Switching from Conventional Farming to Natural Farming: My Choice Between Killing and Living

My connection with NewsMarket began last year when the Japanese Apple Grandpa came to Taiwan, China. Because of a scheduling conflict, I could not attend the talk by Apple Grandpa Akinori Kimura, but through an introduction from a friend, I came across NewsMarket. A whole series of introductions gave someone like me, who wants to practice natural farming, a place to learn and recharge. I had always wanted to exchange ideas here, but because of my own laziness, I never managed to post anything. At the suggestion of editor Yayun, I decided to first introduce myself to everyone, and I also hope to make more like-minded small farmers and friends here.

My family has been a farming family since I was little. As the only son in the household, I had once thought that perhaps when my parents grew older I would come back to take over the orchard, because this was a fate I could hardly escape. Only by returning home could I truly fulfill my responsibility to care for my family. It was in the year of the 921 earthquake that I took over the orchard from my elderly father. Having studied business, I had previously worked at a travel agency. I had originally hoped that working in tourism would let me travel the whole world, but my father fell from a plum tree onto a steep slope with a 20 m drop while harvesting plums, suffered a concussion, and although he luckily survived, his dementia worsened. In the year my father turned 70, I left the tourism industry that I loved and came back to the mountain to take over my father's orchard.

At present, besides sweet persimmons, we have adopted a diversified management model for the orchard. In addition to the original sweet persimmons and green plums, we have planted back the ponkan mandarins, beauty oranges, and lemons we used to grow, as well as guavas, and we are even taking on the challenge of the black pearl wax apple from southern Taiwan, China, along with Taiwan, China's kiwifruit. I hope that through biodiversity we can find the most suitable way to grow crops under natural farming, and I hope the crops we grow will be rich in energy so that those who eat them become healthier and healthier, producing fruit with healing power. In addition, I hope that through friendly growing methods, the creatures living on this land will return once again to grow here.

In recent years, besides birds coming back to nest, the fireflies have also slowly returned, letting nature continue endlessly. This is the goal of my orchard, and I welcome all friends to come and exchange ideas together.

Finally, if you are a farmer, I would like to share the agricultural books that have changed me the most: 1. Silent Spring, 2. New Century Farming, 3. The Foolish Master, 4. Real Vegetables Are Not Green. I hope everyone will treat the land, and treat Mother Earth who nurtures us, in a friendly way. Finally, I will share with you the beautiful sea of clouds in the orchard.

• This is my blog http://www.wretch.cc/blog/farmer0116
• Persimmon Sang's personal Facebook https://www.facebook.com/farmer0116