“Pumpkin Farm” located in Zhuangwei Township, Yilan features pumpkins of more than 300 varieties and builds the canopies as several tunnels, so the pumpkins, snake gourds, bottle gourds, bitter gourds, and sponge gourds all climb up to them. Walking into the pumpkin tunnel and looking up at the dangling gourds is usually amazing, and this becomes the Facebook check-in scenic spot where tourists like taking photos.
Brothers Working Together: Building the New Generation of Pumpkin Empire
Zhi-jie LIN frankly said, “It didn’t go well in the first couple years after taking over the pumpkin business. Typhoons and floods are least wanted in the harvest season, because they could cause a lot of damages and loss.” Luckily, he continued to enhance his professionalism by reading books, having instructions from Agricultural Research and Extension Station, attending The Farmers’ Academy and getting certification, and improve cultivation skills and equipment designs; gradually the farm operation was making progress and meanwhile, his elder brother, Zhi-kai LIN, working in the food company in Taipei for years with food science background, chose to return home and work together with him.
Zhi-kai LIN said, “In the beginning, our father disapproved of our return because he didn’t want us to give up the great future and roll up sleeves to do such hard work”. Wang-shan LIN quickly realized young people have different thinking and practices and decided to let them have a try. The brothers think the point of running a leisure farm is about service and experience, basically how to make tourists feel “interesting, delicious, and special”.
“Pumpkin is the food material for the Halloween occasion so we throw Halloween parties in the farm and invite disadvantaged groups in Yilan to have fun together.” Zhi-kai LIN makes good use of the festive marketing and keeps sharing with the community, caring for the underprivileged in mind so to develop towards a social business. Pumpkin Farm not only grows gourds and pumpkins for food and appreciation use, but also focuses on local production and marketing, experiences and diversified services, so tourists can eat healthy and delicious food while the added value of the agricultural produce is enhanced. Hopefully to attract more tourists in the future and create 6-level industries belongs to Zhuangwei Township, and together with partners to build up a new generation of the pumpkin empire.
Young People Returning Home: Bringing Leisure Industry New Atmosphere
In October 2016, as two strong typhoons already blew away farmers’ hard work and one more hovering around the ocean to make a move, in the far away, a young guy rushed in to harvest the agricultural produce and sent the Sansing Green Onion to its exclusive big bathtub and carefully cleaned the dirt and mud on the bottom white part. This young man is the director of “Dian Song Pi Agri Leisure Area”, Hong-chang LEE.
It may be hard to imagine he used to run a famous pub in Taipei and did business in mainland China for years. Dinner parties and alcohol are the depiction of his life then. Hong-chang LEE said laughingly, “Being a father is the watershed of his life.” He got to rethink his life direction and lifestyle.
Sanshing township accounts for 90% of the elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive production in Taiwan, therefore, has a certain exposure in the market. In order to differentiate the competition, Hong-chang LEE grows the elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive asides from Sanshing Green Onion, the pronunciation of elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive sounds like money in Taiwanese; therefore, it is a symbol to gather wealth and profits. The production season is from December to February so that it is a popular flower during Chinese lunar newyear. He found family consumers prefer small-sized potted plants for appreciation so that the trees cannot grow too tall while hotels and foreign customers prefer big plants to show the grandiose and rich feeling; hence, the elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive has two different heights in his field to cater to market demands.
In addition, he made over the old house idling next to the Onion Experience Farm to set up the “House of elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive” and offers the seasonal activities such as “Picking elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive”, guided tours in the elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive field and bonsai DIY to promote the local industrial development of “elaeagnus angustifolia L. oleaster Russian-olive”, one of the 4 treasures in Sanshing”, and this youth- returning -home revolution is still under way.