While Baima Yuzhen and charities have pitched in with money more recently, the Disabled Persons Federation, a government agency, earlier offered seed money to the two men to grow the trees.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the trees," said Zhao, the village official. "There used to be floods in the area but now the situation has changed. Maybe, the roots are keeping the water steady."

With its well-preserved historical sites and cultural remains from ancient battlefields, Yeli village is hoping to restart its economy on the back of tourism and its more recent green patches.

Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital and an industrial hub, has also vowed to re-create itself as a "forest city."

"We go to meetings and tell villagers how to make the place more green," Zhao added.

Meanwhile, the forest raised by the two friends is almost full now, requiring easier tasks like weeding and fending off stray cows. The property is estimated to be worth around 300,000 yuan.

But Jia Wenqi and Jia Haixia are unlikely to sell it, they said. In fact, they are starting another planting project on the hills outside the village.

They hope to fill the hills with trees in the near future.

That's their big dream at the moment.

"If everyone grows a tree in Hebei, imagine what our landscape will look like," Jia Wenqi said.