The 917 Gourmet Workshop (917有機農場),
located in Hualien County’s Yuli Township, is run by
Lee Chin-chih (李錦智) and his wife Huang Yi-hsuan (黃怡瑄). Lee says the couple used to work at the Hsinchu Science
Park, but when his farming father in Hualien got injured and in addition his
wife was expecting -- among a number of reasons -- they left their jobs and
returned to the township to take over the family farm.
(All images courtesy of 客家等路大街 Facebook page)
The couple named their farm after the time
their son was born (9:17), creating the 917 Gourmet Workshop. Lee Chin-chih
says that on his return to Hualien he found that the local farmers were
accustomed to using pesticide, while he himself preferred to eat healthy
pesticide-free vegetables. Because of this, he decided to cultivate crops
organically without pesticide, holding the view that only produce grown without
pesticide can give consumers peace of mind.
Lee said the farm currently has almost two
hectares under organic cultivation. According to the farm’s crop calendar,
December to February is the period for harvesting chrysanthemum; March to April
for sugarcane (used for making brown sugar) and plums, while May to September
is spent on the golden needle (long yellow daylily) orchard, where August is
the flowering season and September the time for harvest. He said that because
no pesticides are used in the orchard, weeding must usually be done by hand,
which can take over a month to sort out. October to November is the harvest
season for hibiscus, bitter tea oil, and coffee.
The couple sought to remain in Hualien doing
organic agriculture but discovered that traditional farmers aren’t normally
good at marketing and depended on middlemen to sell their produce. Lee says
that in the past produce was bought at low prices but sold at market for many
times more. The couple decided to get into all kinds of markets and take part
in different sales activities, meeting with consumers face to face, explaining
the production process and letting customers directly try their produce and
understand their farm’s concept and build trust. Huang Yi-hsuan herself is
Hakka, and through the Hakka Affairs Council she took part in a packaging
design subsidy program and opened up channels for department store sales, in
this way raising the name recognition of their farm.
By nature, golden needles tend to be a dark
yellow and it is easy for them to become darker when cooked, which can lead
many consumers who don’t understand this to reject them. Because of this,
farmers often add sulfur dioxide to retain the color and as a preservative. A
few years ago, a controversy arose when testing revealed that over one half of
dried golden needle products on the market contained excessive amounts of
sulfur dioxide. Riding this wave of support for the idea of organic foodstuffs,
with “grow food you would eat yourself” as the principle for cultivation, 917
Gourmet Workshop is firm about not adding sulfur dioxide to its golden needles.
917 Gourmet Workshop’s organic chrysanthemums
are very popular for drinking as tea. For those who enjoy chrysanthemum tea,
pesticide residues are the biggest concern, so organic chrysanthemums are a
safe choice for a healthy drink. In 2017, 917 Gourmet Workshop’s organic
chrysanthemums were selected as one of Hualien County’s top ten agricultural
products.