Dear Yamen, Hope you are well. Sorry that it took a bit longer than expected to write up the sharing. Hope its not too bad. Chris
With the help from Wwoof, I feel very lucky to have the chance to spend 8 days with Yaman in his organic farm. Located in the middle of Yang Ming Shan, Yamana Garden practices permaculture, a short term for permanent agriculture, that emphasizes the importance of sustainability through means of self sufficiency. While holding a plough and posing for pictures are cool enough to show off to your friends, living in a farm isn’t easy as it seems. You might get the benefits of having fresh vegetables for dinner every night. You might even lose a few pounds from all the hard work in the farm and eating healthy. But living in a log house with very basic amenities and bad weather is another story. For a few nights, I had to live with storms so strong that it shook the house from left to right. The zinc plates that covered the roof top of the outer part of the log house were flying everywhere and some of them were found miles away the next day. Temperature could drop dramatically that I had to wear a coat before tucking in a double sleeping bag. But if you could put up with all these bad things, there is so much to discover in the farm that will make your visit worth. For instance, you would feel very safe from any possible intruders or threats as you were always watched by five extremely vigilant dogs. If you were feeling a bit cold during the night, you could light up a small camp fire in the house for warmth. Better still, there was a public hot spring nearby where I went for bath everyday. Even though getting naked with a bunch of local old men wasn’t the greatest thing you could imagine, but soaking in a hot spring after long day of work was probably the best thing you could ever ask for. On the other side, feeding pigs and getting poked by a grumpy old sheep had become two of the many things that I missed since coming back to the modern world. So if you think you can give up all the fancy gadgets and cozy rooms at home, you might want to consider going back to basic and live in a farm just like our ancestors did.
P.S. Do remember to bring mosquito repellents, those tiny little things do get you and the bumps won’t go away for at least a good few days.
With the help from Wwoof, I feel very lucky to have the chance to spend 8 days with Yaman in his organic farm. Located in the middle of Yang Ming Shan, Yamana Garden practices permaculture, a short term for permanent agriculture, that emphasizes the importance of sustainability through means of self sufficiency. While holding a plough and posing for pictures are cool enough to show off to your friends, living in a farm isn’t easy as it seems. You might get the benefits of having fresh vegetables for dinner every night. You might even lose a few pounds from all the hard work in the farm and eating healthy. But living in a log house with very basic amenities and bad weather is another story. For a few nights, I had to live with storms so strong that it shook the house from left to right. The zinc plates that covered the roof top of the outer part of the log house were flying everywhere and some of them were found miles away the next day. Temperature could drop dramatically that I had to wear a coat before tucking in a double sleeping bag. But if you could put up with all these bad things, there is so much to discover in the farm that will make your visit worth. For instance, you would feel very safe from any possible intruders or threats as you were always watched by five extremely vigilant dogs. If you were feeling a bit cold during the night, you could light up a small camp fire in the house for warmth. Better still, there was a public hot spring nearby where I went for bath everyday. Even though getting naked with a bunch of local old men wasn’t the greatest thing you could imagine, but soaking in a hot spring after long day of work was probably the best thing you could ever ask for. On the other side, feeding pigs and getting poked by a grumpy old sheep had become two of the many things that I missed since coming back to the modern world. So if you think you can give up all the fancy gadgets and cozy rooms at home, you might want to consider going back to basic and live in a farm just like our ancestors did.
P.S. Do remember to bring mosquito repellents, those tiny little things do get you and the bumps won’t go away for at least a good few days.
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