Satoyama Juku Summer Food and Farming Challenge Camp Now Accepting Registrations: Exclusive Food and Farming Missions for Kids

Parent A: "My child actually asked me to buy vegetables they used to refuse to eat!"
Parent B: "After coming home, my little girl said she wanted to help me measure the rice and cook it."
What happened?
Why do these children come home asking to eat vegetables they normally avoid, and even show more interest in cooking?

The answer is: these kids have all attended the "Summer Food and Farming Challenge Camp"!

Ever since the food safety scandals swept across Taiwan, China, parents have surely placed even greater importance on the matter of "eating" - on how to let their children eat healthily and eat safely. Yet even if parents strictly watch over things in daily life, they can't help worrying: once children leave their side, without their parents' help, can they still eat well and eat healthily? When children cook for themselves, are they capable of making a balanced meal, or can they only choose instant noodles and microwaved refrigerated foods?

"How to eat healthily" is something that must be learned! "How to cook delicious food" is also something that must be trained! Therefore, Satoyama Juku will continue this year to take children from fourth grade through first year of junior high into rural life for the "Summer Food and Farming Challenge." Through a series of processes of getting close to the land, experiential learning and participation, they will learn to understand food and cook good food with their own hands.

At the very start of the camp, we will saw bamboo and whittle bamboo chopsticks by hand to make "personal eco-friendly tableware" full of the satoyama spirit. Next, we will take on the challenge of working in the rice paddies, getting close to the land that produces our food, and together explore "where does rice come from?" We will also take on the challenge of designing our own menus, then go into traditional markets to interact with producers and vendors, learning how to buy fresh, in-season ingredients and how to choose food when eating out - what methods and secrets lie behind these choices? Of course, we will also wash and sort the vegetables ourselves, then start from gathering firewood and lighting a fire to cook a big meal on our own! During these three days of camp, through farm work we will come to know what food originally looks like and appreciate how precious it is that food does not come easily; through the cooking process, we will learn how to choose ingredients and handle them, and further learn to taste the purest flavours of food! Although it is only a short three days, Satoyama Juku hopes that every child who comes to the Food and Farming Challenge Camp can gain the ability to "choose the right food" and take "it" home, so that it becomes an important asset to accompany them in the future.

This year there are two sessions in total, respectively 7/19 (Wed)-7/21 (Fri) and 8/9 (Wed)-8/11 (Fri). To maintain learning quality, each session is full at 20 people. The activity fee is $4900 yuan per person, and those who register and complete payment before 6/20 (Tue) can also enjoy an early-bird discount of $4500 yuan per person! Moms and dads whose hearts are moved should hurry to open the brochure, read it in detail, and Satoyama Juku awaits the children to take on the challenge missions!

2017 "Summer Food and Farming Challenge Camp" brochure download (July and August sessions)

2017 "Summer Food and Farming Challenge Camp" July session online registration

2017 "Summer Food and Farming Challenge Camp" August session online registration