The 4th Long Valley Chinese Arrowhead and Water Chestnut Harvest Fest

Co-organised by CA and Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, the 4th Long Valley Chinese Arrowhead and Water Chestnut Harvest Fest was held with great success on 30th-31st January. The harvest fest this year had a larger scale than that of last year and was held in two consecutive days at Ho Sheung Heung Village and Yin Kong Village respectively. Over 200 members of the public participated.

Through the activity, the organisers aimed to let more people know about Long Valley, the special wetland and gain support for local agriculture and wetland conservation. The various activities included the biggest waist competition for the Chinese arrowheads and water chestnut, rice husking experience, watercress harvest, sweet potato baking with mud oven and more. All the participants could also bring a catty of Chinese arrowheads and water chestnuts harvested home! Applications flooded in and we sincerely thank everyone for the enthusiastic support. For those who missed the fest, we long to see you next year!
 
The Chinese arrowhead this candidate harvested has a big waist of 189mm!
 We had our debut of sweet potato baking with mud oven in Long Valley. Mud not only grows food, it cooks great food too!
   
It is the first time for CA to co-operate with the social enterprise “Greenshop”. They processed the crops from Long Valley into organic food like water chestnut cakes, arrowhead chips and candied lotus root, and then set up free tasting and sales counters in the fest. The fresh watercress and lotus roots were the most popular crops.
 


CA has newly designed a green gift – Long Valley paper models. The two models are ‘Long Valley Farmer’ and ‘Greater Painted Snipe’, a rare bird species found in Long Valley. Both are made by 100% recycled paper. Each paper model just costs HKD$10 (Free local mailing). Order hotline: 2272 0345


‘Long Valley Farmer’ is not just a paper model, it is also a postcard.


The ‘Greater Painted Snipe’ model is delicately designed and it is highly recommended for those who love handicrafts.
 
 

Seasons for Paddy Cultivation

Before ’70s, there were lots of paddy fields in Hong Kong, and those in Kam Tin, Yuen Long were the most famous for their “see mew” rice. But later on, the rice industry went downhill as there was more and more imported rice in the market. Nowadays the younger generations even have never seen any paddy field! Paddy cultivation is not an easy task. Let me share with you how complicated it is during this season for paddy cultivation! 

Firstly, farmers have to nurture the rice seedlings to a certain height level before they can be transplanted to the paddy fields. Bear in mind that for better ventilation and nutrient distribution, they cannot be planted too deep or too shallow; too sparse or too close to each other. After that, the seedlings have to come across uncertainties of weather, rainfall and even their predators……It takes around 100 days for the rice seedlings to mature – a golden spike of rice will then be seen. In the old days, there were special tools for manual rice husking and sieving. The yellowish grains left after husking are the brown rice. The unpolished brown rice is more nutritious than the polished white rice! 


The rice seedlings grew a lot in just 60 days!


 Volunteers wore their water boots and transplanted rice seedlings in the wet farmlands neatly according to the string mark.
A golden spike of rice.
 
We are going to transplant rice seedlings at the end of April. If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 2272 0345! Hope to see you in the paddy field!
 
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