A piece of persistence, a strand of idea, a nest of bird’s nest and a garden of pear trees

interweave the local most sincere emotion and effort in Hsichou and construct

the most natural food and peace of mind Let’s enjoy the nature freely!

Make insects, birds and human be happy

This is --- “Pear Paradise”

Pear Paradise is located in Hsichou Township Santiao Village and originally farmed and managed jointly by the local farmer of Mr. Yuan-tian Chung and his wife Mrs. Rong Liu Chung. However, being engaged in farming for over 60 years, the old couple aged 80 cannot bear the loads and busy farming due to being old and infirm, so they intend to desert the pear garden. However, this piece of pear garden was gained with great effort in their young period and they still have rich emotion for it. Therefore, they are unwilling to see the pear garden being deserted and determined to sublease it to other farmers who are interested in this pear garden for take-over.

Owner of pear garden: Mr. Yuan-tian Chung and Mrs. Rong Liu Chung

Owner of pear garden: Mr. Yuan-tian Chung （Ref:Hsichou Shangshui Facebook）

However, the sublease process is not smooth and hence the pear garden has been deserted for over one year. When farmers in Hsichou applied for “Paddy Wetland Project”, it fell upon opportunity that the rural writer of Ms. Yin-ning Wu working in Hsichou Township Office and her partner of Mr. Tsung-fu Liao, Ms. Tzu-hui Chen, Ms. Ya-yun Cheng and other young farmers with noble aspirations formed Hsichou Shangshui Water Farmer Co. Ltd in 2013. They intended to develop the local agricultural production in Hsichou with the balanced economy and ecologically reassuring agricultural mode of “learn from land and nature, coexist harmoniously with insects and birds”. Finally, they rented the pear garden to Mr. and Mrs. Chung for 3 years with the rent of NTD 40,000 each year according to the price tag.

Working partners in Pear Paradise（Ref:Hsichou Shangshui Blog）

Ms. Tzu-hui Chen and Ms. Ya-yun Cheng during the interview said: this group of young partners has no rural family background and experience in operating and managing pear garden, but through the whole journey, they have rented the pear garden for nearly 2 years. When they recalled the moment of entering into the pear garden at the beginning, the deserted tree branches and sprawling weeds were everywhere. They had no clue in operation and management, but during garden inspection it was suddenly found that there was a bird’s nest where the birds laid eggs just now and the eggs were incubated in the tree. The original creature for this life caught everyone’s eyes. It is just their ideal agriculture to enable the creatures in this pear garden to exist naturally. Meanwhile, they wanted to develop the friendly farming method via pear garden, so that local people can eat at ease and this piece of land can achieve the natural balance. Therefore, they were “naive and brave” to shoulder the future of pear garden and expected to develop their ideal agriculture and non-toxic and organic cultivation methods, so that the pear garden can be the natural paradise for people’s leisure and entertainment. So they came up a nice name for this piece of land—— “Pear Paradise”, hoping that “insects are happy, birds are happy and pears are also happy”.

A corner of pear garden (real scenery on site)

Fruitful pear trees (real scenery on site)

Bird’s nest in the pear tree (Ref: Hsichou Shangshui Facebook

1.Agricultural production in pear garden

In addition to non-toxic and organic Shangshui Rice promoted by Paddy Wetland Project, another main operation item of Hsichou Shangshui Water Farmer Co., Ltd is “Pear Paradise”.
The total area of pear garden is 0.087 acres, approximately 2552.6 ping. Currently, the pear garden is operated in non-toxic and organic method not for profit, and its main aim is to recover the land productivity, so that the local people can eat safely and healthily

Being managed in the organic and non-toxic method, pear trees are easily subject to pest and disease damage without spraying pesticide. To make matters worse, due to the shortage of manpower and experience, everyone felt anxious just like an ant on a hot pan, and did not know how to do. Just then, Ms. Yin-ning Wu and her partners invited the experts in pear cultivation of Mr. Tzu-yu Wu and some excellent pear farmers to Hsichou to give guidance.

