的技术,与其他朋友分享自己的知识和经验。 从哪弄土壤和肥料? 从哪获得种子? 用什么容器? 在哪种? 该如何共同努力才能把都市农耕变得更容易更有趣呢? 为了解答这些问题,我们将组织参观家作坊的实地小农场、堆肥实验及种子交换库,对小型的民间及社区农耕行动进行介绍,探讨连接不同的农耕群体(包括潜在的农耕者)并促进他们的合作的可能途径。 我们应该在城市里种植更多的粮食和蔬菜! 这次交流会就是为了邀请大家参与进来!

Please join us for a gathering at HomeShop to exchange on urban farming in Beijing. It’s an opportunity to meet likeminded people, learn some facts and d.i.y. techniques, and share knowledge and experiences. How can we access soil and fertilizer? Where can we get seeds? What materials can we use for containers, and where can we put them? How can we work together to make it easier and more fun?

To address these questions, on the agenda will be a tour of HomeShop’s on-site small farm and composting experiments and Seed Exchange Bank, presentations on small civil-society and community initiatives into agriculture in Beijing, and envisioning possible ways of linking up and cooperating among diverse groups of growers (and potential growers).

We should grow more food in the cities! This meeting is an invitation to get involved.

共同组织:家作坊和简明清
Co-organized by HomeShop and Jonas Nakonz 

其他:
在家门口种上一株黄瓜,即刻你就被转移到一个包含所有下列事物的宇宙:全球政治,复杂生态系统,社会变化,减缓气候变化,DIY技术,大大提高的生活质量和关注自然之美带来的精神上感悟。 民以食为天,但是平常你吃的食物可能带来生物多样性破坏,全球气候变化,土壤和水的污染。
数据: 在中国,农业一个部门排放的温室气体是整个工业部门的将近两倍。每年中国使用约有5千万吨化学肥料,但只有17%被作物吸收,其余的则都流失到了环境中。更不用说,每年喷洒在你食物上的150万吨农药,还有在生产这些农药过程中使用的煤炭能源。而在中国,马路上30%的耗油大卡车实际上是在运送粮食。如果你能闻到饭菜里的燃油气味,肯定吃不下饭!
中国的城市化带来了人类历史上最大规模的人口迁移,也创造了大约1万平方公里的可使用的屋顶面积,这些空间给有机种植者提供了一个庞大的舞台来解决前面提到的问题。此外,大量的有机质以厨余垃圾的形式被浪费。北京每天就填埋处理8千吨,焚烧处理2千吨厨余垃圾,而这些厨余垃圾完全经过堆肥处理制成有机肥来供都市农耕使用。 在市区,“桶园艺”令人耳目一新,尤其在中老年人中很流行。但都市农耕的潜力远远不止于此。技术琳琅满目,从利用回收的瓶子完成自灌的简易系统到由传感器控制的自动化农场,非常有意思。任何空间和环境都有其用武之地。都市农耕能把灰暗压抑的水泥空间变成令人耳目一新的的放松与聊天场所。它创新社区、交流网络、以及教育和能力建设的平台。不要再等政府来帮忙解决我们这个星球的问题。如果你种下那棵黄瓜,那么你就为一项伟大的事业贡献了一份力量!

More:
Plant a cucumber at your doorstep and you’re instantly beamed into a universe of global politics, complex ecosystems, social change, climate change mitigation, d.i.y. technology, massively improved quality of life and spiritual enlightenment contemplating the beauty of nature. Food sustains life; but eating your average food can contribute to the destruction of biodiversity, global warming and poisoning of soils and water.
Some figures: Chinese agriculture emits almost twice as much greenhouse gas than its entire industrial sector. Of the yearly 50 Million tons of inorganic fertilizer poured onto Chinese soil, only 17% is taken up by crops. The rest is “lost to the environment”. Not to mention the yearly dose of 1.5 million tons of toxic pesticides sprayed on your food, and the coal-burning energy to produce that stuff. What is more, 30% of all fuel guzzling trucks on Chinese roads are actually transporting food – if you could smell the carbon in your dish you’d choke.
Chinese urbanization – the largest migration in human history – has led to the creation of an estimated 10,000 km2 of unused rooftop area in China; that’s a big playground for organic gardeners to counter these problems. There’s tons of wasted organic matter; Beijing alone sends 8000 tons of food waste to the landfills every day and burns another 2000 tons. All of that could be put into compost bins and provide clean nutrients for your food. In Chinese cities, bucket gardening is refreshingly popular, particularly among the elderly. But the potential of urban farming goes far beyond. There are fascinating technologies, ranging from easy self-watering systems from recycled bottles to sensor-controlled automated farms. There is something smart for every space and condition. Urban farming can transform gray concrete into spaces of relaxation and dialogue. It creates community, networks of exchange, a platform for education and empowerment. Don’t wait until governments solve the problems of this planet. If you plant that cucumber, you’re part of a big thing!

