Explore #4: Chongming Island

It isn't that easy finding a fresh and green spot in Shanghai that is unpolluted, has blue skies all the time, is free from the honking of the cars and far from the maddening crowds.  So when we heard about this little paradise called Chongming Island (崇明岛), just an hour bus ride away from Shanghai city, we were intrigued.   Chongming Island covers an area of 1,267 sq km and has a population of 635,000. The island has a history of 1,300 years and has an active farming community because of its abundant resources.  We actually first found out about Chongming Island from one of our colleagues whose hometown is a village on this very island.  Mings asked if she could go farming at his village but quickly dropped the idea after he mentioned "leeches + water + stuck to skin" in this order.  Imagine our excitement when we later uncovered an organic farm, Mahota Farm, that's located on Chongming Island.    

Crossing the bridge to a small bit of paradise, just an hour away from the city.

Mahota Farm is opened by a Singaporean who is keen to promote organic sustainable farming in China.  They offer a day tour where visitors get to have a great meal cooked with veges from the farm, try their hand at farming, feed some cute animals and generally have a day of fun learning and being in the sun.

And we arrive at Mahota!

We kicked the day off with a fabs personal steamboat, with veges on tap. But there were some disturbing parts of the meal though - first off, were the pork and chicken slices from the animals reared in the farm?? If yes, eeew!  And if we were gonna be feeding the animals later, wouldn't they have smelled their deceased brother/sister/extended family on our breaths?? (Btw, a strange but true fact about me - I cannot look at live animals just before I eat them. So no picking of the "freshest" fish/crabs/prawns/chicken/whatever. How can we decide that a fish should be steaming on our plate cos he looks like he's swimming the hardest and has the shiniest scales?? But I am still a meat-eater. Just a whiny one.) 

Shioknesss

After the very fulfilling meal (don't think about where the meat came from, Tracy!), we went on a cycle around the farm. First stop, a pond where geese and ducks hang out in two distinct groups. Birds of a feather really flock together.  The two species of birds never mixed, meaning we never saw a duck in the middle of the flock of geese and vice versa.  We actually spent quite some time here because we had a bet about how many geese there were - and they never stood still long enough for us to have a proper count.

Ark ark ark ark...

And next stop, piggies! Oh soooo cute. And clean. And pink.  I experienced the same after-thoughts and post-visit consciousness as when I watched the movie Babe.  With the movie, I stopped eating pork for a long while and I am now not a fan of pork unless its fried pork lard, sweet & sour pork, bak chor (ok ok.. not helping my cause here, I know).  But seriously, after seeing these cuties, who can bear to eat them? 

Little piglets all zonked out from drinking milk

Hello you!

We then went on to the main event - some actual farming!  Passed by a few lagoons that the farm created to hold and clean waste water. 

Our very genial Taiwanese teacher teaching us the basics of soil and planting.
He was so passionate about his work, he got us excited about getting our hands dirty.

Everything starts with a seedling. Treat with care and gentleness.

Prep the ground for new life. Pat down with determination and vitality.

Shower with lots of love but don't drown!

Give them space and freedom to grow in whichever way and shape they wish.

And they will grow up yummy!

I actually ate a small piece of coriander from the ground. Thought it was fine and tasted delish until Chen Ann reminded me the plants are sprayed with wastewater, aka water from the animal's sai. OMG. SPIT SPIT SPIT!!!

A little green from the encounter (no pun intended), we moved on to feeding goats. They were such darlings. Very mild and friendly, all ready to eat the grass from our hands.  We approached them with such trepidation, at first putting the grass in the trough, then slowly let them eat from our hands directly.

Ok no more mutton too I guess....

For our final activity, we did something very entertaining that required zero electricty - kite-flying.  We tried and tried and tried but never got the kites up to floating by themselves. We did the run and throw, stand and raise above heads, run with kite behind us - all the methods only sent the kites up maybe 3 metres into the air.  My kite got tangled up within 15 mins and when I tried to help the others, I tangled theirs up as well. The Mahota guide was very amused by our never-ending efforts.  But well, it was a good workout.



And with that final activity, we headed back home, tired but satiated. 

"We know that the urban lifestyle is convenient but ultimately not sustainable, both for our health and the environment. We rigorously question the way we have produced and consumed our food, and the way we manage our health." - Mahota Farm. 

I think this is an important message we could all try to abide by - to live, eat and play responsibly, if not for the environment, then at least for our own healths and happiness.

Xoxo,

Tracy

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