Upon the experts’ entering into the pear garden, they looked around and drew a conclusion by “shaking the head”. Then, the experts led the young farmers to visit other “professional” pear gardens located in the same Zhuoshui River Plain, where the garden is managed sophisticatedly and perfectly and production value is rich and fertile.

After inspecting and learning from the five-star luxurious pear garden, they went back to Pear Paradise to see the pear trees planted by themselves. There were full of messy and long branches at the end of the branch and the ground was overgrown with cirrus and weeds. Then, the trimming, weeding, fertilization, arrangement and other work came one after another; subsequently, they also discussed whether grafting technique was needed to plant pear tree. However, in order to maintain the original idea, they gave up grafting, so that the pear trees can bear the pears in the most natural and primitive environment.

Finally, by virtue of persistence, pear garden sticks to the aim to cultivate pears in a non-toxic and extensive organic method without using herbicide, fertilizer, pesticide and variety grafting, so that the creatures in pear garden can grow naturally. Finally, in July of 2013, their hard work really paid off, and they harvested the first-quarter “Happy Pear”.

In addition to Happy Pear, the vegetables in 4 seasons like carrot, white turnip, corn, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, scallion, garlic bolt, etc were planted under the pear trees, which was ecologically rich and full of vitality. Although the pesticide was not used, these vegetables were strong and healthy, verifying the richness of black oil in Zhuoshui River. These vegetables were provided for children in public child-care center in Hsichou as the food materials for lunch, and children can eat them happily and healthily.

Organic vegetables in pear garden

Mrs. Rong Liu Chung and Ms. Ya-yun Cheng is teaching us to know fruits and vegetables as well as picking

1Log for pear garden in 2013

Since the pear garden was rented, Ms. Yin-ning Wu and her partners have established the website of “Hsichou Shangshui Water Farmer Co., Ltd.” by using Facebook and Pixnet log on the internet. The website is established to conveniently market and promote the company’s idea as well as to establish production and marketing channel. They have written down the work record during the operation of Pear Paradise as the lively and vivid “Log for Pear Garden”, which also becomes the track for us to discover the pay-off of hard work. The following table is the log outline sorted out by us after browsing:

Hsichou Shangshui Water Farmer Website：http://water-farmer.com.tw/

Difficulty in operation

1.Full of crises

(1) In the early days of the foundation of Pear Paradise, the garden had been deserted for a long time, so all things were wasted and deserted and needed to be done and recovered.

(2) The various dense and hateful weeds occupied this land and large groups of insects caused the insect crisis, which are the external problems needed to by overcome by pear garden. Additionally, the planting of pear trees had suffered from the lack of care for a long time, and it can be said that the entire garden was filled with internal and external troubles and difficulties.

(3) Merely the insect crisis in pear garden is a big problem. There are so many various caterpillars (such as fat, thin, hairless, hairy, green, black insects, etc) and their names are even unknown to people. Seeing such scene, all of them are absolutely terrified. Worse still, there are also locusts --- the great enemy of farmers, and it is indeed the “real pests”.

(4) These “pests” should be killed at one stroke for pears’ growing, but at the thought of the fact that the pest is also a life and a member of the nature, they did not have the heart to kill them. They simply turned the pear garden into a paradise of microorganism which can coexist harmoniously and freely!

In addition to world filled with the ecologically rich insects, sprawling and overgrowing branches in pear trees as well as the weeds bestrewing the pear garden also tested everyone’s wisdom. Too many branches will affect the growing of pear trees, and problems that there is too much blossom in pear trees and the pear fruits are sparse or poor are derived. Besides, clearing the sprawling branches and the weeds all over the ground are enough to make you busy and exhausted. This is exactly what is called “No prairie fire can destroy the grass, it shoots up again with the spring breeze blows”.