让先人给让先人给我们指点迷津 Let’s get some help from the Dead

日期 date:  2012年4月4日(清明),星期三下午二点 / Wed 4 April (Tomb sweeping day) 2012, 14:00

地点 location: 家作坊 HomeShop[地图 / map

用费 cost: 44

人 类的延续,就是生命一个个轮回交替,为生者死,为死者生。今年我们会设计一个人形种植园(一直到5月20日),这象征着人的身体与自然的物质转换与平衡。 中国传统的清明节祭扫,会用各种食物祭奠先人,因此我们还尝试恢复清明节中另一个重要的部分——寒食节,因此今年我们除了会焚烧一些特殊的纸钱,还欢迎大 家来这里跟我们一起吃冷食过节。

For human survival, we receive other’s life for maintain our own life. Today is the perfect day to appreciate their work on food production even after the loss of life. We will design the body sized garden (continued on 5月 20日) burning giant building and eating cold food to celebrate together with the dead.

organized by 植村絵美 Emi UEMURA, 方丹敏 Barbara FANG and Michael EDDY

 

日历餐厅介绍 About Calendar Restaurant:

日历餐厅是在种植季节期间每月开放一次的餐厅。它始于2010年7月至10月的一个艺术项目。自 2011年种植季节起,我们希望在日常生活和植物生长的时间表(这也是日历的来历)下探索这种实践。在日历餐厅,消费者变成厨师, 从我们的田园中采摘新鲜蔬菜, 并分享各自的经验。一起做好饭后, 大家围坐在一起,还会讨论一些更复杂的话题:健康、食品安全、社会、政治、天 气、中医、老北京烹饪、食物设计和储存-当然,这些看上去严肃的讨论并不会影响我们品尝美味。2011年我们的种植场地由小毛驴农场赞助,日历餐厅由家作坊支持、2012年我们的种植场地由 潤田農園赞助,日历餐厅由家作坊支持。
 
Calendar Restaurant is a restaurant that opens once every month during the course of the farming season. It was initiated within the context of an art project from July to October, 2010. When farming started in 2011, we simply wanted to explore this practice within the framework of daily life and timeline of vegetables’ growth (that is where the calendar originates). In this restaurant, customers become cooks, working with fresh vegetables from our garden and sharing stories of their experiences. Once food is ready we sit together at one big table to discuss complex food issues: health, food safety, social systems, politics, weather, Chinese medicine, old Beijing cooking, food design and preservation ― but not to the point of making the taste muddy! This year our farm plot is supported by Runtian Farm and the restaurant is supported by HomeShop. Calendar Restaurant is organized by 植村絵美  Emi UEMURA and 方丹敏 Barbara FANG

日历餐厅 时间表 春夏 2012 Spring Summer Calendar Restaurant Schedule

3月20日(春分)开始農耕 Start farming
4月4日 星期二(清明)让我们为先人做点什么 Let’s Get some help from the dead
5月6日 星期天 (立夏)日历餐厅开放日Calendar Restaurant Open
5月20日 星期天 (小満) 想得瓜就种瓜,想得豆就种豆  Planting seeds for your wishes
6月2日 星期六 (芒种)儿童乐园 Child land
6月23日星期六(夏至)传统中医食物  Chinese Medicinal Food
7月休 holiday
8月5日(立秋)星期天 日历餐厅研究计划 Calendar Restaurant Research Trip
8月24日(七夕)星期五 情人餐 Dinner for Love

Michael和絵美的2012年家作坊种菜计划 Michael and Emi’s 2012 planting map

I begin to doubt again most of my/our uses of language. This is spoken in the utter irony of putting thoughts down in words, because one questions (or is questioned) about the content behind the forms of a p and q, and this process of moving from what could have been imagined to be an idea, to an expression or representation of such is broken, delayed, placed on the blinks of doubt. To use the phrase “design life” is perhaps too pompous, too contrived, too strategic. But why hold me to such fixities if words are so ambivalent anyway, and why cannot a larger thinking about our forms of organisation be pointed to in the close-up photograph of a bubble of spit on the street or the details of planting which seeds in which places? Are these merely illustrations or the desiring of a wannabe editor? And by “editor” are we referencing forms of control or a just a way of seeing matters of scale? Edward‘s limbo could be a misuse of the word just as design life is, but both are trying to refer to processes that necessarily implicate questions of scale. An end product will always also point to a system and ethics of thought, but an unfinished product does so in a manner that opens up a different degree of spacing or questioning of said system. Or you could follow the route of the fallible everything any-which-how, and no one is responsible. One can simply wallow, like she, in a days’ long vat of pointlessness. We’ve been talking a lot lately about the meaning of “style”, passing through one too many misunderstandings, so “style” may just as well be the passive sister to the silly designation of “design life”, but as F says, it’s a question of accessibility, and either you are intrigued for more or bored to death. CHOOSE, you choose!

