The main road through FuLi is torn up. New pipes and new road are being installed. For several weeks walking my normal route was impossible, so I started taking the back way. What a find that was!

The back way takes me through these vegetable farms. A dozen or more farmers work this area's plots. In the mornings they pull weeds or harvest crops to take to the market.

In the afternoons they dig new beds, plant new starts or water their established plants. These buckets with their bottom spouts make watering more plants possible, but look awkward and heavy for someone like me. I've never seen irrigation pipes or hoses used here.

The people in my neighborhood don't use sprinklers or hoses in their home gardens either. They fill a bucket with water and then use a smaller "scoop" to throw water over the plants. (My landlord has a hose to water the plants around his house. It's one of the few hoses I've seen here. Most people use buckets or basins of water to water plants or wash vehicles.)

These vegetables are growing in gardens across the road and up from our building. I see the water around the beds and am reminded that our neighborhood was once rice paddies. In fact, this area become mostly homes in just the last five years.

This little patch of garden is near DuTou school.

This garden is growing in front of the home next to the college. Wherever there is an open bit of land, someone plants some vegetables. It is my understanding that people do not own land. The government owns the land. People lease the land they farm and the land they build houses on. They plant small vegetable patches around their homes, along roads, in vacant lots... in any open spot. The vegetables then are stir-fried with a bit of meat and eaten with rice for lunch and dinner. Often twice a day. Often seven days a week. And that's a bunch of vegetables.

I wonder if I'll return to walking FuLi's main road when the road renovations are completed. Probably not exclusively. I enjoy the sight of the vegetables too much. I'm sure I'll need to occasionally see what's growing along the back way.