Vegetable Gardens

When I was a child in a small village, living conditions were very poor.

Villagers didn’t have much money.

If they wanted to earn some, they had to sell their grains, but this left them with insufficient grains for their own consumption.

Also, they needed to eat vegetables.

In order to save money, every family had a vegetable garden.

The vegetable gardens in my village were located to the west, separated from the village by only a moat.

These square-shaped gardens were divided into smaller plots for each family.

Each garden had a water well for watering the vegetables.

People planted various vegetables like green onions, eggplants, green vegetables, peppers, radishes, carrots, Chinese cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, celery, lettuce, small melons and so on.

Every well was equipped with a simple water-lifting mechanism, which consisted of three wooden sticks.

One thick wooden stick was firmly rooted underground.

The middle of another wooden stick was horizontally linked to the top of the thick one.

A counterweight was fixed on one end of the horizontal stick, while the other end was connected to the third vertical stick.

At the lower end of this third stick was a bucket.

When fetching water, people first pulled the third vertical stick down into the well and then lifted the bucket out.

When pulling the third stick down, they had to exert a bit more force due to the counterweight, but lifting the bucket up was relatively easy because of it.

Thanks to these gardens, we never lacked fresh vegetables despite our poverty.

Additionally, the fertilizers we used for the vegetables were all organic, so the vegetables were truly healthy.

I haven’t lived in my home village for decades.

Now I buy vegetables from supermarkets.

It’s said that some vegetables nowadays may contain pesticide residues, ripening agents, preservatives and so on.

However, I can do nothing about this as I lost my vegetable garden after becoming a government employee.

Vegetable Gardens

When I was a child in a small village, living conditions were very poor.

Villagers didn’t have much money.

Also, they needed to eat vegetables.

In order to save money, every family had a vegetable garden.

These square-shaped gardens were divided into smaller plots for each family.

People planted various vegetables like green onions, eggplants, green vegetables, peppers, radishes, carrots, Chinese cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, celery, lettuce, small melons and so on.

Every well was equipped with a simple water-lifting mechanism, which consisted of three wooden sticks.

The middle of another wooden stick was horizontally linked to the top of the thick one.

A counterweight was fixed on one end of the horizontal stick, while the other end was connected to the third vertical stick.

At the lower end of this third stick was a bucket.

When fetching water, people first pulled the third vertical stick down into the well and then lifted the bucket out.

When pulling the third stick down, they had to exert a bit more force due to the counterweight, but lifting the bucket up was relatively easy because of it.

Thanks to these gardens, we never lacked fresh vegetables despite our poverty.

Additionally, the fertilizers we used for the vegetables were all organic, so the vegetables were truly healthy.

I haven’t lived in my home village for decades.

Now I buy vegetables from supermarkets.

It’s said that some vegetables nowadays may contain pesticide residues, ripening agents, preservatives and so on.

However, I can do nothing about this as I lost my vegetable garden after becoming a government employee.

Vegetable Gardens

Villagers didn’t have much money.

Also, they needed to eat vegetables.

In order to save money, every family had a vegetable garden.

Each garden had a water well for watering the vegetables.

People planted various vegetables like green onions, eggplants, green vegetables, peppers, radishes, carrots, Chinese cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, celery, lettuce, small melons and so on.

Every well was equipped with a simple water-lifting mechanism, which consisted of three wooden sticks.

A counterweight was fixed on one end of the horizontal stick, while the other end was connected to the third vertical stick.

At the lower end of this third stick was a bucket.

When fetching water, people first pulled the third vertical stick down into the well and then lifted the bucket out.

Thanks to these gardens, we never lacked fresh vegetables despite our poverty.

Additionally, the fertilizers we used for the vegetables were all organic, so the vegetables were truly healthy.

I haven’t lived in my home village for decades.

Now I buy vegetables from supermarkets.

It’s said that some vegetables nowadays may contain pesticide residues, ripening agents, preservatives and so on.

However, I can do nothing about this as I lost my vegetable garden after becoming a government employee.