Organic vs. conventional farming

Hundreds of years ago, everything was grown organically. No one grew monocultures; there was a balance in nature. The good insects ate the bad insects, and additional planting took care of the rest. Some crop loss was expected and fruits and vegetables didn't have to be the same size and shape.

It was only our greed for more crops per acre that resulted in the use of artificial fertilizers. Suddenly, the balance of nature was gone. These artificial fertilizers and the practice of growing monocultures caused an increase of damaging insects that then called for damaging chemical pesticids. And as the insects grew more resistant to the chemicals so the chemicals to fight these pests became more and more poisonous.

Currently over 350 of these chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming and on these farms crops can be sprayed up to 30 times in a season with a mix of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

One hundred years ago, all of our food was:
Organically grown – without toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers
Locally grown – transport from thousands of km away didn’t exist
Minimally processed compared to today
Not genetically modified – technology wasn’t developed
Not nearly as hybridized as most food is today.

It’s widely known that that organic farming generates healthy soils and don't poison ecosystems with toxic and harmful chemicals and disease causing pesticides.But it’s also very sad to acknowledge that using chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides and harmful drugs on a broad scale is making the soil infertile, depleted and damaged. The plants, both through their leaves, fruit and through the soil, absorb these chemicals and it’s proven that it would take 2 times as much time as it was used for planting in order to “heal” and purify our soil from using these chemicals from our troops. But we can make small steps at the time. Starting with buying from local farmers and avoid purchasing produce from huge industrialized, conventional farms which treat their crops for commercial purposes without considering the damage caused for the future generations.

If we want food, which is better for us, our family, wildlife and our environment as a whole we should eat organic and locally raised fruits and vegetables. There are several reasons to do so. For one, many people say they prefer organic food because it tastes better and is a whole lot fresher. For the second, organic farmers together with Toucheng Leisure Farms use grow and rotate a mixture of crops to keep the soil fertile and use other natural methods to prevent disease and reduce pests. They work with nature rather than fight it which is beneficial for the environment. Toucheng Leisure Farm is haven for wildlife and provides homes for bees, birds, butterflies, domestic pigs, goats, water buffalos and greenery. A research supported by major conservation groups found that plant, insect and bird life is up to 50% greater on organic farms. Organic farming also produces less carbon dioxide (the main global warming gas) as well as fewer dangerous wastes generally. So choosing organic, local and seasonal food can significantly reduce carbon footprint and improve our health as well as “health” of our soil and environment.

The main idea behind farming at Toucheng Leisure farm is that the Earth is a living, interconnected organism, and that farm should work with, harness, and encourage it. Our farm functions as a strong, self-sustaining and vibrant single organism that recognizes and respects the basic principles at work in nature. As another form of organic farming, artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are strictly avoided. The special manure and herb-based preparations that are applied to rice paddy fields and compost have been shown to significantly improve the health and well being of soil, plant and animal as well as enhancing the vitality, flavor and keeping qualities of our crops.

The main mission of ecological farming in Toucheng Leisure Farm is about sustainability in an all-encompassing sense—food production that gives enough back enough to the land so it remains healthy. If done responsibly, farming helps cleanse the land, water and air we need to survive. And it is the increasing lack of these resources that motivates us to grow our crops the way we do.

Taiwanese wild pigs

Taiwan has a good sized population of wild pigs which have been hunted by most of the indigenous people. Wild pigs are very gregarious, forming herds of varying size depending on locality and season, but usually of between 6-15 individuals. Their behavior is sociable, they usually live in family groups even though old boars may be solitary. They are active morning and afternoon, resting midday and at night, although they can become nocturnal when they are harassed.

A medium-sized boar has a thick body, relatively thin legs, a short neck, and a long, pointed head ending in a round snout. Its coat is solid and its hair its very thick. Each foot has four toes, the middle two supporting the body, the two lateral toes are higher up and are not touching the ground. The feather consists of stiff bristles and usually finer feather. The color usually varies from dark grey to black or brown, but there are great regional differences in color across continents.

The wild pigs eat all kinds of vegetables and small animals. They have extremely good sense of smell and hearing and they are also very fast runners and strong swimmers. Their usual territory is undergrowth, forest and also agricultural areas with nearby cover at any altitude. These species are omnivorous, though vegetable matter, principally fruits, seeds, roots and tubers, constitutes about 90% of their diet. Toucheng Leisure Farm is often inviting Taiwanese local hunters to the farm to help them get rid of these plant and fruit destroyers. 

