INFOIntroduction

Dreaming of life on the Farm? Many people may fantasize about living in the country, but only a very few ever get around to living the pastoral life a reality. Chuo Chen Ming had her epiphany 30 years ago on the eve of her 40th birthday. “If I don’t begin working on my dreams while my mind and body are at their peak,” she thought, “when am I going to do it?” Soon after, she was crossing hill and dale with a real estate agent haunting for the perfect place. When she found it at the mountains of Kengfeng village at Toucheng Township, Yilan County, she spent all of the more than NT$5 million she had earned from her garment factory and teaching, to buy it. Thus begun what was to become the legendary story of the farming Grandma. “Look, children!” exclaims Chuo Chen Ming, “That’s our national bird, the Formosa blue magpie. They’re very family-oriented birds. After the chicks grow up, they help their parents raise their younger siblings”. She then leans forward to make sure she doesn’t miss any of the questions coming from the large group of children before her. Her eyes and ears are surprisingly sharp in spite of her 68 years- there’s no movement in the forest that escape her notice. Visitors to the Toucheng Leisure Farm in Yilan County, all remember the grandmotherly old woman who pops up in the Farm. Always bursting with energy, she is happy to share her opinions with visitors, including her insistence that the farm grow its food organically, and prepare it in a traditional fashion. Her personality is so warm and frank that visitors almost always end up addressing as “Mama Chuo” regardless of their own age. Chuo Chen Ming was born in Chingshui Township, Taichung County, Taiwan in 1940. After graduating from The Taipei Women’s Normal College, (now the Taipei Municipal University of Education), she began working as a teacher primarily of sixth graders.