Yesterday under the warmest weather yet this year, we began our “front stoop beautification” work, which included first asking FAN laoshi about the best way to go about planting the flower seeds we bought: 柠檬薄荷 lemon balm、鸡冠花 common cockscomb(曲哥的选择,高蓓说很重口味)、小猫草 catnip (给我们小点点的礼物)、鸡蛋花 egg flower、红叶景天 stonecrop、驱蚊草 geranium (mistranslated and mispictured on the package as chamomile—we’ll see what we get). There were also two free packages of 羊角椒 sheep horn pepper seeds with purchase. Included in this undertaking is a consideration of various forms of local expertise in ways that one may not be familiar with, country-kid versus city-kid jokes, plus a tender amount of 凑合 improvising for our flower pot anti-theft system, which failed miserably in the past. “Design life” secret à la Twist: connect several pots together with iron wire that is bound to each pot through the bottom hole, anchored inside the pot with a long screw or half of a chopstick.

设计手法 002:补丁内裤
纪录时间与地点:2012年3月27日下午1点37分,交道口北二条6号

Design Technique No. 002: patching old underwear
Logged:  27 March 2012, 13.37; Jiaodaokou Beiertiao 6

Also inspired by the visit earlier in the day to 刘家奶奶 our granny neighbour’s house, an old clove of garlic that someone left on our window ledge a few days ago was spontaneously thumbed into one of the pots. Jam instructs, “不要把土!直接插进去就行。Don’t dig into the soil! Just pushing it in there is enough.” Expertise is hearsay. We’ll see what we get.

Mashipo  馬屎埔

It was a surprisingly cool mid-afternoon as our group finally reached what had once been the Mashipo wetlands, which used to cover the area from the river to well beyond the Fanling metro station. We lingered on the sidewalk looking over the densely grown bushes and jerry-rigged assemblages forming the boundary fencing of individual plots. On first inspection, it looked like a vital place: there was a hand-painted sign indicating an organic farmers market near a sheltered post-box unit, and an intermittent flow of pedestrians and cyclists of various ages maneuvered down the concrete paths that strayed into the lush interior, where well-kept houses of corrugated metal were guarded by zealous dogs. Finally our guide, a 60-something year old retired land surveyor (“Not for the developers!”) named Raymond, came out on one of these paths to meet us, and swiftly led us in along toward his land. It was late February but the plants we passed appeared to be in mid-growth (perhaps only notable if you consider the several months until the soil in Beijing takes on the appearance of anything but desiccated silt). Raymond halted briefly at a series of several quadrants where the ground was fastened with tiles and concrete. Here had once stood shacks housing families. Henderson, one of the largest real estate companies in Hong Kong, had been buying up such properties, piece by piece, and either flattening them or smashing them out like gaping lifeless examples in order to unsettle those who still remained.  Raymond’s eyes sparkled as he explained his plan (in perfect English, for my sake): to occupy one yard with festival tents or other makeshift shelters, and refuse to leave until the real estate company took them to court to force removal; then—gesturing gingerly with his arms—he would move the entire occupation a few meters over to the yard “next-door,” repeating the process whenever they received a new notice, and then start all over, therefore dragging any possible removal into some indeterminate future. I asked him whether he had tried this tactic before, and he smiled and said, not yet, but I think it should work.

Moving along, we stopped near an area of turned earth that had been sprinkled with a white powder. Raymond indicated that this would be where they would grow yellow ginger to sell at cost to the pregnant mothers of Hong Kong; without a profit, he stressed, so that the people will understand what our purpose is. And this was just the beginning of the plans for the lengthy strip of land on which we were standing. Raymond’s father-in-law had occupied this government-owned land as tenant in 1960, which was then, ironically, licensed to him by the government in 1970, when it was zoned for agriculture. In the last few years, as was mentioned above, the land has been leased (land can only be leased from the government in Hong Kong, as in PRC) in portions to Henderson to develop apartment high rises. Even if the area we were standing on did not itself become a construction site, development of the sections that had already been bought would basically render the area unfit for cultivation because of the shadows the buildings would cast. The consultancy period for the development of the area had been due to be completed in 2012, but already resistance to the plan had resulted in a delay to the project of 4 years. In the meanwhile, Raymond and his family, as well as a group of young activists and others, are planning a number of projects to further resist and delay the development of the area, involving as many parties as possible. 

