Cowing Around: Tainan, again.

Well if you are familiar with my blog, you will have seen many posts written about my grand parent’s little farming town, as well as tons of photos around the farms. You know what, I never get sick of writing about the fruits and vegetables, as well as the people and culture here. I also never get sick of taking photos of the fruits, trees, animals and people here either. To me, this is where Taiwan’s roots are and should be preserved. With aging population and increasing gap in development, my selfish wish is that the town will remain as it is, because to me, this is the last and the most important thing that needs to be remembered and told as a Taiwanese.

Farmers selling their harvest of the day at the local market.

Perhaps I am repeating myself over and over again from previous posts, agricultural towns like this are forgotten. Across culture, farmers are always the bottom of the pyramid. They work really hard, earn every cent using their blood and sweat. They have to be subjected to the mercy of mother nature. One bad storm can take every bit of their year’s worth of effort and invest away. One disease out break can destroy the entire region. A few bad distributor can ruin the market price and force the farmers to give up their crops for next to nothing. Yet those who dine in super expensive restaurants, who pay ridiculous prices for their meals, or people who complain about the price of produce in super markets, don’t have any idea about what farmers go through to bring food to your table. Farmers in Taiwan aren’t looking to make money. They just want to break even so that they can continue to do what they do.

Everyone, and I mean everyone was helping my mom pick the best fruit out of the bunch.

Farmers/vendors are like sisters, helping each other out by helping each other sell their produce.

My mom wanted more fruits, so the vendor took us to her farm to get more!

Even 50cents will be jealous of her bling smile!

"Ya say wut!"

Living in the country side is also really romantic. To Taiwanese, I doubt any one will relate the word “romantic” with old uneducated farmers who can’t even read. The truth is, traditional Taiwanese are much easier to understand and get along with. This is because they grew up in a world where there is much more than just money. You see, if you live in the city, you hold jobs that make money so you can use it to buy things you need. So you may be a lawyer, an accountant or a secretary. When the economy goes boom, money becomes worthless and everyone suddenly becomes poor and lost. They are out of job, no money and destroy the city through protests and riots blaming others for their own failures. Here, when the economy goes boom, the farmers are left with nothing but their own produce. It’s FOOD! Not only that, they are also left with their neighbours and their produce. People exchange produce as a way to maintain relationship on regular basis. It’s like a good gesture of exchange gifts. No one mandates this, and everyone does it out of their own will. Even my grand parents who have retired from commercial farming, they still get stuffs from relatives and friends who still grow things on their land. There is no shortage of food and friendship.

Near by "Monkey Mountain". Tourists show up and vendors sell them bananas to feed the wild monkeys. I bet they are so sick of bananas.

In the United States, the concept of farming and food distribution is so industrialized and institutionalized that all people think about are processed food that come in boxes, bottles or cans sold in super markets. Fresh produce and farmer’s market is the hip trend. People get so excited to go to the farmer’s market thinking that they are really buying from the farms directly.

How about shopping for produce in a market surrounded by farms?

The good thing about markets here is, you can’t get fresher produce. Many of the vendors are farmers themselves and they bring their produce to the market depending on what they have that day. It’s not their main job, but what the heck. They get to chat with their buddies and BFFS while attending to their stands. It’s actually very common for one vendor to look out for the other. For example, when my mom was looking at some dragon fruit at this one stand asking about its sweetness and freshness, the ladies from neighbouring stands join in to help sell the fruit, saying it’s great and sweet. When my mom looks at a vegetable, vendors start to make suggestions on how to cook it. And when my mom is looking for papayas that this vendor happen to run out of, she points at another stand that has papaya and said,”Let’s go there and I will help you pick the good ones.” Is it really about money? I think it’s more about the fun. It’s the fun of being genuine, being honest and proud of your offering. The offering being the experience that you are giving and receiving. It’s really about social interaction that is the final product of this simple exchange, something that takes place in an entirely different manner in the city. Here, people don’t compete with each other. Each knows his strength or weaknesses, and help each other by compensating for their lackings or compliment their strengths. In times of hardship, it is communities like this that recover the quickest because the community is not built on hardware, but relationships and trusts.

Whenever I take photos of the farmers selling their produce, they always say,”Don’t photograph me, I am so ugly.”

Then continue,”… photograph my bananas and pineapples. Aren’t they pretty?”

Humble about themselves but proud of their achievement. This is the classic Taiwanese grass root spirit.To me, they are the most beautiful people.

"Hello, Sweet and Sour!"

"Longan, a type of fruit, which directly translate as dragon-eye"

Farm tools metal smith.

Neighboring town farmer's market.

Now more photos around the farm area.

After elections, farmers use the election flags with prints of the candidates as scare-crow. Politicians so scary that even the birds are wary!

Corn

Cabbage

Farm equipment like this is uncommon here. They are usually rentals used only once or twice a year. During the harvest process, cranes and birds flock around the vehicle to pick up the scraps.

Bananas

Bamboo

Pineapple

Sugar Cane

Guava

A water seeding plant called "Lin-Jiao". The seed pod looks like a bull-horn, very interesting. It grows on the under-side of the floating water plant. Farmers will have to comb through the whole pond on little boats, flip the plants one by one to find the seed pods and flip the plants back so it will live. It's a very tedious work, definitely not something you can harvest with a machine.

Organic mini tomato farm.

Not sure what this is called in English.

Tainan is also famous for its street treats.

Instead of birds, the poles are now lined with cameras.

Who says Japanese food must be expensive?

A famous temple in downtown Tainan.

Night Market in downtown Tainan.

Back to the farm!!!

BIG TITTIES!!!!!

Asparagus

"Fiber-gourd" A kind of gourd that people leave to dry until only the fibers are left, and use it as scrub pad. The most natural and sustainable cleaning gear!