2016

2009/4/24


WWOOFing in Taiwan

In March 2009, Jenny & I decided to spend a month doing WWOOFing in Taiwan, This year has been my “belated gap year”, I have quit my job since May last year and have been doing some traveling and voluntary services which I was trying to seek the true meaning of life. I have been doing voluntary services for the poor, sick and kids in Kenya, Nepal, China & Hong Kong, and now this is the time I would like to know and do more for the mother earth, therefore I chose to do WWOOFing (http://www.wwoofing.org/).

Yamana Garden (野蔓園) in Taipei was the first organic farm we went to, Yamana Garden is not only a typical organic farm but a place practices permaculture (樸門), a short term for permanent agriculture (Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural ecologies. Permaculture is based on three ethics: Care of the earth; care of the people; and reinvest all surplus, whether it be information, money, or labor, to support the first two ethics.)

During the 10days WWOOFing in Yamana Garden, I have gained a lot of lifetime experiences and truly understand the respects to mother earth and human. Ploughing; feeding pigs (or mud wrestling with the pigs); walking the goat (or actually bumping by the male goatie while taking him to eat); building log house with recycle materials; sleeping in a rice warehouse; transplanting rice seedlings; mating the pumpkin flowers; making bread / soy sauce / herbal tea; having bath in the public hot spring with a bunch of grannies were something I never imagine I will or could do. But all these experiences showed me that life is could be more beautiful with such a basic and raw environment & practice.

Although there would be difficulties in practicing Permaculture in the daily like in a big city like Hong Kong, but I will bare the spirit of Permaculture in my mind forever!

Would like to thanks Yaman of providing this opportunity for us to know more about Permaculture and his hard work to keep it sustaining in the goodwill of being a loveable child by mother nature.

Apart from WWOOFing, I have also visit other places in Taiwan, I was very lucky to go through so many exciting adventures and met so many wonderful new friends through my trip.


Subject: hello from HK~~!!!
Yamman 爸爸您好~~!!! 回港快一星期了,因有一段時間都不在家,很多東西要忙著處理..... Yamman 爸爸您們最近好嗎? PDC完成了嗎? 我跟jenny真的很幸運因於旅途中認識了您及其他台灣的新朋友,而對我們又十分熱情及照顧。老實說,我決定把工作放下一年,是想尋回生命的真正意義及人與人之間的關係。聽起來好像有點深奧,但經過一整年的遊歷,我發現其實很簡單,只要把自己築起的圍牆放下向後踏一步,很多以前看不到的東西都會自動浮現.....遇上Yamman 爸爸您及其他台灣的新朋友,相識時間雖短但因您們無私的心把我們拉近了。真的真的要謝謝您們的招待及照顧。我決定5月12-20日跟苗圃行動到四川進行步行籌款,所有善款將於甘肅省地震災區及貧困地區重建或添置教育設施,讓學童盡快重獲理想的學習環境,繼續學業。藉此活動作為我 "一年休假" 的句號,也為四川災民多出一點力。

我已把台灣之照片上載,有空請欣賞。謝謝及請保持聯絡~~!

Merida =>

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