Harvest Festival

The organic farm held their first harvest festival today! Action for the City and the community arranged a big do this month and invited us to play. I've just hopped off the motorbike and I still can't feel my backside...hahaha.

The morning began in the fields armed with machetes and plastic bags. Kids and dogs running around rows of corn and trellises. We walked into a melee of families, foreigners and farmers sharing a home cooked lunch in the commune courtyard under a pink gazebo. Silver pots bubbling with vegetable soup, colorful sweet sticky rice, fried nems, fresh spring rolls and yes, more corn, but oh so good corn :)

After lunch and harvesting we played drums and listened to the farmers sing traditional songs and tell us of their stories and struggles. For most families it was a big gamble to go organic, some pulling up their only source of income, rice paddies, to grow vegetables for the first time.

I was surprised to learn organic farming in Vietnam is rare. Remember Australia's reaction to the introduction of DDT? We loved it! That's about the point Vietnam is at the moment. These farmers are incredibly brave to go against the grain, so to speak... an extremely un-Vietnamese thing to do.

So, I'm home.. feeling tanned from winter sun, with good colour on my cheeks, full of open space energy and buzzing from all day smiles!!!

Mmmmmmmm!


Click here for Rau Thanh Xuan website

Festival Photos
Click here to take a look!



Photo Women Harvesting from Lan Anh.