At a natural farm in Nan-ao Township, Yilan, participants who are willing to help out with the farming are rewarded with all the technical ins and outs of farming, in addition to food and boarding. Taking part in this working vacation allows participants to choose the area of the farming that best suits their needs. Most of the participants are deeply interested in how the food they eat every day is produced and indeed where it comes from. The main work of participants is to assist with the farm work of long-term volunteers.
“I wanted to know just where the food we see day in and day out comes from and so decided to take part in a working vacation”, “ In the morning we dug up ginger and after that beat rice…there is a real sense of camaraderie and harmony, and the volunteers are great fun to work with”, said Xie Yating, a hospital clerk from Taichung City. In the first year, the working vacation scheme attracted around 500 people, which means that around 3000 people are expected to participate in the first three years. Organizer of the scheme, A-Jiang, hopes that the introduction of working vacations will help promote the philosophy of natural and clean food production. He added that hopefully through the scheme, farmers will turn away from exploiting the land for profit and became true guardians of the land.
PeoPo 公民新聞
Working vacation in Nan-ao – learning compassion through natural farming
URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/94748
換工假期到南澳 自然田種出慈悲 ( 輔大生命力新聞 )
在宜蘭南澳鄉的自然田，只要參與者出力幫忙農耕，農場教導技術與提供食宿。參加者可以依照自己的需求，選擇換工的方式。代耕農夫就是來參加換工假期的參與 者，大多數的參加者是想來了解平常吃的作物是如何生產的，主要的工作是幫助農場的長期志工。從台中市來的醫院辦事員謝雅婷說想來看看自己平常吃的作物，是 怎麼耕作出來的，所以就來參加換工假期。一早就跟著去挖薑，下午緊接著去打米，她說下田的感覺很好，跟志工們相處也很融洽，「這裡的氣氛真的很好！」換工 假期參與人數從第一年開始的五百人，至今到底三年預計可以超過三千人。主辦人阿江希望能藉由換工假期的方式推廣量產清淨食物，量產清淨土地的理念。他說透 從制度面讓農人不再為了利潤而強取土地和作物，讓農人成了土地的守護者。\
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