Text by Xiang Hongmei, Chen Xunzhao, Wang Qianhui & Liu Shenyong Photos by Xiang Hongmei & Zheng Jiayu

In a remote mountain of western Hubei Province lies a village named Sanzhangping, under the administration of Meijiahe Town, Zigui County of Yichang City. Zigui County, located by the Three Gorges Dam, is the hometown of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), a great poet of the Chu Kingdom.

Sanzhangping, the name of the village, literally means “small as three palms.” It was one of the key poverty-stricken villages in Yichang City. Like other girls in the village, Ms. Song Yulin used to do odd jobs for a living in cities nearby. She and her husband started a small restaurant and later developed it into a chain in Yichang City through their hard work. Their life became much better-off. Nobody expected that she would make the decision to sell off all her restaurants and start a new career back in her hometown.

Running her restaurant, Song noticed that local foods like toon sprouts, dried daylily, fermented chili wrapped with corn flour, and fermented bean curd were very popular among the customers. Among them, toon sprouts attracted a lot of customers who came from afar just for a bite of the “taste of spring.”

The flavor of her hometown evoked her sweet memories about the land. So an idea came to her mind—why not start a new career back home and help the villagers gain a better life? After thinking it over, she believed it would work. In 2013, Song and her husband sold off their restaurants without hesitation and went back to Sanzhangping Village.

Song planted toon seedlings in November the same year, and she unexpectedly had a good harvest the next spring, which greatly boosted Song’s confidence in her new career.

In 2014, Song increased her investment and set up a local specialty production and marketing cooperative named Taste of Hometown. She obtained 200 mu (about 13 hectares) of land to plant toon with the help of a number of villagers. She initiated a model of “Contract Planting + Guaranteed Purchase” to ensure a stable income for the villagers.

When the output of the production increased, the corresponding market should expand accordingly. Otherwise, the supply would outgrow the demand, especially for toon sprouts. Toon sprouts normally grow quickly and the best harvesting time lasts only two days. It is quite easy for them to over-ripen. To improve the added value and competitiveness of the products, Song initiated the Zigui Weiyuan Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. to facilitate marketing. The new company was registered under the trademark of “Qinwei Tang,” which deals in processing such countryside foods as toon sprout sauce, fermented toon sprout, dried toon sprout, and chili sauce. The integrated chain of planting, production, and marketing enabled their products to sell well in Hunan, Henan, Guangdong, and other provinces.

Members of the cooperative are drying the Chinese toon sprouts 社員們晾曬干香椿芽

中國湖北省西部大山深處，有一個(gè)貧困的村莊叫三掌坪，隸屬于該省宜昌市秭歸縣梅家河鄉(xiāng)。秭歸就位于世界第一壩——三峽大壩邊上，也是古楚國詩人屈原（約公元前340年—公元前278年）的故鄉(xiāng)。

三掌坪，顧名思義，就是三個(gè)手掌大小的地方。這里是半高山地區(qū)、市級(jí)重點(diǎn)貧困村，村里有一位姑娘叫宋玉琳，她原本跟其他姑娘一樣，靠辛勤打工謀生，當(dāng)過勤雜工、開過小餐館。后來，她和愛人經(jīng)過多年努力，在宜昌市城區(qū)有了自己的餐飲連鎖店，日子漸漸富裕起來。然而，誰也沒想到她會(huì)做出這樣的決定——變賣所有店鋪，帶著所有資金，回到村里創(chuàng)業(yè)。

原來，在經(jīng)營餐館時(shí)，宋玉琳發(fā)現(xiàn)，家鄉(xiāng)的香椿、干黃花菜、榨廣椒、豆腐乳等土菜很受歡迎，特別是香椿，葉嫩味美，許多客人遠(yuǎn)道而來，就為嘗一口“春天的味道”。

家鄉(xiāng)味兒勾起她對(duì)故土深深的懷念，也催生她一個(gè)大膽的念頭：回鄉(xiāng)創(chuàng)業(yè)，和鄉(xiāng)親們一起往好日子上奔。思去想來，她覺得走這條道有希望，想再多不如干起來。2013年，宋玉琳夫婦毅然盤掉城里經(jīng)營多年的餐廳，一頭扎進(jìn)三掌坪。

Farmers take their toon sprouts to the cooperative, waiting for the procurement 農(nóng)戶們將種植的香椿芽拿到合作社等待收購

Workers are busy in the workshop of the base工人在基地生產(chǎn)車間忙碌

When COVID-19 hit, the transportation of its products was delayed in the first quarter of 2020. As the epidemic gradually came under control, Song soon resumed production with the assistance of the local government while implementing strict epidemic containment measures. She contacted customers to discuss goods delivery and sometimes had to deliver the products herself when there was no driver available. During those days, she purchased fresh toon sprouts during the daytime and delivered them in the evening. The fresh sprouts would appear in all the markets of Hunan Province the next morning. Song said, “Thanks to the smooth marketing channels, the villagers didn’t suffer any loss during the epidemic.”

