Organic Agriculture Service-Learning: Notes from a Bicycle Journey in Hualien (Part 1)
In my first year of service at Yilan University, I began teaching the course "Biodiversity"; in addition to regular lectures, as a rule I arranged for students taking the course to go to Taiwan's most famous holy mountain of biodiversity, Fushan Botanical Garden, for outdoor teaching. In addition, I supplemented a great deal on current environmental issues, and required students to write at least 1~2 letters to the responsible authorities on environment-related issues, such as: county and city governments, the Environmental Protection Administration, and legislators, making some constructive submissions, so as to fulfill the obligations of modern citizens to care about the environment and civic literacy. After the submissions, the responses from the responsible agencies were generally quite favorable. Although occasionally a government agency complained, saying some issues were a bit redundant; but over the years, on the whole it still counted as putting learning into practice!
Service-Learning Program
Last year, in conjunction with the school's service-learning course program, we went to the "Dazhaiyuan Friendly Market" in Yilan to do service volunteering. In addition to helping the small farmers set up their stalls in the morning and pack up in the afternoon, the students also came to understand the meaning of agricultural biodiversity during this period; it is hoped that after gaining a rough grasp of agriculture, they can also develop different feelings for friendly-farming agricultural products; they can see the true value behind food, rather than merely the external price by the catty.
For this semester's course-linked service-learning program, I wanted to do something a bit more action-oriented. It happened that during the winter vacation, I saw that Australian youth Andrew, after nearly a year in Taiwan learning Chinese, wanted to cycle around Taiwan before leaving and raise funds for the Gingxin Foundation. Although it was only his own action, it received a great deal of response; and over a journey of more than 10 days, he raised over 30,000 yuan to donate to the Gingxin Foundation. I was deeply moved and encouraged, so I planned to emulate his action plan. Because time was limited and to match the theme of the biodiversity course, the focus was placed on friendly agriculture in Hualien County, especially the well-known pesticide-free agriculture that former county magistrate Hsieh Shen-shan vigorously promoted during his tenure.
The original plan was to use the 4-day university spring break bicycle trip, riding from Hualien up to the Chishang or Guanshan area of Taitung, to explore the hometown of Chishang rice or Guanshan rice. But after I did an advance scouting trip in mid-March, considering that the students were riding for the first time and their leg strength might not bear it; so I kept it at 4 days, but shortened the entire route to only reach Yuli Township in Hualien County.
On the first day in early April, we took the Taiwan Railways local train from Yilan at nearly 10 a.m. to Hualien Beipu Station. First we went to the home of Wu Jintian, the owner of the rental shop next to the station, to pick out and adjust the bicycles; a line of cyclists then grandly followed Boss Wu to a local snack shop to savor the local flavored snacks; including: radish egg, garlic white meat, and so on. The snack shop did very good business; even employees of the Hualien County Government dined here. Without someone to introduce it, it would be hard to find such an economical and affordable snack shop. After the meal, Boss Wu led the students along the Qixingtan bicycle-only path. Moving along the coast, the azure Pacific Ocean was right before our eyes. Midway at the edge of Qixingtan, Boss Wu's rental shop again adjusted the equipment, and asked him to explain the safety precautions for bicycle riding; especially to pay attention to the order of the front and rear wheel brakes for left and right directions, so as not to mistakenly press the front wheel brake first on a downhill and take a header.
Hualien Bethesda Home
Afterward we turned onto County Road 193, heading to the first stop of this service-learning trip, and also the Hualien Bethesda Home for which we were raising funds. Thanks to Superintendent Wen Hsiu-e and her German chairwoman, Sister Gu Meiling, for receiving us in person, and for having a full-time secretary accompany us to visit each floor of the home. Bethesda was founded more than 50 years ago, from an early blind girls' vocational training class, to now additionally taking in people with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairments, physical disabilities, Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and various other physical and mental disabilities, to meet the needs of society and more than 500 families. There are mainly two categories of residents: one is children aged 3 to 10 who hold disability manuals, regardless of religion, native place, or region. The other is adults aged 18 to 30 who hold disability manuals and have the ability to work and learn. Service items include: physical rehabilitation therapy, educational placement, living care, daily living self-care training, music therapy, arts and crafts and instrument training, physical training, vocational training, and so on.