Hateful weeds and branches in pear garden

In addition to the problems in pear garden, another frustrating problem is the human matters. The young manpower participating in farming is insufficient and has no practical farming experience, so they have no idea about how to manage the pear garden at the beginning. They can only stick to idea to protect the vision of local agricultural products and hold out.

These difficulties from the inside and outside are all required to be overcome by everyone in the pear garden.

2.Overcoming difficulty

In order to overcome the various difficulties in the operation of pear garden, the participant local young farmers had to use the final unique skill to carry out great counter-offensive to save pear garden and complete the impossible challenging task.

First, on the first day of the commencement of work in the lunar New Year, the young farmers held the rite of “going through the fire” in pear garden, where the accumulated old and wasted branches in the pear garden were fired to scare the pear trees. In this way, leaves on pear trees would fall down due to nervousness. “Going through the fire” in pear trees symbolizes the meaning of filth removal, purification, disaster elimination and security on good health. It is also hoped that there will be a new sign in new year, and the ashes after fire will become the fertilizer of pear trees, achieving the purpose of “catching little clam as well as washing the pants” (Kill two birds with one stone).

1.Fire the pear garden

The pear tree belongs to upland plant whose leaves fall down in winter and whose buds sprout in spring. The previous planting method is to use Agent Orange (Paraquat) to remove weeds, but the toxin of Paraquat can remain for over 80 years. For the purpose of healthy growing of pears, the non-toxic planting method was adopted in pear garden and the natural nutritional agents were sprayed regularly, including bacterial manure and herb juice prepared with mint, Houttuynia cordata, basil, marigold, marjoram, pepper, lemongrass, lemon-scented gum and other vanilla or repellent plants. Farmers also jokingly said that the pear trees were in SPA.

3. Experts’ guidance

After overcoming the fertilization problem, they also visited the “professional” pear garden which is situated in Zhuoshui River Plain so as to quickly begin managing the pear garden. The “professional” pear garden was managed perfectly with the rich and fertile production value, where there are no overgrowing weeds and sprawling branches. There are carefully calculated buds and fertilized fruits at the end of each plant of grafted branch. The experts also taught many practice tips without hiding anything, including the work of trimming, weed removal, fertilization, and soil preparation of pear trees. One step at one time, the hard-working farming finally creates the current Pear Paradise.

Rectification for pear garden

However, the pear garden had been rented for over 2 years, Ms. Tzu-hui Chen during the interview also said: currently, the pear garden was experiencing the most unstable status because the participant local farmers had the project of Shangshui Rice to do, at the same time, too many diseases and pests damages in pear trees, the heavy farming, shortage of manpower and experience in pear planting troubled them. Therefore, they lost the direction about the future operation of Pear Paradise. In any case, nowadays, the biggest hope is to try their best to cultivate this pear garden.

Blossoming pear flowers

1. Marketing method

「“Happy Pear” goes the route of marketing its own products. The naturally planted Happy Pear is mainly marketed via the internet, and people’s ordering for purchase is accepted through the introduction and marketing of Facebook and Hsichou Shangshui Blog. Besides, the gift box of Happy Pear is also sold in “248 Farmers’ Market” in Taipei.

Happy Pear sold in retail sale of Cheng Gong Hotel (Source of photo: Hsichou Shangshui Facebook）

As for this, Ms. Yin-ning Wu, the lesser of pear garden has her unique view on the marketing of Happy Pear, and she thinks that: “Happy Pear” has been launched into market after harvest. However, it is found that the pleasing look is still the biggest consideration due to the grading and packing for fruit gift box during the process of picking, harvesting and packing. So, considering the marketing channel is also the top priority in the operation of pear garden in addition to the specification of gift box, in that the emphasis of operating pear garden is to make everyone eat the “Happy Pear” happily.

