A Day at the Grape Farm 葡萄农场的一天

Today we were still at our friend’s house, since we’d slept over so we could go see the mushrooms. But first, we went to a grape farm — and it turned out they grew way more than just grapes! They also had muskmelons (we call them xiāngguā in Chinese, which basically means “fragrant melon” because they smell so nice and sweet when they’re ripe) and white radishes. After I finished pulling up the radishes, the soles of my feet were covered in tiny prickles — that part was a little ouch!

The coolest thing I learned was about seedless grapes, because it turns out there are two totally different ways to make them. This farm uses the more natural method: some grape varieties are naturally seedless because of their genes, but since you can’t grow a seedless grape from a seed, farmers take cuttings — they snip off a piece of the vine and root it to grow a brand-new plant that’s an exact copy of the parent. It takes more work and patience, but the grapes come out naturally seedless. The other way is to spray the grapes with a plant hormone called gibberellic acid, which makes them grow without forming normal seeds. That method is quicker and easier, but this farm chose the natural, hands-on way instead.

We also got to see two different fields: the normal field and the advanced field. The normal field just had bird nets over the top, but the advanced field went a step further — every single bunch of grapes had its own little bag wrapped around it, so bugs couldn’t get to them. I even spotted a bird stuck inside one of the blue nets, which totally shocked me!

I had such a fun day, and I wish I could pick grapes all over again. And honestly, their grapes were so incredibly sweet — I loved every single one.