Currently ~~~ at Gagel Farm ( Diary/field notes )

6 Sep - Oct

On the question of how to become “native....”

“Regeneration”

“Becoming a good ancestor”

“Inhabiting a community that gives with generosity”

Fermented Rice water
White Sour Soup

西红柿酸汤
Fermented Tomatoes Sour Soup

(Rice Koji)

(Barley Koji)

Koji Growing

毛豆腐
Home made tofu fermentation with Mucor micheli

(Pumpkin Seed Tofu)

Soy Tofu (豆腐)

(Bean Curd appeared from boiled soy milk)

Hyper Local Tofu 豆腐
Pumpkin Seed Tofu, and Soy Bean Tofu Making with Daan

The Moon Festival / The Harvest Festival
Celebration on the harvest and the abundance of the season
Eating hot pot together

举头望明月，低头思故乡
“Raising my head, I gaze at the bright moon;
lowering my head, I think of my hometown“
- Li Bai

3 boxes of
leftover radish leaves from Frank

Meigan Cai (梅干菜)
Dried and Preserved Chinese Mustard Greens

Meigan cai is a traditional Chinese preserved vegetable made by salting, fermenting, curing, and drying leafy greens. It is particularly associated with southern China and Hakka food culture, where preserving seasonal vegetables has long been an important part of everyday cooking.
This preservation method is closely connected to climate and weather. It relies on a combination of salting, curing, and sun-drying, with the timing of each stage influenced by the availability of sunshine and the surrounding humidity.

梅干菜 and the Plum Rain Season
The name 梅干菜 is intriguing. The character 梅 (méi) means plum, while 干菜 refers to dried vegetables. Although the name's precise historical origin is uncertain, it is tempting to associate it with 梅雨季节 (méiyǔ jìjié), the plum rain season.
In parts of southern China, particularly along the lower Yangtze River and in some southeastern coastal regions, the plum rain season brings prolonged periods of rain and exceptionally high humidity, usually in late spring and early summer. Guangdong and Fujian also experience humid, rainy periods, although their seasonal weather patterns are not identical to those of the classic Jiangnan plum rain region.

Anyone who has experienced this weather will recognise the feeling: clothes refuse to dry, the air feels heavy, and water droplets collect on walls and windows when indoor surfaces become damp.

Such conditions make sun-drying difficult. Yet traditional vegetable preservation does not depend on sunshine alone. Salting and curing can take place while the weather remains humid, with sun-drying carried out whenever suitable weather returns. This creates an interesting relationship between preservation and the seasons. Families could begin preparing their vegetables during periods when fresh produce was abundant, then take advantage of sunny intervals to dry them. However, the idea that 梅干菜 is specifically named after the plum rain season remains a hypothesis rather than an established etymology.

Meigan cai can be made from suitable leafy vegetables, although the traditional methods and resulting flavours vary according to the variety used.

On the farm, I encountered a fascinating range of plants from the mustard family and related root-vegetable groups. Radishes, turnips, and black radishes (rammenas) are often harvested primarily for their roots. Their leafy tops, however, are often a delicacy.

I was surprised to realise how easily these leaves can be overlooked, but becoming as part of food to the ground.

Method:

First, spread the fresh radish greens under the sun for about half a day, until they have wilted and lost most of their moisture but are not completely dry.

Next, blanch the greens in boiling water for about two minutes. Remove them from the water, place them in a pot, and cover with a lid. Leave them overnight to allow the greens to ferment slightly. The following day, take the greens out and dry them in the sun. On the next day, steam them again, then return them to the sun to dry.

Repeat the steaming and sun-drying process another one or two times, until the greens are dry and have developed their characteristic dark color and rich aroma.

Once fully dried, the radish greens are ready to be stored

(hand pulled noodles)

On thinking about spices

On the edges of the vegetable beds, there are quite a few aromatic herbs that are growing, and there is also a big patch of chive flowers. Seeing and smelling them made me think about how much we are drawn to the aromas and sensory qualities of herbs, and how spices can also carry stories of movement, exchange, and history.

I have been thinking about these as situated spices and wondering what it could mean to think about spices through the place where I am now.

The duality of what is “native” and “non-native,” “local” and “exotic,” is not always so simple. These ideas are connected to histories of trade, colonialism, appropriation, and the movement of plants, foods, and people. The “legacy“ of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) can still be traced in the botanical, cultural, and culinary landscapes of the Netherlands.

Since arriving, I have been thinking about this through the aromatic herbs I have encountered here. They made me think of the wǔ xiāng (五香) concept in Chinese cooking, the “five fragrances” or “five aromas.” Wǔ xiāng is less about the plants having a botanical relationship, and more about bringing different aromas together to create a certain balance.