Gift box of Happy Pear

Gift box of Happy Pear

Just as the fundamental aim of Hsichou Shangshui Water Farmer Co., Ltd, the package for gift box of Happy Pear also adopts the simple and honest design. With the ingenuity of the local young farmers, the fruitful pear trees, a bird and a bird’s nest are drawn on the package. This is because a bird’s nest is discovered in the pear tree while clearing the pear garden. In order to make all the creatures in the pear garden co-exist harmoniously and grow naturally, the organic and non-toxic method is adopted in planting. Thus, everyone can enjoy the non-toxic Happy Pear at ease, just as marked in the picture “human beings are HAPPY, grasses and trees are HAPPY, birds and insects and all other creatures are HAPPY”. The aim is to share the best, most natural and non-toxic products with the public.

From July to September of every year, the public can purchase the Happy Pear through the method of online order. Due the difference in size of Happy Pear, the number of pears in each box is also not the same. But the “natural heart” to stick to organic planting and “emotion for hometown” to care for the land in hometown are changeless, which is the most authentic good taste in Hsichou. According to the sales status of the last year, 300 boxes are sold in total with 8 pears in each box, and one box is sold by NTD 520. Although the earnings are not equal to the cost, profit-making is originally not the main aim for the gift box of Happy Pear, so the efforts will be continued.

Icon of gift box

Online order

Activities in pear garden

As for the current operation expectation for Pear Paradise, Ms. Tzu-hui Chen and Ms. Ya-yun Cheng during the interview said: they may not operate the pear garden well and there are too much unknown work needed to learn, but there is still much space for growing and development, so they will also try their best to promote this piece of Pear Paradise to the public.

In the activities of ecological experience, BBQ, kiln control, etc. held in pear garden, the local farmers are all invited to participate to share the achievement and exchange the experience and skills in farming and planting; in addition, the interview work by college students is organized as well, for instance, students in Department of Leisure and Recreation Management, Da-Yeh University come to pear garden for service, learning and help, and they are the great fresh troops.

In order to promote the marketing and production of Happy Pear and make flexible use of the local food materials, in the previous, Ms. Yin-ning Wu as well as the local cook of Mr. Huang jointly organized a creative “Press Conference with Pear Meal” with great look and taste, so that everyone can have a better understanding of good taste of local Happy Pear in Hsichou.

Press Conference with Pear Meal（(Source：https://www.facebook.com/water.hsichou）

After visiting the Pear Paradise in person, we feel that the dream of “Pear Paradise” is the same with the current human’s dream of environmental protection ── “maintaining ecology and guaranteeing people’s health”.

Don’t think that this is a simple dream. When people are visualizing their dreams, they often omit many difficulties they are likely to confront, use long and romantic sentences to embellish what they consider to be beautiful, express their imagination of dreaming of many beautiful things and ignore the difficulties encountered in realizing dreams. However, it is required to overcome challenges to realize the dreams. Therefore, most people resolvedly give up when they suffer from the difficulty.

However, the little workers in Pear Paradise become braver and more persistent in face of setbacks. At the beginning, when cultivating this pear garden, probably they are just a group of young people without agricultural background but with sincerity and zeal. But when they encounter the problems of shortage of manpower and experience, instead, everyone is diligent in cultivating the pear garden; when they encounter the situation that the farming trees are subject to pests and diseases damage, they will try many methods and ask experts for assistance. Isn’t it the biggest meaning of learning?

With all of their efforts, it presents that the Happy Pear harvested in 2013 is the result of efforts in Hsichou through local farmers’ persistence and not giving up. It is believed that they will continue going on the road of building dreams step by step in the subsequent dream for pear garden, with the dream of maintaining ecology and guaranteeing people’s health.

Just as Ms. Tzu-hui Chen said: although we feel confused about the future, we still have the ability to give help to the pear garden and to maintain ecology; we hope that more people with the same idea can get together to jointly maintain farmers’ hope and children’s future, rather than making money. We admire their zeal and their ideas infect us, thus we want to participate in their action. We hope that this pear garden is able to go through the difficulties for sustainable development, so that the dream sail of Pear Paradise can set sail before the wind.

Drawing our local pride of “Pear Paradise” with colors