What moved us was that in the severe disability section, residents have dedicated staff caring for their daily lives 24 hours a day. At present there are nearly 100 residents and more than 60 staff members. Although funding includes government welfare subsidies for physical and mental disabilities, there is still a gap with the needs, and donations from all sectors are still required. Therefore, before the trip, through the introduction of rental shop owner Wu, we hoped this trip could do a little something for Bethesda. During the visit, we saw residents with different degrees of disability receiving rehabilitation, carpentry training, handicraft training, embroidery training, and other courses. The first floor also displays and sells handmade products from their hard and hard-won labor, and there is an attached car-washing service run by mildly disabled students, in the hope that they may have a chance to make a living on their own. On the first floor we also charitably bought bread they had recently produced and some handmade items; thinking about it, having a healthy body and mind is such a fortunate thing. If you drive to Hualien, you are also welcome to come to the first-floor car wash workshop and let them provide thoughtful car-washing service.
Exquisite artworks carved from driftwood by volunteers (work-exchangers) at Dawang Vegetable Shop
Dawang Vegetable Shop
Afterward we continued to the second stop, Dawang Vegetable Shop, for a visit. Located on Zhongyi 3rd Street on the edge of the city, the shop owner is nicknamed: Dawang (Mr. Wang Fuyu), originally a doctoral student at Cheng Kung University. By chance he abandoned his studies for farming and also went into business running "Dawang Vegetable Shop," becoming a collection and distribution station for the products of small friendly-farming farmers; it advertises that it sells only two things: locally fresh, and naturally pure.
It gathers like-minded consumers and markets by home delivery to about 100 to 300 households across Taiwan. The products come from pure farms in the Huadong Rift Valley, and from seafood in Hualien waters; harvested the same day, delivered immediately. Dawang Vegetable Shop also makes its own vermicompost kitchen-waste compost, which is worth promoting to conscientious households nationwide, to fulfill the concept of recycling waste into resources. Thanks to Dawang for treating everyone to roasted sweet potatoes using the bread oven in the backyard. As for this bread oven, Dawang is not satisfied with it and wants to build another one to bring more diverse uses into play.
Afterward we went to the Paul Pastoral Center to unload our luggage. This place is a beautiful spot with a tranquil atmosphere. Although the bunk beds sleeping 4-5 people are a bit crowded, they are more economical. Because we would not stay in Hualien again on the return trip, at night we went into downtown Hualien to find food and also buy souvenirs and snacks, and found that Hualien sweet potato seems to be everyone's favorite.
Helping set up tents at Hualien Haoshiji
Haoshiji
The next morning after breakfast at the pastoral center, we set off for Hualien Haoshiji. After arriving at the Mingyi Elementary School activity center, we discovered that the market had already moved to the plaza in front of the Railway Culture Center, so we turned and went to the new site. Hualien Haoshiji was established in December 2010, when a group of farmers who love the land set up a small-farmer market belonging to Hualien.
This trip was originally meant to do a bit more for the market, to match the purpose of service learning. Luckily only about half the tents had been set up, and we were still in time to help set up the remaining half of the tents and the stall displays. Under the guidance of the small farmers, we raised the white cloth canopies one by one, which could block the somewhat enthusiastic spring sun of the early morning. In addition to the farming friends and life-craft experts setting up stalls, Hualien Haoshiji also has several core people promoting it together. Mr. Hsu Chih-ming is a technician in the Agriculture Department of the Hualien County Government, and also a major promoter of establishing Hualien's pesticide-free agriculture farmers' market. Every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., he meets consumers face to face at the Hualien Meilun Winery. Another core figure is Associate Professor Tsai Chien-fu of the Institute of Environmental Education at National Dong Hwa University. He also brought some students here to volunteer. Because he himself has a background in architecture, the aforementioned mobile cloth-canopy tents were designed by him, and can be called a model of applying learning.
Our Yilan University students also took part here in the experience of making crispy plums by hand. Thanks to the assistance of "Plum Essence Granny" Ms. Li Suzhen; Suzhen also farms in Fuli and has quite a few agricultural processed products with a good reputation. Perhaps one has to mention that she is the older sister of Li Baolian (A Bao), author of "A Female Farmer's Mountain-Seeking Record," for everyone to go "ah" with an expression like "so that's how it is." They also have a younger brother (A Sheng) who grows pears in Lishan, and his family (the pear blog). The three siblings' commitment to agriculture can be said to be no less than one another.
I generally had a brief interaction with each stall, among which vegetable growers were more numerous, and there were also Fenglin Zhang family's pasture-raised native eggs, homemade herbal handmade soap, and an expert who makes his own musical instrument, the guanxiao, and so on, gathering agriculture and different life arts for display in this small market. In recent years the phenomenon of farmers' (people's) markets springing up like bamboo shoots after rain all over Taiwan also precisely demonstrates: that vitality from the land, unwilling to be suppressed year after year, has been able to burst forth brilliantly, each standing proudly with its own characteristics; as the seasons change, the market will always have different seasonal vegetables, fruits, and agricultural processed products.