Led by Song Yulin, the barren land has turned into fields of fortune, with an annual output value of 3000 yuan per mu. More and more villagers volunteered to join the cooperative, and even the neighboring villagers have started to plant toon. Toon planting in the town has expanded to more than 1100 mu (about 73.3 hectares). What’s more, Song’s cooperative became a trusted unit among consumers for the superior quality of its products. She was also recognized as a role model at the county and municipal level. The press offered her the nickname of “Ms. Toon Sprout.”

Song plans to promote the delicacies of her hometown via the Internet and to further expand the scale of planting and operation, helping more and more villagers to better their lives.

(Translation: Li Li)

Toon sprouts being processed 香椿加工車間

Toon sprouts pickled in jars香椿醬菜腌制

宋玉琳于當(dāng)年11月栽下香椿樹幼苗，沒想到第二年春季就有了收獲，小試牛刀一舉成功讓宋玉琳信心倍增。

2014年，宋玉琳加大投入，成立憶鄉(xiāng)情土特產(chǎn)產(chǎn)銷專業(yè)合作社，在三掌坪村流轉(zhuǎn)土地200 畝，帶動(dòng)一批農(nóng)戶大力發(fā)展香椿種植，同時(shí)采取“訂單種植+保底收購”的模式確保農(nóng)戶增收。

產(chǎn)品規(guī)模增加，市場(chǎng)規(guī)模也要相應(yīng)擴(kuò)大，否則就會(huì)形成產(chǎn)銷矛盾。尤其是香椿，生長比較快，理想采收期就兩天時(shí)間，過了就會(huì)變老，儲(chǔ)藏成本更不用說，所以銷售暢通是命根。為了解決銷售問題，提升產(chǎn)品附加值與市場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，宋玉琳在抓好合作社基地發(fā)展的同時(shí)，成立了秭歸縣味源農(nóng)業(yè)開發(fā)有限公司，注冊(cè)“勤味堂”商標(biāo)，從事鄉(xiāng)村系列農(nóng)家風(fēng)味食品的生產(chǎn)。先后開發(fā)出香椿醬菜、香椿咸菜、香椿干菜、香椿醬、剁椒醬等系列品種，實(shí)現(xiàn)種、產(chǎn)、銷一條龍，產(chǎn)品暢銷湖南、河南、廣東等外省市場(chǎng)。

2020年第一季度，受疫情影響，產(chǎn)品外銷運(yùn)輸一度受阻。防疫形勢(shì)好轉(zhuǎn)后，宋玉琳在地方政府幫助下，一邊做好疫情防控，一邊加快復(fù)工復(fù)產(chǎn)，積極與客戶聯(lián)系發(fā)貨。請(qǐng)不到運(yùn)輸司機(jī)，就自己親自送貨。她白天收購，傍晚出發(fā)，第二天一早，水靈靈的椿芽就到了湖南各大市場(chǎng)?！爱a(chǎn)品外銷通道打開及時(shí)，種植戶沒受損失?！彼斡窳战榻B說。

在宋玉琳的帶動(dòng)下，經(jīng)過數(shù)年發(fā)展，原來貧瘠荒蕪的土地如今變成了年均畝產(chǎn)值3000 多元的金窩窩。那些觀望中的村民也紛紛要求加入合作社，鄰村香椿種植也逐漸被帶動(dòng)起來，規(guī)模不斷擴(kuò)大，全鄉(xiāng)香椿種植面積達(dá)到1100 多畝。因?yàn)楫a(chǎn)品質(zhì)量過硬，宋玉琳的合作社榮獲“消費(fèi)者滿意單位”等稱號(hào)，她個(gè)人也當(dāng)選為市縣兩級(jí)模范，媒體還給她取了一個(gè)形象的稱號(hào)：椿姑娘。

下一步，宋玉琳決定借助網(wǎng)絡(luò)力量，把家鄉(xiāng)的美食進(jìn)行系統(tǒng)包裝推廣，拉動(dòng)銷售，進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)大種植經(jīng)營規(guī)模，拓寬致富路。