Rice Planting in Yilan

Taking a break from our busy missionary schedule, we scheduled a trip to our favorite farm in Yilan:

While snacking on strawberries and new potatoes which we helped plant last fall,  (check out that blog post here: http://coffeysmission.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-day-at-local-farm-in-yilan.html) Cousin Zhang prepares an amazing lunch from her kitchen around the back of the house.

Resting under the passion fruit canopy, we listen to the honking of geese and cackling of chickens in our latest adventure on the farm – an escape from the busy city life in Taipei.

Now it’s rice planting season – so we were back to experience farm life once again – wallowing deep in the rich clay soil of Yilan’s rice paddies. 

Cousin Zhang picked us up from the bus station and whisked us off to the previously planted rice paddy.

Through one of our senior sister missionaries as a translator, Cousin
Zhang filled us in on the how-to’s of the job at hand –

Thick socks protected our feet as we took a handful of rice seedlings and took our first steps into the quagmire. Dark gray sticky mud swirled around our calves and sucked us in – making steps difficult at first. We had to straddle the rows of seedlings and find areas where the row was bare.

Cousin Zhang explained – snails are a natural part of the environment and snack on the tender organic shoots. (who wouldn’t?!) While the seedlings are initially planted by machine, as they grow up the snails take their fair share. Our job was to replant where there were bare spots.

Collected snails would soon become duck food.They crunched beneath our thick socks as we sloughed through the dark gray mud.

One of our senior sister missionaries planting rice seedlings 

Lunch is ready. Cousin Zhang and her friend present home grown vegetables with a delicious noodle dish, along with some hearty seafood. Dessert? Passion fruit, freshly plucked from the overhead canopy.  

One of the dogs expresses sheer contentment with 

a little scratching on the head.

So if you’re heading to Taipei anytime, after the coronavirus settles down of course, make a day trip out to Yilan. A little farm life is good for the soul.  Check out her Facebook page for more about farm opportunities: https://www.facebook.com/casamia.joe/
卡莎&蝦蝦開心農場+廚房 -粉絲