Local Taiwanese hunters are athletic and tough and they use native dogs, which are good and clamorous trackers. Hunters are able to round up their dogs, without which it would be impossible to get near a pig. They can outrun even their dogs, or at least keep up with them and be there when a pig is surrounded by the dogs. The true native hunter is able and tenacious. He does not mind getting himself muddied or soaked neither jumping into a waist-high fish pond in winter to retrieve the hunting game. There are also hunters who are solely after wild pigs. They are usually first hand of the farmers who arrange local hunts at their request. 

In Taiwan, male wild boars reach a weight from 68 kg to 181 kg, far less than of  their mainland cousins which can grow as much as 320 kg. Females are somewhat smaller than males and have much smaller tusks. Although it's true the wild pigs here are generally not as big as some overseas varieties, they are big enough to do some damage and the terrain in Taiwanese mountains is a lot more challenging than anywhere else and therefore Toucheng Leisure Farm is very happy to have such hunters helping them keep down the local wild pig population even though they are scarce and rarely found around the farm as they are likely to be hidden in further areas in the mountains. 

Connection with the nature

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer.~ Calvin Coolidge

Many years ago, humans and nature coexisted in a harmony. Humankind's very survival depended on listening to and feeling our connection with nature. We relied on plants for our medicine, used the stars to navigate and tilled the land using animals to plant our crops. In today’s modern, fast pace society, where everyone is running towards career, money and prestige, one forgets to slow down and enjoy the moment. We have pills for our headaches, GPS units to navigate and we get our "crops" from the supermarket. We forgot to live in the harmony with nature, with our surroundings and people and instead we are searching and accumulating materialistic satisfaction.

Throughout most of history, humans slept on the ground, walked barefoot and were completely in touch with the earth’s healing energies and rhythms. Now, we are so cut up on technology, mobile phone, iPods and laptops that we have forgotten to simply communicate together personally. We surround ourselves with technological instruments that offer convenience and a new type of sterile connection but we are losing the real connection with each other and with the Mother Earth. We need to reorient ourselves back to our roots and reconnect with the natural world.




Why? The answer is simple. We are part of the Earth – the living organism and losing the connection with it, it’s like losing ourselves. It’s proven that getting outdoors and closer to nature has all kinds of benefits. Connection to nature decreases stress levels and stimulates healing as the ground provides subtle electrical signals that maintain good health. Connecting with nature not only brings physical benefits, but can greatly improve our emotional, mental and spiritual health. Nature connects us to something bigger, offering a spiritual experience of belonging to a wider community. Meditating in a lovely garden, in a field or by a stream is bringing us inner peace and harmony. The biggest gift of nature is that it teaches us to be more heart-centered and also instills a desire to lead a healthy lifestyle.




We also need to teach the children to go out, have fun and enjoy the natural environment, if we do it soon enough, they can create a lifelong passion for natural world. It’s enriching the imagination of the children. In Toucheng Leisure Farm they can learn about the world around them, keep fit and most of all have fun doing it! Another benefit of connecting with nature is that it increases environmental awareness of the children. How can we expect the children to face the challenges posed by global climate change if they feel no real link with their own natural heritage? In Toucheng Leisure farm we can teach them about different flowers, animals, vegetables. We can teach them about different use of alternative energy, recycling, planting rice or kilning. They can take up gardening, go for long forest walks or go kayaking. We have our own “DIY” - do it yourself centers where they can learn to batik their own bags, t-shirts with natural leaves, make their own vinegar or simply spend time together in beautiful natural environment. They can observe and interact with animals, play outside and also learn about the trees and plants surrounding them. Get in closer touch with the serenity of the woods and Earth as natural spaces encourage fantasy and role-play, reasoning and observation.




But unfortunately, current society runs the very real risk of bringing up a generation of children who simply have no understanding or connection with the natural world. That’s why it’s so worrying that so many children today don’t have the opportunity to experience the outdoors and nature. We truly believe that just as children need a good diet, education and healthcare, so they need to connect with the natural world. Parents have the ability to teach their children about the importance of our environment by simply taking them outdoors and exposing them to the overwhelming beauty of our world.




The best way we can make sure our natural habitat is protected is by teaching our visitors and the children about nature and the wilderness. We want them to feel the connection with nature that our ancestors once relied upon. That is the key to ecological conservation and preservation. Toucheng Leisure Farm brings expert skills to the local community in the name of forest preservation and practical ecological initiatives to enhance biological diversity and ecological integrity. We believe that when people learn more about nature, they will be more open to conservation efforts. Although the modern society doesn’t rely on nature like it once did, we still need it to take care of it. We need to connect to nature on a much more personal level because it is integral to our very existence and Toucheng Leisure Farm is taking responsibility to build a greener, more environmentally sustainable future and finding the ways of reconnecting the children and the visitors to the natural world.

