As part of Emi UEMURA’s project “Mobile Garden & Calendar Restaurant” at the shop’s summer space in Caochangdi, on September 18th 2010 we invite you to “Country Fair,” a gathering of local farmers whose practices emphasize organic, community-based and wholistic approaches.

The farmers, some of whom will be offering their produce for sale, will be available for exchanges of information and conversation. From 2pm to 4pm, there will be a round table discussion (in Chinese, but we will try to have some informal translation available) about farming in Beijing and China in general, and it should be quite inspiring and informative. Natural farming techniques are relatively small scale in Beijing, but as it grows what does it represent for the way our cities are fed, and as it becomes appropriated into an “industry” and a lifestyle image? How does it challenge the way we live, and our own potential to grow? Very important questions can be sourced to potatoes.

Please make your way to the shop on September 18th and join in!

Country Fair
September 18th, 2010

小毛驴市民农园 Little Donkey Farm, 天福園 God’s Grace Garden, 芳嘉园Farmer Duan, Lily Hsieh (Urban Compost), Laura (Vegan Baking), 方丹敏 Danmin (Calendar Dumplings), Pangbianr (Recipes Zine), and more

Market starting: 1:00 ~5:00pm

Round table talk : 2:00 ~ 4:00 pm

E-mail: project@vitamincreativespace.com

维他命创意空间这个店在草场地, 正在进行移动花园和日历餐厅计划.

移动花园计划通过在泡沫塑料盒里面栽培花草蔬菜, 来示范非传统的食物种植、食用方式. 日历餐厅计划根据移动花园的蔬菜成长情况来决定什么时候营业, 采用我们亲自栽培烹调的时蔬, 菜单上有比萨, 沙拉, 豆芽等选择.

种植天然、有机蔬菜的农民与北京的消费者之间依然缺乏链接, 部分农民存有多余的有机产品, 而市内的消费者却不知道如何享用到天然食物. 我的设想是在当地农贸集会上进行一些试验, 让消费者即可以支持当地农民, 又能了解到市场上有哪些选择, 以及怎么成为一名负责任的城市消费者.

移动花园和日历餐厅也可以作为我们的起点, 进一步促进农民与消费者之间的交流, 鼓励双方建立关系, 例如, 我们会邀请当地种植天然、有机食物的农民们参加资讯分享, 并交流有关宣传, 包装, 运输等方面的经验. 我们的小店也可以作为短期的销售点, 农民可以在店里寄卖蔬菜作为练习. 同时我们还在考虑如何在农民与艺术家之间产生有关农业和食物的对话.

On Wednesday Maya and I trekked to Houshajian to check out Emi‘s farm. From the Beigongmen stop on the far NW end of Line 4, we rode the 330 bus for an hour to its terminus outside the northwest corner of the 6th ring road.

我下个星期三去后沙涧看我朋友絵美的农场。去地铁4号线北宫门站然后汽车330号到小村在西北6环。

Emi rents her plot of farmland from a larger collection of farmers mostly associated with Little Donkey Farm, an organic CSA jointly operated by the Haidian government, Renmin University and Green Ground Eco-Tech Center.

絵美的农园是小毛驴农园的一部分。小毛驴农园是一个社区支持农业（CSA）工程经营海淀区政府，人民大学农业与农村发展学院， 和国仁城乡科技发展中心。

Though it felt like the crack of dawn to me, we arrived well after the other farmers had finished their lunch so we took the recommendation of one of the Little Donkey Farmers to eat at at Lu Ya Tian Yuan in a nearby village. Maya asked them to cook up whatever was freshest so we were served a rare seasonal treat of fried squash blossoms accompanied by a lightly fried tree leaf that tasted bitter and somewhat basil-like, along with some exceptionally fresh doufu baicai soup.

我们到的时候，絵美的朋友推荐了绿雅田园，她很喜欢的饭馆。在绿雅田园我们吃了特别新鲜的西葫芦的花，有点苦的树叶，和豆腐白菜汤。

squash blossom / 西葫芦的花

bitter tree leaves / 有点苦的树叶

pigs and (semi) free-range chickens / 猪和自由放牧场的鸡

While Emi tracked down some tools Maya and I scoped out the local fauna. Little Donkey Farm raises pigs and chickens in a relatively free-range/”organic” environment. While I haven’t seen many Chinese farms outside of extremely rural contexts, I imagine LDF’s setup has to be fairly rare and humane for Beijing. I bought some farm-fresh eggs on my way out that taste noticeably better than what I’m used to from Jingkelong, without much of a price hike at all (LDF charges 18元 for a dozen eggs).

小毛驴农园也有猪和自由放牧场的鸡。我在中国没看到过很多农场（只在云南的在非常小村看见过)，可是我觉得小毛驴农园比别的在中国的农场人道。我买了他们新鲜鸡蛋，很便宜的（18元／12个）还有很好吃的。

Most of the colorful summer tomatoes and corn stalks were gone. We harvested some baicai, string beans, green peppers, and radishes from Emi’s plot and fertilized the sweet potatoes, which will be arriving in droves come November. Emi is also working on some carrots and eggplant that will make for a delicious Autumn harvest…

这次夏天的庄稼（玉米，西红柿）都没有。在Emi的小农园我们收割白菜、青豆、绿色柿子椒、白萝卜和胡萝卜，并且给甘薯施肥。今年秋季应该有特别好吃的作物。。。

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* This post was originally written 4 September 2010 by Josh Feola, cross-posted from 旁边儿 pangbian’r.

7月的天气非常反常，让人总是不想走进厨房，几天来做菜次数屈指可数，有的时候在超市买点凉拌菜就凑合过去了。

翡翠鸡腿肉——叫这个名字是因为莴笋在是太绿了，看着很美，像翡翠一样……

偶尔看到超市有卖鸡腿碎肉，话说鸡每个部位的肉吃起来感觉真的蛮不一样，鸡胸做不好口感会过于柴，一定要裹上鸡蛋清才能做出好味道。鸡腿就不会了，因为鸡腿上的肉鲜嫩而有弹性，完全不必复杂的腌制即可。

做法:

材料：莴笋、鸡腿肉（碎）、葱、姜

1. 将莴笋切丁，叶子切碎，鸡腿肉add料酒、淀粉、盐、一点点五香粉，抓匀腌制5-10分钟。
2. 油烧8成热倒入鸡腿肉，炒至变色，倒入莴笋丁。
3. 翻炒至快熟前倒入莴笋叶，加入适量盐继续翻炒。
4. 熄火，加味精少许，装盘。

土豆是我最爱吃的一道菜，经常做，当土豆块土豆片土豆丝都吃腻的时候，偶尔想吃一点稀的，就发明了这个sunday奶油土豆泥

做法：

材料：土豆2-3个、光明奶油半块、盐、孜然、百里香

1. 将土豆切丁装盘。
2. 奶油切薄片均匀的盖在土豆上，然后按个人口味均匀放入盐、孜然、百里香叶
3. 上锅蒸25分钟左右。
4. 取出后用勺子慢慢压制成泥，搅拌均匀
5. 整形，撒一点黑芝麻，完工。

– 转载自《人生就像绕口令》，转载于2010年7月17日 ／ First published 17 July 2010 by WU Yinan at Life is Like a Tongue Twister.