Because the stay was not long enough, I could not interact with too many consumers who support the market. But I met a new immigrant art worker who had come here to settle, because she identified with the environmental philosophy of friendly farming. I also learned that "Haoshiji" also connects with local environmental groups, such as: the "Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation"; through each other's e-newsletters they expand the supporting community. Over the past two years, small-farmer markets all over Taiwan have also jointly held two market seminars; in addition to warming each other up, they also take the opportunity to absorb suitable experience, as a good chance for each market to strive to survive.
Student practice vegetable garden for the general education course "Organic Green Kitchen" taught by Professor Song Bing-ming of National Dong Hwa University
Zhixue Organic Agriculture Dedicated Zone
The weather on the market day was very good. In order not to make everyone hurry along under too strong a spring sun, after the experience we soon bade farewell to the market and headed to the Zhixue Organic Agriculture Dedicated Zone in Shoufeng Township. This dedicated zone covers about 40 hectares, and several of the more well-known ones, such as: Zhixue and Wubaihu organic farms, are located here. What we were going to visit was the student practice vegetable garden of the general education course "Organic Green Kitchen" taught by Professor Song Bing-ming of National Dong Hwa University. We were very happy that Professor Song himself personally explained it to everyone.
Although the vegetable garden is not large, it has row after row of seasonal vegetables planted, and name signs were also put up for identification. At the end of the term, students gather at Professor Song's home to share the harvest. Professor Song is an intellectual, or so-called alternative professor, who cares greatly about agriculture. Previously he also set up the "Rift Valley Farm Workshop," building an online home-delivery channel to assist friendly producers with end-stage marketing. Being able to personally practice righteous deeds of supporting farmers and helping the weak is truly admirable. Incidentally, the newly offered general education course "Organic Happy Farm" that our school began in the 99th academic year is jointly taught by Professor Huang Chang-ju, director of the Organic Industry Center, and relevant colleagues, and also refers to part of Professor Song's teaching philosophy, with special emphasis on students' hands-on work and service learning, and I personally mainly also help with the farm service learning in it.
The living building still available for tourists to experience or recall the past, the Lin Jincheng tobacco curing barn
Fenglin
At noon we turned to the "Student Cafeteria" on the street beside the Zhixue Gate of National Dong Hwa University for a meal. That day it was packed with customers; this bright and clean dining environment was very popular. Afterward, from the Zhixue Gate we took the outer ring road within the campus, crossing what should be the broadest National Dong Hwa University in all Taiwan, to another main gate and then connected to Provincial Highway 9. This section of road was mostly a gentle uphill, and everyone rode very strenuously, arriving at Darong Second Village in Fenglin Township at about a little after 4. Thanks to local Ms. Li Meiling for taking us to visit the old shrine and some old buildings from the Japanese era. These old buildings have mostly gone unrepaired for many years, not only mottled everywhere, but some are truly no longer usable. I heard that funding has been secured to reorganize them. For this immigrant village preserved from the Japanese occupation period to the present, our cultural departments, whether central or local, really should put in more care. If one cannot learn from the past, how can one know the future?
That day we stayed overnight in the Lin Jincheng and Liao Kuai tobacco curing barns. Tobacco leaves were once an extremely important agricultural crop in Fenglin; unfortunately, after entering the WTO, tobacco leaves declined from then on, leaving only these living buildings of the past (their owners are all still alive) still available for tourists to experience or recall the past. That evening we asked the local "Field Mom" to prepare a sumptuous Hakka-style meal. Although it was vegetarian, the various delicacies greatly appealed to everyone's taste buds. Among them, the mugwort cakes and vegetable buns matched to the Qingming Festival holiday won my heart; this was a snack I loved to eat since childhood. At night, sleeping on the one-ping "tatami" in the tobacco curing barn, burrowing into a borrowed sleeping bag for a night of good sleep, I could better appreciate that people's needs can also be so simple and at ease.
In the morning Meiling said she would take us to eat vegetable buns on Fenglin Street. Halfway there we stopped in front of an unmanned shop, with fried dough twists, tea eggs, steamed buns, mantou, and so on; whatever you eat, you put in coins yourself according to the amount. If this kind of shop that advertises honesty could be applied to agricultural products, it could reduce the busyness of farmers having to look after production and also sell products, so they could just concentrate on production. Several shops on Fenglin Street selling vegetable buns all did very good business. It was said that the one with the most filling sold out early, and the owner proudly said he was the best; in fact, another one we went to was also quite good. If peers could raise everyone's level, then the overall buying atmosphere could also be brought up, rather than only competition among individual shops; just as bread champion Master Wu Bao-chun selflessly shares his production know-how with everyone, letting his name spread its branches and leaves to benefit more peers in the same trade; only this is the way of a true master.