"My Rice Field" Non-fiction Rural Writing No. 79
Pay tribute to Wang Weiguo, who guards the natural agricultural method
I don't know why, I began to be infatuated with ecological recycling agriculture more than 30 years ago, and I was fascinated by it, otherwise, more than ten years ago, I would not have mobilized and encouraged Inuzi to return to the village after graduating from university to practice ecological recycling agriculture for many years, but the end could not be opened, and I ended up in a complete failure, but I also have no regrets, because I have accumulated rich practical lessons and accumulated some wisdom and ideas. These lessons and wisdom ideas are not bragging, what 985 and 211 college students majoring in agriculture cannot learn in the classroom. Once practiced, there will be great economic and social benefits.
I don't think it's going to be a chance like that, sigh.
Learning to give up is also a kind of wisdom.
A few days ago, it was raining, and I helped my eldest brother sell watermelons until more than 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Agricultural vehicles into the city, the cab can not sit, the 75-year-old brother is afraid of the traffic police to catch, so he hides in the cargo compartment behind the car, the weather is fine when he goes out of the village, and he forgot to bring an umbrella, and has been drenched in the rain. The eldest brother doesn't seem to care, as long as he sells the watermelon, he will not hesitate to go to the soup.
I think that the eldest brother is 75 years old, if he is a person in the system, planting nearly 30 acres of double-cropping rice and 3 acres of watermelon, he is not afraid of hardship and tiredness at his own expense, at least he will be on the provincial news network. Thanks to a few restaurant friends and a few friends who took the initiative to buy my brother's watermelon after seeing the WeChat Moments article, although it was a rainy day, hungry, and sent my brother's thousands of pounds of watermelon to sell, after all, it didn't rot in the ground, it was also useful and worth it. I've also helped my eldest brother, his biggest annoyance in recent times. Special thanks to Fu Dan, a girl from the Republic Hotel, who increased the quantity of purchases, she said that her parents also grow vegetables and melons all year round, and the planting is hard, and they can't sell it, which is even more painful.
I have long heard that there is a villager named Wang Weiguo in Shejiaping Town, Taoyuan County, who watches over natural farming methods, and grows rice and vegetables in front of and behind the house, chickens, ducks and geese.
In line with the principle that hearing is false and seeing is believing, he was invited by a teacher from the Rural Research Group of the Party School of the Municipal Party Committee to visit Wang Weiguo together.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when I got on the bus, the teacher gave me a vaccination in the car, saying that Mr. Wang Weiguo's house was very messy.
Farmers are busy all day long, how can they have time to clean up. When I arrived in Wang Wei country, it was located in a small mountain village with beautiful mountains and rivers.
He lives with his 80-year-old mother at home, and there is no tidying up at all, it is disorganized, with farm machinery, cars, and storage facilities.
I got straight to the point and talked about natural farming.
Wang Weiguo told me that he was 55 years old and was inspired by a book entitled "Farming" 20 years ago, and he became fascinated by the practice of natural farming, which is to breed and grow rice and other crops on his own, with little to no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and no herbicides.
I observed the situation around his house, there were several acres of two fish ponds in front of the house, a small vegetable field, chickens, ducks and geese in front of the house and behind the house, and some water tanks, which were bio-fermented.
I just want to see his self-bred fragrant rice, he took me on the muddy path, and as he walked, he said that he had soaked the rice seeds in boiling water, and I asked, doesn't that burn the seeds? He said, after boiling water, and used professional terms to soak seeds in boiling water will not burn the seed grain, etc., I seem to understand whether I understand or not to respond to his words.
Stepping into the ridge, he showed me the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 fragrant rice fields he planted, and he said that the best variety he had bred was No. 5 fragrant rice, and the rice and grass were all fragrant.
Seeing what Mr. Wang Weiguo said, I must go to the No. 5 fragrant rice field he planted with muddy shoes. When it comes to the No. 5 fragrant rice field, it is about two acres of area. Sure enough, approaching the rice field, it is really fragrant, if the rice flowers are in full bloom and the rice is ripe, it must be the aroma that penetrates the heart and spleen.
Teacher Wang Weiguo pointed to the ridge again, and I saw that the ridge was full of small holes and holes of earthworms, and there were no weeds in the rice field. I asked, how to weed? He said, I can grow three acres of grass a day. I believe this, back then, although we were small, we were also the main force of weeding, but while weed, the small sand mosquitoes on the top of our heads bit our brains strangely, and while weeding rice (grass), we scratched the itch, and our heads were full of mud.
Many people and things believe because they believe, believe because they see, and believe because they experience. At this time, I was convinced that Mr. Wang Weiguo was a soil expert who stayed in the village to watch over the natural farming method.
I said to him cautiously, Mr. Wang, I believe in you and admire you! You must leave me seeds that can plant 30 acres of No. 5 fragrant rice next year, he said that 60 catties of rice seeds are enough. I calculated the account in my heart, 2 yuan a pound of grain, and the cost of planting grain is only 4 yuan per mu. We now rely on buying seeds, and the cost of double-cropping rice seeds costs 200 yuan per mu. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc., how can the cost of farming not be high!
I originally planned to buy some fragrant rice, but because of Mr. Wang Weiguo's poor storage facilities, after the processing of the fragrant rice that was retained last year, there was yellow rice in the rice. I told him again that the source of food safety has just begun, storage, processing, packaging, transportation, sales, etc., one link after another, and the food is unsafe. After your No. 5 fragrant rice is harvested, the sun will dry naturally, so you must leave me 1,000 catties of rice, and I will drag it to my hometown for storage and processing.
When it was time for dinner, Mr. Wang Weiguo had already killed a goose, small miscellaneous fish, a few side dishes, and fragrant rice. He said there was nothing to entertain.
I said, this is the best thing to eat, and you can't eat it in the city because you can't buy it. Mr. Wang, really, I don't lie to you!
When it was getting dark, when I left Mr. Wang's house, his mother told me that my son owed hundreds of thousands of debts, and his daughter-in-law had been dead for many years and was now single.
There was a sadness in my heart. Native experts are at least experts in the practice of ecological agriculture, and it would be nice to have a little research funding and a little support.
Who would pay attention to the few farmers who are different in the eyes of most villagers, and who are watching natural farming, especially the rare self-cultivation and self-cultivation, and refusing chemical agriculture such as pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, etc.!
Except for my SJ disease!
Leaving Wang Wei's country and Taoyuan, a small village with beautiful mountains and rivers, I sat in the car, without saying a word, but with a wry smile in my heart.