Yihe Garden Introduction
This is the "Happy Dining in the Countryside" series event organized by the Hsinchu County Local Characteristic Industry Development Association – Yihe Garden / Dining Table in the Rice Fields, inviting everyone to come and taste local specialty ingredients from Hsinchu County. The country feast at Yihe Garden welcomes guests with local ingredients. Located in Ruankiao Village of Zhudong Township, Yihe Garden is an important starting point in Hsinchu County's water resource development history and is an ideal cycling route. The entire Ruankiao area has about 12 hectares of farmland, with 85% planted with rice, 10% with vegetables, and 5% with individual household crops. Most of the rice in the Ruankiao area is organically grown, and the organic rice production group has its own milling, drying, and packaging facilities. It once won first place nationally for organic rice. When visitors come to Yihe Garden, they might as well take home this limited happy taste. Chen Lih-lung creates a carefree organic lifestyle at Yihe Garden. Chen Lih-lung, the operator of Yihe Garden, is the son-in-law of the Ruankiao area. His long-developed characteristics as a technology person allow him to summarize an optimized management method from the vegetable planting process. First, he adopts "planned planting"; customers' order periods are four months, and prepayments confirm the order before planting begins. Therefore, when delivering vegetables to subscribers weekly, the remaining vegetables in the farm do not exceed five packages, avoiding oversupply issues. Chen Lih-lung diversifies the operations of this farm. He has promoted urban residents coming to the countryside to grow crops and has offered “Organic Vegetable Planting and Wellness” courses at community colleges, which were selected as the best academic courses in 2010, attracting students from urban areas to experience organic farming and rural life. Later, he launched one-day or half-day "Food and Agriculture Education Experience Camps," forming groups of over 20 people, attracting many agricultural associations, kindergartens, senior universities, and families to participate. AIESEC international volunteers come to Taiwan to experience. Three years ago, the AIESEC National Cheng Kung University chapter sought a practical farm in Hsinchu City and County for international volunteers to stay for 6 to 8 weeks to engage in organic farming processes. The AIESEC students from National Cheng Kung University first stayed at the farm for a short experience and found it feasible. Starting in the summer of 2012, they began recruiting overseas students from AIESEC to stay in Taiwan for short periods. From Monday to Friday, the international students worked at Yihe Garden, and on weekends, they traveled around Taiwan with Cheng Kung University students. Observing the volunteer students working in the fields, Chen Lih-lung said that busy periods occur during winter and summer vacations when many camp groups need hosting arrangements. After these vacations, it's just the two elderly tending the fields. In fact, even on weekdays, this agricultural ambassador of Hsinchu County is busy with various delegations coming to discuss and exchange organic farming information, as well as many activities promoting local agricultural exchanges organized by the Hsinchu County Agricultural Development Association. This tech-savvy farmer who established an exchange platform along the Xiping River in Zhudong has become the best spokesperson for agricultural tourism in Hsinchu County.