Matsu Story Island Introduction
In Taichung's Taiping District, there is a "small island" formed by the bifurcation of the Tou Bian Keng River, creating the unique cow-shaped Liu E Lake topography, which locals refer to as "Mo Zi Dun." Thanks to the landowner's deliberate protection, the original landforms have been preserved. A few years ago, a man named "Ma Ge" arrived on the island. With idealism, Ma Ge aimed to create a naturally happy island. He rolled up his sleeves and gradually built the island’s blueprint using his own hands, crafting outdoor tables and chairs from dead wood, making pathways from stones by the stream, constructing railings from discarded wood, and laying expansive green grass, causing the weeds to disappear and the landscape to open up. Retaining the original earthen house, with added creativity, he transformed it into a two-story earthen house restaurant, and the park features many tables and chairs created by Ma Ge for relaxation. Additionally, he built a playground for children, stating that the island could witness butterflies fluttering and birds singing, but it lacked the most important element—children's laughter. Thus, this wooden playground for kids includes slides, swings, bridges, sand piles, rocking chairs, and more, allowing children to love and enjoy the place. As a result, under Ma Ge's caring construction, "Mo Zi Dun" Island has been revitalized into a lively happy island filled with energy and laughter. The Mo Zi Dun Story Island, spanning over an acre for group gatherings and family outdoor activities, features unique garden landscapes, riverside scenery, interesting activities, rich ecology, warm meal packages, a relaxed atmosphere, and many children's dream playgrounds—with physical challenge areas, slides, swings, sand piles, rocking chairs, goats, and vast lawns. Adults can accompany young children while playing, enjoying a rare moment of leisure to sip tea and chat, appreciating the beauty of the island. The philosophy of Mo Zi Dun—‘Nature, Ecology, Environmental Protection, Education'—was designed and personally crafted by Ma Ge. Every plant and structure is filled with aesthetic appeal and harmoniously integrates into the natural environment, allowing visitors to naturally relieve stress and experience the beauty of closeness to nature. Mo Zi Dun employs natural construction methods, providing animals with the most natural and suitable habitats, ensuring no pesticide spraying to maintain a complete biological chain of natural ecology, creating good habitats for both plants and animals. The construction on the island utilizes local materials and waste recycling; for instance, fresh or dried leaves from cinnamon trees can be used for tea, and during the longan harvest season, visitors can pick fresh longan to taste, with the leftover being processed into dried longan. The trimmed dead branches serve as natural fuel for barbecues and earth ovens. All these efforts reinforce the commitment to nature, ecology, and environmental protection. Consequently, the agriculture cooperative recognized this and established the "Tou Bian Keng Nature Conservation Education Center" on Mo Zi Dun Island. Activities on the island include traditional earth oven DIY, stone slab barbecues, guided tours, ecological film viewings, understanding plants and animals, ecological environment guides, playing in the Tou Bian Keng stream, stories behind the earthen houses, seeking antlion traces, lawn games, playground physical challenges, feeding Formosan Black Goats, vegetarian clay painting, and stone painting, among others. ★Groups of over 10 can book the earth oven or stone slab barbecue. ◆Unique self-made stone slab barbecue at Mo Zi Dun, which consists of an earth oven underneath and a stone slab above, using branches as firewood, significantly reduces ash during grilling, heats quickly without burning, allowing you to enjoy fragrant barbecue without long waits. Not only can you taste over ten types of fresh, specially-made barbecued meats, but you can also enjoy the fun of family barbecue sessions. ◆Experience the enjoyment of traditional earth oven cooking, as families work together to build the earth oven, wrap red eggs, roast sweet potatoes, herbal whole chicken, and earth-cooked pork knuckles, ready to savor fragrant earth oven chicken, freshly roasted sweet potatoes, and hot red eggs, making for a lively and fun experience that is undoubtedly rare. ◆Handmake an earth oven pizza. ◆Spring marks the lychee flower season, and the orchids parasitizing the lychee trees also bloom during this time. ◆From March to May, caterpillars of butterflies and moths are around you. ◆From May to September, the water in the Tou Bian Keng stream is clear and full of fun. ◆In June and July, the stag beetles swarm in, and butterflies and dragonflies fill the sky. ◆In June and July, you can also see blooming red lychees all around. ◆In August, you can taste the freshly picked organic longan.