Plant growth can have a cooling effect on the environment

Research has shown that, cities and urban areas are hotter than rural areas because of the effect called “urban heat island”. As cities contain numerous hard, thick surfaces that absorb heat, they remain hotter than natural areas. They tend to lack the green spaces and trees that would absorb to hot air. As a result, the overwhelming heat is inescapable because both the buildings and streets radiate it.

While this may seem hopeless, plants can come to the rescue!  Plants are consistently cooler than common materials and manage to bring the temperature down.

This is broadly known at Toucheng Leisure Farm which is using it to its benefit. The farm planted greenery on the top of the roof of shelters for animals and patio where our customers take a rest  to cool down the temperature around these areas and also to reduce heat and provide cooling environment for its visitors during hot seasons throughout the year.

 Is scientifically proven that plants can directly reduce heat by up to 10 degrees. Due to the fact that plants act like natural air conditioners they are able to evaporate water in their leaves to leave the air nice and cool. Trees and vegetation also lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade and through evapotranspiration.

How it works?

There are several ways in which plants can alter the temperature of the atmosphere. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants use energy from the Sun to drawn down the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then use it to create carbohydrates they need to grow.

Plants also cool the landscape directly through the process known as transpiration. When the surrounding atmosphere heats up, plant release excess water onto the air from their leaves. By releasing evaporated water, plants cool themselves and the surrounding environment. Large amount of transpiration can significantly increase water vapor in the atmosphere, causing more rainfall and cloud cover in an area. The additional cloud cover can often reinforce the cooling by blocking sunlight.

In general the increased leaf area results in more evapotranspiration globally, and thus creates a cooling effect. As plants breathe and perspire they help to cool the atmosphere.

Through the pores called stomata in their leaves, plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that they use for photosynthesis. They then give off water through the stomata in a process called evapotranspiration which cools the plant just as perspiration cools human beings. Plants cool the atmosphere through releasing water vapor when they get too hot which is a process similar to sweating. The reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has an indirect cooling effect. Evapotranspiration also cools the surrounding air—a tree can transpire up to 15 liters of water on a hot day.  

The process is shown on this picture:

To sum up:

Plants lose water by evaporation from their leaves, and the process of evaporation takes heat from the leaf, which then cools the air around it. Even if the plants aren't actually cooling the air, the air closer to them will still be cooler than it would be if they weren't there. So on a sunny day the air over a field of grass will always be cooler than the air over bare ground.

With all this in mind, plants are vital to a hot environment. We all need an escape from the heat, and plants can help even in the smallest ways. Plants promote clean air, they also fight fatigue, stress, dry throat and headache and moreover plants are able to help beat the summer heat and keep you cool. 

 Some come, cool yourself down and enjoy our fresh air in Toucheng Leisure Farm!

Food Education

Vegetables and fruits are vital parts of balanced diet and are good sources of essential micro nutrients such as vitamins, minerals as well as dietary fiber.Adequate nutrition is crucial during childhood and adolescence and a diet rich in micro nutrients is crucial for good physical growth and mental development as well as prevention of infectious and chronic diseases. The need of increasing vegetable and fruit consumption by children is currently receiving much attention due to rise of childhood obesity.

Children are current and future consumers and need dietary guidance to create lifelong healthy eating habits. Home environment and schools are increasingly recognized as important settings for promoting healthy eating practices in children. Nutrition education, the promotion of healthy diets in school, abundant fruits and vegetables in school meals, parental involvement and nutrition related activities such as food gardening or food preparation, can significantly increase young people’s knowledge and improve their dietary habits and most importantly encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables.

  

The main purpose of Toucheng Leisure Farm is to enhance the availability and consumption of vegetables as a main source of micro nutrients. So the children can have a greater knowledge of indigenous vegetables and also facilitate increase of their overall vegetable consumption. Toucheng Leisure Farm increases the exposure, availability, and preference for the fruits and vegetables grown as children’s participation in food gardening usually results in significant increase in vegetable preferences.

Eating behaviors of people living together are similar and therefore parental eating behaviors and healthy home environments should also provide opportunities for children to develop and practice healthy behaviors.

