Chenjiazhuang's farmland is like a patchwork quilt, practicing a zero-waste philosophy.
What good can come of discarded straw mats, cotton quilts and tire rubber? The best outcome would probably be a trip to the recycling plant, but at Chen Jiazhuang Orchard these cast-offs take on a new life: straw mats become mulch that suppresses weeds, and waste tire rubber is tied around the base of lemon trees to keep longhorn beetles from boring into them. All of this is thanks to Chen Kunsheng, a farm owner who loves environmental protection and cannot stand seeing things thrown away at random. More than twenty years ago he began combining his own organic farm with waste collected from various places for revitalization and reuse, and he also makes his own organic compost, putting the phrase "making the fullest use of everything" into practice to the utmost.
The most natural materials for the most organic production
Gaudy straw mats and cotton quilts lie in the middle of the farm road, basking in the southern Taiwan sunshine; seen from afar, they look like a giant patchwork quilt inlaid into the earth. This is not quilt-drying or some grand installation art, but one of Chen Kunsheng's creative "works."
Chen Kunsheng, owner of Chen Jiazhuang Orchard, farms more than 15 hectares in Yanshui and Liuying, Tainan. He began practicing organic agriculture in 1989 and can be called a pioneer of organic farming in Taiwan, China. He currently grows more than 11 kinds of fruit, but growing organic fruit trees in the humid, hot climate of southern Taiwan is a major challenge. Chen Kunsheng, who has been environmentally conscious since childhood, kept thinking about how to use the most natural materials to achieve the most organic production, and his orchard became the best laboratory.
One of his works is the patchwork straw mat. To deal with organic farming's biggest headache, weeds, many farmers use plastic sheeting as mulch, but Chen Kunsheng wanted to keep production waste to a minimum. A flash of inspiration struck: why not use straw mats and cotton quilts that can decompose naturally as mulch? So Chen Kunsheng treated his own farm as a canvas, piecing together one beautiful scene after another. Not only did the weeds decrease, but these unwanted discards also found a second spring.
"These things can all return to nature, I don't have to collect them at all, and visitors to my orchard don't need to worry about snakes hiding in the weeds." Chen Kunsheng talked on and on as he showed off his proud works, his eyes full of delight.
