Previous sunday, I was invited to join in a fair with my friend. It was very late to receive my friend's messages and I considered to join or not because I did not imagine what it was and what for I visited there... But since I am interested in new experience, I decided to come to the fair with my friend. Although I stayed up late on saturday, I still got up early at 5:30 to pick up my friend in her house. Oh when I arrived in her house, in front of me, there were a lot of boxes which contained various beauty products of my friend (she has her own business in nature-based beauty products). At that time, I thought "today I would be a seller not attendant? Quite interesting though."
The gate of the farm
Then we started to move. It took us 15 minutes to get there. However, life always brings special things beyond my expectations. The fair was held at the farm surrounding with greens I love.
The pile of straw near the gate. How it was lovely <3
Vietnamese lettuce plants
Above my head it was coved by plants 😊
You know my eyes opened with extreme surprise. I wished I could be able to lie on the pile of straw and just watch the clouds going by... ^^ But my friend's call pulled me back to the present: we needed to decorate our booth for sale.
Our booth - For beauty products
After 15 minutes of putting all of products on the table and arranging them in an eye-catching way. I started to explore the fair.
Oh my god! I uttered those words so many times that I could not remember all. Sooooo beautiful, Sooooo lovely, Sooooo attentive... I will show you little by little.
There were 5 booths: each stall provides some particular products. The first booth was my friend's, which sold beauty care products. The 2nd one was porcelain booth. The 3rd showed the handmade products which were made by the ethnic minorities such as clothes, handbags, wallets. And the next one provided the second-hand items. Then the last one was the place for drawing with natural colors. It was more than that. The host prepared very carefully: they set up a booth for tea break. There were various kinds of traditional cakes that was so beautiful and colorful that the attendants did not want to eat them.
It was one of the most amazing fair I have attended.
Booth selling handmade products
Second-hand booth. I was presented a book here ^^. They are so lovely
The booth for those who love porcelains like me 😊
The booth for those who love drawing. ^^
They showed how to make color from nature. I couldn't take my eyes off them!
Tradiontal green bean cakes 😍
Moreover, the fair surprised me more with the history of the farm. I tell you now. A group of young people convinced the farmers in this area to learn about the organic agriculture. At first, there was only 2 farmers who were Tu uncle and Hung uncle willing to join a conference about organic agriculture system in Da Nang in May 2016. It was actually very difficult to convert from a traditional farming with very high harvesting into a very new model like organic farming. They were over 70 year old!
The portait of the "hero" farmers <3
They were sharing with the girl who hosted the fair.
How could they do it with the limit sources? As they told us, after the conference in Da Nang, they decided to change because they found that the pesticides have been causing very harmful impact on people's health as well as the soil quality. After that, they changed - maybe the most significant change of their life.
Their changes meant that they had to cope with many challenges. The grass grew very quickly since they did no longer use the chemical pesticides. It led to very low output. Insects also proliferated very strongly because they were inexperienced.
But after 6 months, the farm gradually got better: the plants became to grow and bear some fruits although the products were still tiny and ugly. With such low quality and their unattractive appearance, uncle Hung and uncle Tu did find it really hard to find the market for their products. But they did not give up. They continued to learn and find a lot of methods to raise their plant productivity and quality. They used green manure and cattle manure instead of the chemical pesticides, which can help to sustain the health of soil, ecosystem and well-being. They did it. Then the new farm generates the very fresh and nutrious vegetables and fruits. After the success and the persistence of uncle Tu and uncle Hung, the other farmers came to them and joined. Until now, after 5 years, there are 10 members in the first organic farm of Uncle Tu and Hung in that area. The current area of the farm is 500 meter square. It is not big but it is the result of the significant effort of many people who are over 70. The oldest member is 82 year old now. With unremitting efforts and devotion, the elder farmers did create the big change that not all people even young people dare to do!
The seeds are germinating as powerfully as farmers have planted their hopes
When I was there listening their own story, I was so touched. I admire them, I love their effort regardless of their age, their limit. I thought of myself, my life, my dream, my youth: as a young person, what I can do for my hometown, for younger generation... And the key word is "DARE", like Steve Jobs said "Stay hungry, Stay foolish.". I also have my own dream, I have been trying and making great effort to achieve it. The farmers' story evoked the great motivation in my heart: one day, my dream will come true and then I will be able to dedicate the bigger things for my city, my country and our world. Hope the day will come to me soon...
But now there are still many tiny things that I can do to help, to support them with my thanks: using less plastic, recommending their farm to my friends and consuming their products. I believe that the small changes can make huge difference.
"Be patient and the fruit season will come"
**In the end, I would like to say a big thank you to these farmers who has been daily devoting their energies and muscles to the better community, better life, better health! <3
Thank you life for always giving me good opportunities to meet, to enjoy the beautiful moments with the nice people to share with all.
I will show you a lot of photos I took with the description in the next writing - The part 2 of the story. Hope to see you soon. 😊
Thank you for your reading. Hope you have positive time with my blog. <3
Love you all,
Thao Vy