The flavours can be thought of as:

sweet + warm + aromatic + spicy + slightly numbing / earthy 甜、温、香、辛、麻

Following this idea, I started to imagine a kind of situated five-spice, working with herbs that grow here:
hyssop seeds (sweet)
basil seeds(warm)
myoga ginger leaves (aromatic)
chive flower buds (spicy)
tarragon (numbing/earthy)

I am drying and mixing these herbs to experiment with what happens when I bring this way of thinking about aroma into another landscape and history.

13th September
The fallen tomatoes
Lacto Fermentation in the tomato greenhouse

12th September

Regeneration

I wanted some comforting broth today. I still had a soup chicken leg that I got from the organic shop the other day, and I really wanted to make a brothy soup for this long weekend.

After the Holistic Context session with Anna and Ricardo, I had been thinking about my statement of purpose and about the kind of life I want to inhabit. After a weekend of holistic reflection, I wanted to accompany these dreams with something comforting, so I was feeling like it was a broth day.

In Cantonese cooking, we often make broth with medicinal roots and herbs, which bring both fragrance and layers of flavour to the soup. Ginseng, angelica root, and burdock are some of the ingredients traditionally used. What interests me is that angelica and burdock can also be found in the Dutch landscape, especially towards the end of summer. I have not yet found them around the Gagel, but I did find some other roots with a beautiful fragrance. I can also imagine wood avens root working beautifully in a broth.

The chicken leg I got was from a “soup chicken,” which is normally an older, mature female chicken—typically an egg-laying hen past her prime. I thought this was a good way to eat chicken and to honour and thank her for the time she gave and the comfort she provides me.

RECIPES

Ingredients

Soup chicken
Wild thistle roots
Corn from the farm
Carrots from the farm
Chinese toon leaves (香椿叶), from fellow resident Hanne
Ginger
Bok choy from the farm
Coriander from the farm
Water
Salt

Method

Put everything into a large pot except the bok choy, coriander, and salt. Add enough water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 1–2 hours.

Towards the end, add the bok choy and salt. Cook until the bok choy is tender.

Finish with fresh coriander before serving.

11th September

Last night, I soaked some soybeans that I had bought from a nearby organic shop. I wanted to try making tofu—to test the process first, before eventually experimenting with some local beans.

Even though I am still in a very rural area, I was surprised to see the shelves filled with beans that I know so well: soybeans, red beans (adzuki beans), and even mung beans (绿豆).

At that moment, I thought that if these beans had travelled so far to arrive here, whether through packages or through the routes of trade, then I should greet them with hospitality and honour. I wanted to bring them back into a context that feels like home—to work with them through the food practices that make sense to them.

And so, making tofu came to my mind.

As I was making it, I began to pick up stories that had been hidden somewhere in me. My imagination drifted towards my great-grandmother, who was a tofu maker and seller. I started wondering how she might have made tofu with her own hands, what kind of acidity she would have used to form the tofu, which market she would have sold it at and when, who had taught her, and why she had chosen to work with tofu in the first place.

And if I want to master tofu making, who do I learn from?

RECIPES

Ingredients

500 g dried soybeans
Water
30 ml vinegar
40 ml water
3 g salt

Method

Soak the soybeans overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
Drain and blend with about 3 times their volume in water.
Strain through a cheesecloth to separate the soy milk from the pulp.
Remove the foam and bring the soy milk to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
Mix 30 ml vinegar with 40 ml water.
Slowly add the vinegar mixture to the hot soy milk in several additions, stirring gently. Continue until the milk separates into curds and whey.
Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Transfer the curds into a tofu mould lined with cheesecloth and press until firm.

Cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis)

8th September

The day after arriving at the farm, I took a bike trip to explore the surroundings. Just 300 metres outside the farm, I found a cauliflower mushroom the first mushroom I harvested that autumn, and the first wild encounter I had since arriving.

What made the moment even more special was that it was the same mushroom I had included in my application form to the Gagel Farm.

It felt like one of those rare moments when everything suddenly seems to speak to each other

RECIPES

Ingredients

Oil
Acorn miso (made by a previous EAT resident, Nicole)
Tomatoes, cut into small pieces
Garlic
Water
Mushrooms
Bok choy from the farm
Homemade tofu
Salt

Method

Heat oil and add the acorn miso.
Add the tomatoes and garlic, then add water and bring to a boil.
Add the mushrooms, bok choy, and homemade tofu.
Simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
Season with salt.

Plant Atlas

MUSHROOMS

SPRING

AUTUMN

WINTER

^MUSHROOMS

^SPRING

^AUTUMN