Young and old city dwellers enjoy growing vegetables in rural areas. ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY

Thousands of Beijing families head out of the city regularly to soil their hands on vegetable plots

Five-year-old Zhao Jinxuan is like most city girls her age who loves to play with her friends. And she also loves eating vegetables, particularly Chinese cabbage.

But there's a difference. The cabbage she eats doesn't come from the market, but is lovingly planted and grown by her, with a little bit of help from her parents.

"I am so proud to tell my best friend in kindergarten that I eat the vegetables I grew myself," she said, with a big smile on her little face.

"Growing vegetables is not dirty work at all."

Zhao and her parents - her father is a Beijing businessman - are among thousands of Beijing families whose weekends are largely filled with farming on small plots of land rented from a forestry organization or from private farms.

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The Zhao family has, for the past two years, been renting a 90-sqm plot from My Vegetable Garden, a farmland operated by the Beijing Forestry Society in Changping district, about 30 km from the city.

They pay 1,100 yuan a year in rent and scientists from the society give them guidance - and even seeds.

Zhang Qiang, director of green industry promotion of the society who also runs the garden, said it started in 2006 for people who wanted to grow and enjoy eating organic food.

"Now, the garden has people from all ages, because every generation can get fun from growing vegetables," he said.

"Many children who live in urban areas cannot even tell wheat from chives, and farming is a good way of getting them close to nature."

The society also helps with information about the types of vegetables to be grown and the best nutrition needed.

"We may even suggest color combinations. For example, combining peanuts, eggplants, tomatoes, towel gourds can be an attractive mix," Zhang said.

Some elderly people use the farms as a way to remember the old days and an opportunity to keep in touch with their children.

Meng Xiangen, 68, a retired worker, and his wife meet their two children and two grandsons at their plot most weekends.

"My son and daughter have their own families, and we seldom have the chance to be together, except for these weekends," Meng said.

Zhang said that in My Vegetable Garden, the elderly are just as enthusiastic about farming as the younger generation.

"The number of people who now don't share rooms with parents is increasing rapidly. Such farming could both satisfy everybody's needs, even if they came here for different purpose," Zhang said.

"Many seniors have had the experience of manual work in the fields when they were young. The garden gives them a chance to return to the old simple days."

Li Yan, who has been renting a 90-sq m plot since 2006, said she has the opportunity to grow vegetables, something she never did before.

"I love this way of enjoying the weekend. To see your plants growing little by little and eat the vegetables you planted is just fantastic," Li said.

After four years of farming, her six-year-old son, Zhubao, can recognize more than 20 vegetables, even if they are just sprouting.

"He loves the time on the land every weekend. Although he hasn't grasped the mechanics of plantation, we are trying to teach him to appreciate the hard work of farmers," Li said.

She said Zhubao, her only child, is always helping to water the vegetables and seldom wastes food now.

Compared with most white-collar workers who choose to play farming games on the Internet, Li said real farming is much more interesting and meaningful.

"To grow vegetables is not easy," she said. "The land needs to be dug up and the vegetables need to be watered in the hot sun and be given sufficient nutrients. And you have to take the weeds out.

"However, the result is exciting."