The farm operates under a trusteeship model, where locals do the farming and tenants visit to pick produce. However, this did not satisfy Dai's husband, who grew up in rural Shandong province and had farming experience.

"We suspected they were still using chemical fertilizers to ensure the vegetables looked good for the customers. We were even unsure if the vegetables we picked were actually from 'our' plot," she said.

They moved to their current garden in Changping, sharing a larger area with three other families for 12,000 yuan per year. There are no staff to do the farm work, so the tenants do it themselves, with management providing water and electricity.

"We enjoy a deeper level of engagement than solely being consumers," Dai said, noting that the families appointed a leader to manage the agricultural calendar, bulk-buy seeds, and coordinate repairs.

Growing popularity

The rise of hobby farming is creating a unique economic interface between urban wealth and rural land. In China, where agricultural land is collectively owned and tightly regulated, urban residents are not allowed to purchase farmland. Shared vegetable gardens have emerged as a workaround that benefits everyone.

In rural villages — many of which are sparsely populated as working-age adults migrate to cities — these weekend visitors provide a much-needed injection of capital and renewed purpose.

Hu Kanping, a researcher at the China Ecological Civilization Research and Promotion Association under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, has been both an observer and a participant in this trend for nearly two decades. He rents a plot in the Yifen land project in Nanyuan village, a rare patch of arable land just miles from downtown Beijing.