Fun of Sheep Herding and Fruit Picking Having Agri-tour Fun in Dashu
Written by Senior Editor Xue-yao KUO and Senior Travel Editor, Rabbit There are 3 treasures in Dashu Kaoshiung: pineapples, good mountains & water, and Yu He Pao litchi. But there are also adorable milk sheep and nutritious mulberries in addition to the 3 treasures.
Sheep Triumph First Grade Quality
The adorable “meh” is the cuddly animal that adults and kids cannot resist. “Lin’s Farm”, located in Dashu Leisure Farm Area, has milk sheep of various looks. Visitors can not only feed the sheep pasture, watch the sheep in the Grazing Area, but also, through the guided tour in the sheep pen, understand the sheep growth and milk production process.
Founded in 1979, “The Lin Agriculture and Pasture Firm” had the operation of its own farming, production, sales and distribution. After the establishment of “Jianan Sheep Milk Coop” in 1988, the founder decided not to farm but run the sole distribution only. In recent years, because of leisure agricultural promotion by the agricultural agencies and the hope to make the public understand the milk sheep, “Lin’s Farm” is therefore established. It is not only a venue for schools’ ecological education, but also a good leisure place to go for residents in greater Kaohsiung.
Lin’s Farm has the Grazing Area totally blended in with the nature, which is the exercise ground for the sheep. Timbers were adopted for the construction and interestingly it is a taichi icon in the bird view. Next to the Grazing Area is the home of the sheep, a 6-star sheep pen because of the high ceiling, stainless steel building material (which won’t easily get smells), spacious walking paths, and it even has a high pressure misting system to create negative ions to raise healthier sheep. If lucky, the visitors will see “milking show” and taste the most fresh sheep milk!
Most ecological fields for lovely animals are mainly grasslands. In “Lin’s Farm”, more than grassland, there are hundreds of big trees, including the bold cypress that changes colors along with the seasons, osmanthus that emit light aroma in lunar August, and others such as plumeria rubra, cycas formosana yamam, common crapemyrtle and weymouth pines, etc. Besides, there is a Biodome for experiences; there are gigantic bee models for visitors to understand the structures and functions of the bees and there are even specimens of beetles in every stage, which helps understand the growing process of the beetles. After the intriguing indoor nature and biology class, go seek the fraxinus formosana trees in the farm because these trees are beetles’ favorite habitats, and you may find the lively beetles!
Flying “Dragon” and Dancing “Phoenix” Amazing Experiences
There are about some 10,000 hectares growing pineapples in Taiwan, Dashu Leisure Farm Area accounts for more than 2,000 hectares, “Longmu (literally means the eyes of the dragon) Community” in which has the largest organic pineapple farm in Taiwan. Longmu Community is famous for the Golden Diamond Pineapples (Tai-one No.17), Yu He Pao litchi. After Qingming, it is the pineapple harvest time, and visitors will have the chance to harvest pineapples in person, learn relevant knowledge and make the pineapple jam and cakes by themselves.
Pineapple picking seems easy but there is plenty know-how in it. The edges of the pineapple leaves are sharp that tourists can easily get cuts, so it is necessary to dress the protection clothing first and wear the gloves to avoid stabs or cuts. Then hold the bottom of the pineapple with one hand and use the other hand to press it downward. It is easier said than done because it takes some strength to make it. For people who didn’t have pineapple harvest experiences, they may easily fail. “Practice makes perfect” is so true that the farmers’ skills over several years are admirable!
The DIY activity of pineapple cake is also recommended; parents-and-kids or friends can make the cakes together. To save time, the organizer has the pineapple fillings, pastry dough, maltose, and butter ready. Simply flat the pastry dough and wrap the fillings in the dough, then put into the mold and use the thumb to assemble the dough and mold. What is worth mentioning, the staff would also prepare the crushed peppermint so the tourists can spray it on the dough to have extra aroma depending on their preference. Then number the cakes and put into the oven. And finally wait for the cakes ready to eat. The hot pineapple cakes emit the smell that makes people can’t have enough and have crunchy-outside-and-soft-inside mouth feels. The aroma and flavor stays in the mouth and makes people want to relish more!
Asides from pineapple cakes, there are also kiln backed pizzas and breads or ecological tour in “Longmu Community ”, visitors can even try to make “phoenix- fiber-paper” (The first character of pineapple in Mandarin is “Feng”, meaning phoenix), quite a specialty made by the fibers extracted from the pineapple leaves. Don’t miss these unusual agri-tour experiences when you come to Dashu Leisure Farm Area!
Yummy Mulberry Sticking to Thumb up Quality
Zhang Mama Leisure Farm in Dashu Leisure Farm Area, using natural and toxin free method to manage the mulberry farm, is popular and supported by plenty of consumers. Even though the Yu He Pao litchi and pineapples in Dashu district have more economic values, the owner still sticks to grow many mulberries and hopes to have more people understand the benefits of mulberry.
“Zhang Mama Leisure Farm” has started growing mulberry in large scale since 1983. It is now the 3rd generation running the business. Fruit picking is available in harvest season, and there are also mulberry juice, mulberry wine, mulberry enzyme vinegar and mulberry jam in usual time so we can enjoy the delicacy and health brought by mulberry the whole year round. Speaking of the beginner’s mind of founding the leisure farm, we learned it was because the founder’s younger family member suffered slight asthma and coughed a lot in midnight that was not convenient to go to the hospitals. So the founder would make the mulberry juice with a tad of salt for drinking, and the coughing symptom was relieved. That is why Zhang mama and her family are so determined to provide the most natural mulberry products. However, mulberry fruits can’t be kept fresh for a long time nor stand for long transportation so that mulberries are hardly found in the market. Normally in the harvest period, part of the mulberries are harvested for speedy freezing and made into processed products. The farm owner, Kun-yao ZHANG insists the fruit vinegar has to be made by 100% fruit juice, so he headed to National Chiayi University, Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Hsinchu Food Industry Research and Development Institute and National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to learn how to cultivate fruit plants and processing skills for agricultural products. And he got the traceable agricultural product certification and was awarded the “Prize of Traceability Master” by Council of Agriculture; the farm’s wholehearted efforts are therefore recognized by more.
Every April is the harvest season of mulberries. Zhang Mama Leisure Farm is open to the public for fruit picking and there are also DIY activities for making mulberry vinegar and jam. Tourists coming for experiences are numerous year after year. When you visit Dashu Leisure Farm Area, do come to experience the farm owner and the Zhangs sincerity and the delicacy of mulberries!
Dashu Leisure Farm Area(大樹休閒農業區)
ADD: No. 65 Longmu Village (Road) Dashu District, Kaohsiung City TEL: (07)652-9295
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