Page 57 - Hualien Sustainable Living Bilingual Magazine

Over the past five to six years, their natural farming methods for growing rice have led to the development of a consistent production and marketing process, including seed selection, in-house seed conservation, in- house germination, no use of pesticides, no use of chemical fertilizers or organic fertilizers, no use of kucha ("bitter") tea meal farming techniques, rice drying, organic certification, and finally export to Japan. By firmly upholding their core values, the Eco-Village has gradually reduced their use of packaging materials and applied the concept of“simplifying”to the packaging aesthetics. In addition, they also use rice grown from natural farming methods as an ingredient in processed foods, including rice cakes, rice bread, soy sauce, mirin, miso, and salted koji. They developed pure rice and gluten-free products to increase the diversity of the uses for local rice. They also recruited professional instructors to teach children about the life cycle and original flavor of the ingredients, and include food therapy, detoxification, yoga and farming activities in planned naturopathic holidays, thereby allowing participants to experience the beauty of simple living. Liu Jian-Sheng often invites fellow farmers or friends who share the same philosophy to share and exchange ideas through “communal eating”. He is actively involved in the community and serves as the executive secretary of the Luoshan Agri-Tourism Community Development Association. He likes to leverage his strategic mind and influence to help farmers who practice natural farming find distribution channels for their products. Furthermore, he also plans eco-tours to attract more people to come to Hualien. This way, more people will visit Luoshan, fall in love with the place, and even settle down here to work with the local community. Speaking about the future, he said that he hopes to establish a school where children can have fun playing, climbing trees, playing in streams, and planting things, so that nature education can take root from a young age. This school would be able to guide children to“know the land and get close to nature”. To this end, children willbecomethemostpowerful“successors”in protecting ecological sustainability. Hualien Issue 52