As it stands, there are a number of others farming the land, not all of whom have necessarily signed on for the resistance to Henderson and the government. Some of these (apparently mainland Chinese) people come from the large complexes across the road and just want a spot to grow their own vegetables. But lacking knowledge of organic or traditional methods of growing or land management, they have no second thoughts about using pesticides or about lopping off the branches of a perfectly healthy lychee tree (that now had rubber boots inverted on the branch stubs). Such practices were all more self-evidently faulty to the people who had actually been living on the land next to the growing crops. And indeed, not many people actually live on the land anymore. This marks the endeavor of Raymond and his allies as somewhat different from other well-known examples of agriculture, activism and culture uniting in civil resistance against the loss of farm lands and traditional lives at the hands of government and developer collaboration. One of the most well-known of these struggles was the opposition to the Hong Kong–Shenzhen–Guangzhou express rail link, which caused the demolition of Choi Yuen Tsuen and displaced its villagers in a process spanning from 2009–2011. Though the loss of the village is long foregone by now, the resistance actions that included petitions, protests and artistic/activist cultural projects are still felt through a legacy of publications, documentaries, online discussions, and more importantly, through a lasting coalition of efforts that came together and carries over to other fields and new challenges. “There are hundreds of Choi Yuen Tsuens,” I was told, and some of the spirit of possibility carries over to Mashipo. The plan of Raymond and the others, however, is not only based on the injustice of displacement, but about proposing an alternative to the craze for destroying green and natural areas: “a showcase for traditional agriculture.”

Winding our way along a path past a giant mulberry tree and the small house where Raymond’s 90-year old father lives, and through a field of blossoming dill, chamomile and other flowering vegetables, we came to a grove of banana trees and a thin corridor of tall grass on the edge of a stream hidden by undergrowth. Raymond described his plan to construct a mud and straw house in a traditional Guangdong style, his tone sounding urgent since this is best done in the winter. This house had to be built now, but so did the many other initiatives that would go nowhere if brought as proposals to the government first; the key was to simply start doing things. Other ideas included a fish pond, which would also demonstrate cultivation of aquatic flowers, a community kitchen and a composting process, and in the fields, an emphasis on local herbs and vegetables; in short an eco-system that would make good use of this fertile soil. One of the city-based organizers involved in the Mashipo project, Kim Ching, showed me their layout for an edible garden. I asked whether they were reaching out by organizing an allotment system for people to come and grow, or by holding farmers markets or some sort of experimental farming school. (Raymond kind of groaned when I mentioned the sign advertising the organic farmers market I had seen back by the road, explaining that he and others had started it but that now, run by different people, mostly cheap organic produce flooding in from from Mainland China is sold there.) But I was quickly corrected: “Not only a farming school—but everything, public gatherings—in fact, almost everything is related to farming.” 

The impetus behind Mashipo, then, is the construction of public space, in light of (or in spite of) its decimation by the CEOs of both Hong Kong’s administration and its corporations. This form of awareness and discourse was refreshing in a place that is effectively under control of the mainland Government, which also makes it seem fragile. As we looped back toward the street, the heavy evening sky darkened and fused with the curtain of mountains that form the backdrop for the skinny high rises clustering the New Territories. We turned around toward the north and Raymond pointed out some towers looming in the distance spelling out words with LEDs on their ostentatious surfaces. That’s Shenzhen right over there, he said. You can see how convenient it will be to drive down and stop here overnight before getting on the metro to your meetings in the morning, he mused rather reasonably. This observation betrayed no ignorance of the forces they are up against. And with my limited knowledge, I considered how unlikely this situation would be back in Beijing or elsewhere on the mainland: a 4-year delay because of complaints? Was this the patronizing local government appeasing environmentalist nostalgia for the sake of an appearance of validity, or what? (Could it actually be a soft-spot for democracy?) Setting aside doubts about the potency of the deputy authorities and their games, such a delay would certainly be grasped by the citizens of Hong Kong for its possibility to cultivate much more than a few feral papayas. Much more.

 

Can you identify which pictures are from Dalian and which are from Beiertiao?
你能分辨哪些来自大连,哪些来自北二条吗?