When I first came to Sichuan as a volunteer, I learned about 罗宇-- this mysterious Taiji master and his organic farm. This time, I finally got the opportunity to visit his farm. A friend of mine sells organic products and knows 罗宇personally. Thus I called his cell by referring to this friend. He sounded very nice and welcomed me to come the next day. On the phone he was very considerate. He told me the specific location of the farm, how to get there by bus, asked me to call him if I get lost. At the end he said "we will wait here for you." At that point, I thought he was just being nice.
The next day, I left from the downtown. The farm is in a nearby village. To get there, I had to take three separate buses. Luckily it didn't take me too long. After one hour and a half, I arrived at the farm. Thankfully the nearby farmers all know this 香猪果园 and showed me the direction after I got off the last bus.
The entrance of the farm is very simple and straightforward. There is only a couplet: 香猪山上跑，四季果满园。[pigs run on the hill, fruits harvest all seasons]. I walked in and saw a poster: 果园香猪农家乐
Oh, it's a peasant home stay! this is their business model! I immediately connected this to 三圣乡。
In fact, this farm is way different from a normal 农家乐。
I kept walking and saw an old 阿姨[this is a simplified term for women older than my mom, I can't find the alternate in English]。I imagined a 农家乐will welcome any potential customer. But she asked " did you contact Manager Luo." Well, luckily I did.
She lead me to the main building of this farm. On the balcony, there were three people having tea. I quickly recognized 罗宇 as the 阿姨called 罗经理！His first words were "we've been waiting for you for long!!". He worn a red traditional-style jacket. Somehow I felt something different about this person. He speaks and walks in a very steady rhythm.
He was not being polite. They were litter ally waiting for me. 罗宇's farm is only open to members. This is not just a restaurant with a little farm.
We had a quick introduction. At the same time the other two people were talking about Chinese medicine, which drew my interest. We joined their discussion. Later I learned the 阿姨is a doctor in 西医[western medicine], the other 叔叔 is 罗宇‘s 太极师弟[younger brother of the same Taiji master]. He studied 中医[Chinese traditional medicine] on his own. In their discussion, they talked about the systematic corruption of 西药， basically the problems with pharmaceuticals.and the significance of traditional medicine. Didn't all this sound familiar?
As the staff prepared my lunch, 罗宇and his 师弟took me on a tour in the farm.
The farm is built on a hill. I later learned that 罗宇rented this land from local farmers 10 years ago. At that point, the farmers thought this land on the hill is difficult to cultivate and thus were happy to get rid of it. However, for 罗宇，this land higher up is great to develop an organic farm[less chemicals left-over].
[note: back to 10 years ago, farmers' land was not allowed for rent. But this specific village was the government "experimental site" and 罗宇 grasped the opportunity]
罗宇used to be a trader. 10 years ago he learned about organic farming and quit his job. At that time, it was a crazy idea. Luckily, his wife supported him.
Before starting his business, 罗宇and his partners took four years, went all over the country[only in China] consulted numerous people, including retired agricultural scientists, experienced farmers, other people in organic farming sector, the list goes on. Then they carefully designed this farm.
All staff are farmers from nearby. Here they are watering the vegetables with 农家肥[farmers' fertilizers] and pulling the weeds. Here they make methane out of pigs' excrement and use the left-over as fertilizers.
These couple 老爷爷 are very talkative. As I talked to them, they seemed very happy working here.
They know this is a good way of farming. But why others don't follow? They gave me their answer: 1. organic farming is labor-intensive. Take that small piece of land for example, it takes one person half an hour to kill the weeds with herbicides. However, here it's been taking three 老爷爷two hours but they still haven't finished it. Today, few people would want to make that effort except very motivated.
2. here in the farm 罗宇does not allow any chemicals to kill the bug. The only system is the "honey bottle" which attracts bugs to fall themselves. Thus the yield is significantly less than normal plants, especially in the first few years.
3. if there is no certification[which costs a lot of money] or good marketing, who would trust you that it's organically grown?
In fact, after 罗宇started his farm, some farmers nearby did try to imitate, but they all failed after a while.
Here are 罗宇's pig. This specific breed is carefully chosen. One of their grandparents is a wild pig. Look, their nose stick out. Each "room" has a back door and staff would go open it regularly. As time goes by, pigs learn to kick it to get out, and of course to come back for food. The route is already designed so that pigs won't get lost or bump into vegetable gardens. Interestingly, pigs here are not afraid of people. They understand when 罗宇calls "丑猪 ugly pig" because they know that's a sign of food.
At the beginning, 罗宇raised lots of sheep because their excrement is very good fertilizers. But then pigs have much better commercial value in China. Thus pigs become the major "cash animal". Besides, they have some chickens and ducks, and a fishpond. In fact they would be bankrupt if they only do vegetables.
Here is the dining hall. The set up is very simple. On one side, the poster tells 罗宇's story and the farm's ecosystem. On the other side, there are two smaller rooms: Taiji club[太极会所] and Organic club[有机会所]. On the wall, there is a poem-归园田居, which describes the rural life. For many years, the poet fought for his "ideal society" in politics . Finally quit and found his happiness in the countryside. This poem has great significance in history.
My lunch was a mini hotpot. The soup was made of pig bones. The vegetables were fresh pulled from the field. The pork sausage were from the farm, made in the farm. Rice was organic brown rice, again, from the rice.
Later, I toured the rest of the farm, talked with 叔叔阿姨 and finally got a free-ride back to the city.
Chengdu has a small organic market. Through this market and some friends, I've met several people involved in this "movement". Many of them[especially in NGOs] rely on foreign cases and theories.But 罗宇is very different. He is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture and the Chinese traditional culture is deeply rooted in 农耕文化[agriculture]. He's been practicing Taiji for almost 20 years[He is the National Taiji Champion] and Taiji itself is a practice of ancient wisdom. He reads Chinese traditional classics, such as 易经，道德经，资治通鉴，黄帝内经,etc。From his childhood罗宇understands the value of these "traditions". Thus he is clear about where to seek help. He says, China itself is already huge treasure.
罗宇's business has been loosing money for 7 years. But this year, they had a good profit. Everything is sold out. A good membership is established, and the demand is stable. Now he is working with others to establish an organic farming association。
正心、修身、齐家、治国、平天下 is what the Contortionists believe. Self-cultivation is at the first place. 罗宇understands this.
p.s.: This is what I found on the way to the farm in the village. 农业生活垃圾箱--I have never seen this before in the countryside I visited and this one looks pretty new. In my memory trash is just tossed in the field, but here, there is a huge trash can!
This is an authentic Xinjiang restaurant. Most workers here are from Xinjiang. Interestingly, the restaurant is set up in several Mongolian tents.
is a rather expensive restaurant that specializes in Sichuan food. On the right, 
it's in fact very much like Two brothers in Middlebury. On the little blackboard standing outside, it says: "Irish breakfast..
."
