Fresh ingredients are right by your side
The owner of the farm, Cao Changzheng, returned to his hometown in 2001 to invest in a leisure farm. He started late but soon observed that others focused on flower-viewing…
Introduction
The owner of the farm, Cao Changzheng, returned to his hometown in 2001 to invest in a leisure farm. He started late but soon observed that others focused on flower-viewing. Hence he decided to do the opposite and focused on a vegetable garden and restaurant theme, in order to stand out from the crowd. The vegetable garden of “Life Discover Garden” is quite large. In addition, there is a 1-hectare vegetable garden at Zhuzihu. Vegetables here are grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, not sold externally and is only for the use of their own restaurants. Sometimes they also sell their own-produced luffa water which is 100% pure, a natural skin care product that is especially popular with female tourists.
A crop rotation is used on the farm, and different crops occur in different seasons. The volume produced for each crop is similar. From December every year to March and April of the following year there are mustard greens, radishes, cabbage, mountain celery and wild chrysanthemum; May and June are rich with asparagus, apple luffas, ashitaba and glutinous rice pepper in July and August, yam and sweet potatoes in autumn and winter, while sweet potato leaves and red phoenix vegetables are produced throughout the year.
To enable city folk to have the chance to get close to vegetable farming, Cao Changzheng launched a vegetable garden experience activity, taking tourists from picking and selecting veggie leaves, till the point they become dishes and you can taste your own harvest. Visitors get to understand that “the best fridge is the farm itself”. Vegetables are grown in old terraced fields made from stones with good drainage. Even when there is no harvest, tourists can visit the terraced fields and behold the wisdom of their ancestors.
Features of Agricultural Tourism
Vegetables
“Life Discover Garden” does not offer flower picking to the public, and emphasizes a compound management model. In addition to enjoying flower fields and vegetable gardens, the most important feature is the meals. Having fresh ingredients that come from the soil just close by is a main selling point. Even when the self-produced vegetables are insufficient, more are obtained from local farms in the vicinity, known as “the shortest food journey”. Due to the large temperature difference between day and night in Zhuzihu, the vegetables are crisp and tasty, even the mustard greens are not bitter.
The restaurant mainly focuses on Taiwanese cuisine and creative dishes. The restaurant offers different dishes according to the season. The dishes have no additional furbishing, less oil and no MSG. Cao Changzheng hopes that tourists can see and eat the vegetables he cooks himself. He has learnt Chinese cuisine, pasty baking, bartending and others, holding at least five different license certifications.
