Ms. Toon Sprout

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 社员们晾晒干香椿芽

中国湖北省西部大山深处，有一个贫困的村庄叫三掌坪，隶属于该省宜昌市秭归县梅家河乡。秭归就位于世界第一坝——三峡大坝边上，也是古楚国诗人屈原（约公元前340年—公元前278年）的故乡。

三掌坪，顾名思义，就是三个手掌大小的地方。这里是半高山地区、市级重点贫困村，村里有一位姑娘叫宋玉琳，她原本跟其他姑娘一样，靠辛勤打工谋生，当过勤杂工、开过小餐馆。后来，她和爱人经过多年努力，在宜昌市城区有了自己的餐饮连锁店，日子渐渐富裕起来。然而，谁也没想到她会做出这样的决定——变卖所有店铺，带着所有资金，回到村里创业。

原来，在经营餐馆时，宋玉琳发现，家乡的香椿、干黄花菜、榨广椒、豆腐乳等土菜很受欢迎，特别是香椿，叶嫩味美，许多客人远道而来，就为尝一口“春天的味道”。

家乡味儿勾起她对故土深深的怀念，也催生她一个大胆的念头：回乡创业，和乡亲们一起往好日子上奔。思去想来，她觉得走这条道有希望，想再多不如干起来。2013年，宋玉琳夫妇毅然盘掉城里经营多年的餐厅，一头扎进三掌坪。

Farmers take their toon sprouts to the cooperative, waiting for the procurement 农户们将种植的香椿芽拿到合作社等待收购

Workers are busy in the workshop of the base工人在基地生产车间忙碌

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 香椿加工车间

Toon sprouts pickled in jars香椿酱菜腌制

宋玉琳于当年11月栽下香椿树幼苗，没想到第二年春季就有了收获，小试牛刀一举成功让宋玉琳信心倍增。

2014年，宋玉琳加大投入，成立忆乡情土特产产销专业合作社，在三掌坪村流转土地200 亩，带动一批农户大力发展香椿种植，同时采取“订单种植+保底收购”的模式确保农户增收。

产品规模增加，市场规模也要相应扩大，否则就会形成产销矛盾。尤其是香椿，生长比较快，理想采收期就两天时间，过了就会变老，储藏成本更不用说，所以销售畅通是命根。为了解决销售问题，提升产品附加值与市场竞争力，宋玉琳在抓好合作社基地发展的同时，成立了秭归县味源农业开发有限公司，注册“勤味堂”商标，从事乡村系列农家风味食品的生产。先后开发出香椿酱菜、香椿咸菜、香椿干菜、香椿酱、剁椒酱等系列品种，实现种、产、销一条龙，产品畅销湖南、河南、广东等外省市场。

2020年第一季度，受疫情影响，产品外销运输一度受阻。防疫形势好转后，宋玉琳在地方政府帮助下，一边做好疫情防控，一边加快复工复产，积极与客户联系发货。请不到运输司机，就自己亲自送货。她白天收购，傍晚出发，第二天一早，水灵灵的椿芽就到了湖南各大市场。“产品外销通道打开及时，种植户没受损失。”宋玉琳介绍说。

在宋玉琳的带动下，经过数年发展，原来贫瘠荒芜的土地如今变成了年均亩产值3000 多元的金窝窝。那些观望中的村民也纷纷要求加入合作社，邻村香椿种植也逐渐被带动起来，规模不断扩大，全乡香椿种植面积达到1100 多亩。因为产品质量过硬，宋玉琳的合作社荣获“消费者满意单位”等称号，她个人也当选为市县两级模范，媒体还给她取了一个形象的称号：椿姑娘。

下一步，宋玉琳决定借助网络力量，把家乡的美食进行系统包装推广，拉动销售，进一步扩大种植经营规模，拓宽致富路。