Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market Opens: Shop the Market, Learn English, and Support Farmers
Written by the Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market
Want to give city kids a different kind of experience? Starting this Saturday, for three weekends in a row, the very first organic farmers' market has invited English teachers to co-host a market experience real-life English garden party, the "Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market Children's English Garden Party," so that parents can bring their children to seize the tail end of summer vacation and, together in the Water Garden organic farmers' market in the Gongguan commercial district of National Taiwan University, listen to the farmers' stories and learn where healthy, earth-friendly vegetables and fruits come from, while also clearing checkpoint challenges to learn all kinds of "market English," experience shopping, tea tasting and hands-on making of small organic-ingredient snacks, and enjoy the pleasures of organic living, all free of charge except for some ingredients you pay for yourself!
Guided by the Taipei Water Department and jointly organized by the Taipei Cultural Exploration Association and nearly twenty quality organic farms from all over Taiwan that originally sold at the National Taiwan University organic farmers' market, the "Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market" will hold Taiwan's first-ever real-life English teaching experience activity at a farmers' market starting this Saturday for two consecutive weekends (9/1, 9/8).
During the event, real-life English teaching teacher David, who holds a degree in food and nutrition, will lead assistant volunteers to co-host a series of novel farmers' market checkpoints, including Healthy Farm, Tea Offering, Bargaining King, Balance It Out, Little Master Chef and more, so parents can bring their children to learn English, browse the market, eat organic and support farmers, enjoying a weekend parent-child family activity that delivers multiple benefits at once. For details, see the market website: http://lifenextmarket.blogspot.tw
The director of the guiding body, the Taipei Water Department, said that holding this kind of creative parent-child activity for the first time is meant to make sustainable living more widespread; supporting the natural-farming organic agriculture of sustainable ecology means cherishing clean earth and cherishing water resources, and in line with the department's philosophy of promoting sustainable ecology and water resource education, the Taipei Water Department hopes that, with the joint promotion of the Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market, a civic learning and leisure venue for a sustainable-living cultural market can be created in the Gongguan living circle of greater Taipei.
Wang Tsan-yuan, chairman of the organizing body, the Taipei Cultural Exploration Association, said that water is the sweet dew that nourishes the earth, crops and life; combining the recreation of the Water Garden with the cultural style of the market, coming to the Water Garden farmers' market lets you enjoy the cool ease of quiet within the noise, and chatting about ingredients and farming with every distinctive, sincere, organic, happy farmer is even more a joyful holiday activity for the whole family to relax, shop, make friends and gain knowledge. He hopes this kind of creative parent-child market experience learning activity can encourage more families to enjoy the shopping fun of the organic farmers' market, learning English together, eating organic, browsing the market and supporting farmers.
The founding of the Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market is a story about a group of farmers changing Taiwan through earth-friendly natural farming, and the closing of the National Taiwan University Organic Farmers' Market is the beginning of this story. When Taipei's only organic farmers' market closed, it meant that a community linking land, ecology, farmers and the dining table would ferment a deeper force; these farmers devoted to ecological organic farming, with the strength of unity and self-reliance and the assistance of the Water Garden area, rebuilt a striking new organic cultural market in the Water Garden of the Gongguan commercial district of National Taiwan University.
In the spirit of: Organic - commitment to purely organic ingredients, Fresh - freshness from farm to table, Sincerity - truly feeling the farmers' intentions, Aesthetics - a cultural market of living aesthetics, these four principles, the Water Garden Organic Farmers' Market has gathered nearly twenty-plus genuinely excellent organic farmers from all over Taiwan to establish the only farmers' cultural market in the greater Taipei area that insists on purely organic produce; each farmer has their own commitment to and care for farming methods, and many offer rare specialty organic ingredients that are currently hard to find through ordinary mass channels.
The market was founded precisely in the hope of getting to know more friends who cherish health, ecology, land and local agriculture, and of jointly building a market community that supports sustainable agriculture and healthy ingredients.
Market activities: organic smallholder market lectures, ecological and cultural performances, parent-child activities
Market hours: Every Saturday 2:00-7:00 pm (summer time)
Market location: No. 1 Siyuan Road (near MRT Gongguan Station Exit 4, Tingzhou Road intersection, Taipei Water Garden Plaza)
Market website: http://lifenextmarket.blogspot.tw
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/organicfarmersmarket
Main farms at the market are as follows:
Hongqi Organic Leisure Farm, Pingtung: pineapple, avocado, black bean, rice-duck rice
Ougenli Organic Farm: Hualien, assorted vegetables and fruits
Fumao Organic Farm, Zhongliao, Nantou, organic emperor banana
Gengmutian Organic Farm, Miaoli: organic leafy vegetables and fruits
Hanren Organic Farm, Yanchao, Kaohsiung, organic guava, organic jujube
Canaan Organic Farm, Xinhua, Tainan, organic vegetables, organic rice
Shengyuan Organic Farm, Chiayi, organic yam, amaranth, okra, sweet potato, bottle gourd
Datong Organic Farm, Nantou, pineapple, organic vegetables, organic fruit
Qingxinyuan Organic Farm, Taoyuan, large cucumber, small cucumber, corn, passion fruit, taro, green pepper, pumpkin, bitter melon, ginger
Yuanyi Organic Farm, Pingtung, papaya, banana
Shifang Organic Tea Garden, Pinglin, organic pouchong tea, Oriental Beauty
Hexinle Organic Farm, Yilan, red dragon fruit
Tianyuan Organic Farm, Kaohsiung, organic lotus root, lotus seed, mango
Peifang Organic Farm, Taoyuan, bok choy, black-leaf bok choy, potato, okra, assorted vegetables and fruits
Songyeyuan Organic Farm, Yilan, bok choy, black-leaf bok choy, napa cabbage, sweet potato, pumpkin, peanut
Nature Organic Farm, Jiuru, Pingtung, papaya, sugarcane, cabbage, mango, taro, cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese chive, snap bean, bell pepper, jujube, guava, tomato, loofah
Daluolan Organic Vegetable and Fruit Farm, Wufeng Township, Hsinchu, assorted vegetables and fruits
Shuicaitian Yasayou'a Farm, Nantou, assorted vegetables and fruits, red jujube, bamboo shoot....
Lohas Organic Farm, Taoyuan, assorted vegetables and fruits
Jiujiufeng Organic Farm, Nantou, organic asparagus
Qiu Chuichang, Taitung, organic rice
Chulu Organic Coffee Garden