Compared with domestic farms’ emphasis on hardware investment, Taiwanese farms are better known for their soft power of experience design and cultural creativity. As one of the earliest leisure farms in Taiwan, Toucheng Leisure Farm in Yilan County, Taiwan is a typical example. The farm is positioned as a "rural experience school". Its approach of integrating participatory experience with nature classroom is full of vitality and learning, and is highly praised by the Taiwanese industry. Today, this farm receives more than 60,000 tourists from all over the world every year, and it is highly recommended by little S on Weibo.
Toucheng Farm is located in Yilan County, where leisure farms are densely populated. It is close to the mountains and faces the sea. It is the nearest large-scale farm to Taipei and one of the earliest farms in Taiwan to transform into leisure and tourism. The founder of
, Zhuo Mama, who is now nearly 80 years old, was originally a primary school teacher and later went into business. After the business was successful, the idea of retreating came to mind. The day before her 40th birthday, Zhuo’s father bought this 120-hectare mountain forest land for her in Yilan.
At first, the farm mainly planted fruit trees, flowers and afforestation. The surrounding transportation was not very convenient, and only occasionally tourists from the city came to stay.
Later, with the rise of rural tourism in Taiwan, more and more urban tourists went to visit the mountains. Especially after the opening of the Snow Mountain Tunnel to Taipei, the original few rooms on the farm were far from being able to cope with it. As a result, there were more and more guest rooms, larger restaurants, and more services. After more than 30 years of operation, it became a large-scale leisure farm by mistake.
Integration of participatory experience and nature classroom
Toucheng Farm is positioned as a "rural experience school" full of vitality and learning. Under Zhuo's mother's creation, "creating feelings and memories with experience" has been refined into the farm's Core business philosophy.
As a characteristic of the farm, participatory experience and educational garden tours are integrated into every project.
Taking rice as an example, Toucheng Farm has a collection of ancient farm tools. Visitors can personally operate and experience the rice growing process in different seasons.
At the same time, Toucheng Leisure Farm guides school-age children to experience farming life through the design of rice experience courses. The courses include several units such as rice cultivation and management, rice types and uses, farm tools and results display. The rice planting experience area of
farm is uniquely designed. Visitors can observe and experience the growth of rice at different times at the same time, from transplanting, weeding, fertilizing, pest control, ear setting, harvesting, drying, milling, and finally enjoying it. The fragrant rice becomes a continuous experience course.
In addition, they also extended the different stages into various cultural and recreational activities courses, such as visiting rice mills, painting bamboo hats, learning rural songs, introducing local slang, making scarecrows, etc.
This kind of rice experience activity integrated into nature classroom not only allows ordinary urban tourists to experience traditional farming, but also feels the hard work of farmers in farming and the sense of accomplishment in harvesting.
At the same time, most of today's children have never been to farmland and cannot experience the hardship of "cold and sour field water" in winter or "sweat dripping from the soil" in summer. Through the experience of rice cultivation on the farm, students can cultivate their gratitude and cherish blessings. , enhance the sense of identity with hometown and stimulate motivation for learning.
uses the characteristics of the changing seasons to design experience activities
Toucheng Farm uses the characteristics of the changing seasons of agricultural resources to design experience activities with unique characteristics: cherry blossom viewing in spring, lotus viewing in summer, maple viewing in autumn, and plum blossom viewing in winter. These are excellent viewing spots. Together with the seasonal changes of other plants, visitors can experience the mystery of life.
The farm explains the principles of labor in accordance with the twenty-four solar terms, and designs activities for several special solar terms such as the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, winter solstice, White Dew and Jingzhe, allowing visitors to experience the rural industry of spring plowing, summer planting, autumn harvest, and winter storage. with the pace of life.
In addition, the original biological habitats are retained in the farm, and through ecological restoration methods, a butterfly nectar area and an environment for insect growth are created.Plant plantings are mostly configured with butterfly-attracting species, maintaining a diversity of butterflies or insects, and supplemented by natural trails, it has become a good place for tourists to enjoy the dancing of butterflies, fluorescent lights, and the chirping of cicadas.
There are many specimens of common insects on the farm, and sometimes there are live displays. The park also cooperates with universities such as National Taiwan University for training to introduce common insect species to tourists, deepening their intellectual experience.
The firefly restoration area uses native aquatic plants to create a water ecology. The entire insect ecological park is planned to present the original style of nature as the basic principle. Fireflies can be watched at night, and science education on fireflies and other insects can be carried out during the day to become an insect. Resource education base.
Use agricultural life resources to develop rural ecological experience
Toucheng Farm covers an area of more than 100 hectares, a small half of which is a Osmanthus bamboo forest. April and May are the production seasons of bamboo shoots. The farm has also launched a series of Osmanthus bamboo activities, including tourists You can experience the Osmanthus Bamboo Tour, experience the fun of picking bamboo shoots, and enjoy the deliciousness of bamboo shoots.
In addition, these bamboos are processed and made into children's toys under the guidance of craftsmen, which everyone can learn. The second DIY activity at the farm activity center is "Ye Tuo T-shirt". The farm provides a white T-shirt for visitors to paint or use the leaves on the farm to make a unique T-shirt.
Toucheng Farm offers many types of snacks, which are launched according to different seasons. There are sweet and delicious mung bean soup, children’s favorite QQ dumplings, heart-warming oden, cool and refreshing ice cubes, endless self-service danzi noodles, etc., to satisfy tourists. Food and drink, experience the feeling of grandma's home. In addition, there are specialized personnel who teach tourists how to make traditional snacks such as grass dumplings, meat rice dumplings, and taro rice noodles.
Participatory experience has been expanded to the first, second, and third industries.
In addition to farming experience and ecological experience, Toucheng Farm also extends the ultimate experience to deeper areas.
Zhuo Zhihong, the son of Zhuo’s mother, traveled to Europe after graduating from university and specialized in wine making. When the SARS epidemic hit in 2003, the number of visitors to the farm dropped sharply. Zhuo Zhihong began to consider changing the farm's business direction to alcoholic beverages. In this way, it can not only solve the problem of fruit preservation, but also extend the industrial chain and achieve product premiums.
Take golden dates wine making as an example. Golden dates are not easy to preserve and can only be sold for about 15 yuan per kilogram on the market. But after making golden date vinegar or fruit wine, the price can be dozens of times higher; in addition, this brewing activity can also be used to provide DIY activities.
Alcoholic products are generally considered to be insulated from children, but Zhuo Zhihong’s philosophy is to change the social evaluation of alcoholic products through agricultural experience and parent-child DIY, and then add stories and cultural explanations through tour guides to increase knowledge. “The winery is not It is not an adult product suitable for children, but an intellectual and cultural service product suitable for families and parent-child travel."
This experience can also be extended from the secondary industry to the tertiary industry. In the winery restaurant, the variety of original meals with wine as the protagonist is dazzling. It is very particular about what kind of dishes are paired with which kind of wine. After a meal, visitors can taste more than ten kinds of wine. The combination of meal, wine tasting and music creates a creative atmosphere. It creates an elegant and fresh atmosphere, allowing visitors to have an in-depth understanding of the health benefits of food and wine after a day of working in the fields.
Today, Toucheng Farm is the first rural winery in Taiwan that combines agricultural production + wine processing + leisure experience, and its successful business model is regarded as an example of Taiwan's "sixth industry".
What’s even more valuable is that Zhuo’s mother’s son, who is nearly 40 years old, has taken over the full management of Toucheng Farm, and his grandson is also very interested in the farm.
Author: Anan
Original source: See the owner (id: cjzz360)