Unfortunately, in the era of modern technology and fast pace society, parents usually lack opportunities to spend time with their children during lunch and dinner time due to raising social acceptance of working long hours, overtimes and due to the fact that they increasingly seek the career goals instead of being orientated on family values. They prefer to substitute their absence in involvement with their children by providing them with financial resources which are often misused as their children’s consumption choices are influenced by exposure to media and fellow teenagers to buy fast and junk food rather than healthier vegetables and fruits. Parents are not only sacrificing their time with their children but they also are facilitating children’s unhealthy dietary intake patterns for the future.

What must parents do to make sure that their children eat properly and can control their temptations to buy fast and junk food? This would require parents and schools to partner together. Parents cannot change behavior at home if schools do not encourage active involvement in learning how to use media, and schools cannot change behavior if parents are irresponsible with their children's media use and eating.

Food education at schools and multiple trips to the farm field would create better opportunities to educate children about nutrition. As children have more media exposure, their nutritional knowledge and reasoning about healthy versus unhealthy foods decreases. On the other hand schools have the ability to teach children about what to eat, but parents have the power to change habits. Schools and parents could more extensively collaborate with plantations like Toucheng Leisure Farm to expose the children to natural environment. Let them grow their own vegetables and so create an emotional connection in terms of “creating a life”. They would gain deeper knowledge of indigenous vegetables and would be able to distinguish different kinds of fruits and vegetables in the stores as well as learn about their health benefits what would consequently influence their future consumption preferences.

The good news is that the evidence shows that parents can successfully treat their child's obesity by actively changing the whole family's approach to diet and physical activity and Toucheng Leisure Farm is willing to assist them to the maximum possible extent in these efforts. 

EE Toucheng Leisure Farm style

 

Madame Cho is the founder of Toucheng Leisure Farm. She is the prime mover of the Farm and she does what should be done and not only tell people to do it.

Here she is in action at the vegetable patch of the Farm.

 

 

She advocates the consumption of fresh, organic, even wild vegetables and with her expertise in cooking

teaches everyone the best way to cook and taste the unique flavor of these veggies.

 

 

Look at her cooking right at the garden where they are collected to ensure the fresh and delicious taste of every vegetables in the garden.

 

 

No one can excel her way of planting, caring,or  harvesting vegetables.

 

Toucheng Leisure Farm has 30 years of experiences and she is part of every season, sunny, rainy, cloudy or stormy weather.

 

 

She always emphasize the preservation and protection of the environment in her words, much more in action and principles.

 

And everyone at Toucheng Leisure Farm follow her example and teachings so that together we can save the Earth and live sustainably.

 

All her efforts had been recognized that the EPA has rewarded Toucheng Leisure Farm as one special place where Environmental Education is patronized and practiced. 

 

 

 

 

Wild vegetables meals at Toucheng Leisure Farm I

To survive in the wild during the time of famine, our forefathers gather wild edible fruits and vegetables.

Wild vegetables are healthy, pest-resistant, fertilizer-free and nutritionally rich. Many have bitter taste but rich in fiber. Tubers and root vegetables are starchy.

Nowadays, many wild vegetables are collected and cultivated to facilitate their breeding and taste acceptable to the general public then sold at markets for convenience.

At Toucheng Leisure Farm, many wild vegetables are grown at vegetables patches and collected for food during meals.





Now you can enjoy a meal with many wild vegetables grown in the Farm and cooked DIY to flavor the unique taste of such vegetables besides benefiting its rich nutritional value.


For your information some of the wild vegetables you may have eaten are:

Bamboo shoots

Sweet potatoes

Edible mushrooms

Flowers of some wild vegetables like purslane, lettuce etc.

Yam

And many, many more.

We will be informing you of some of the dishes we will prepare for those interested to taste some wild vegetables meals.

Consumption of wild vegetables is an environmentally friendly act, we can recycle the plants as they can grow more and faster if collected regularly. They can grow without the use of fertilizer and
healthy.


Welcome to taste these meals at Tocheng Leisure Farm!

 

4 hours of Environmnetal Education

Toucheng Leisure Farm was awarded by the EPA as a place where one can be educated about Environmental Education.

Toucheng Leisure Farm has designed a 4-hour course curriculum for Rice paddy culture.

 Price: NT$990/ person   (child or adult)





09:30 - 10:30  Rice grain life's cycle.

10:30 - 11:00  Introducing Traditional Farm tools or equipments.

11:00 - 12:00  Rice as food or snack making DIY.

12:00 - 13:00 Low carbon prepared  lunch.

13:00 - 14:00  Essay writing ( about rice culture).

14:00 - 15:00  Farm experimental activity.


Welcome to all participants!