tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18946878589704690682024-03-12T18:22:07.980-07:00On the RoadGo and seek for great Perhaps...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-26430529401042961222013-11-02T14:07:00.002-07:002013-11-02T14:24:02.299-07:00Something thoughtful about a bike trip. <div style="text-align: justify;">
As said last blog entry was the last one, but blogging about things around is still bugging me :) Instead of sharing what I've learnt or new experiences, I would share some more personal thoughts.</div>
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These days I have lots of thoughts going on in my mind, since I started reading a book about life changing stories of different people. It stirred up my hidden feeling. I am asking myself, after going through this study and working abroad, did I change? Am I still the same ME as the cheerful and reckless girl when I left Hong Kong for Germany two years ago? </div>
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I think not. I hope not. After travelling and living this "seasonal life" in three different countries - Germany, Africa and Switzerland, I started to learn I cannot always just count on the thrill of making new friends, trying new things and being adventurous to be the reason to keep me going on my day-to-day life, or to fulfill my inner needs, the deeper meaning of "existing"and of my life</div>
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Life is not the same, and it's not easy to go back to the same point. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which route to take?</td></tr>
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I recall today I made a bike trip to a town 20 km away from Frick. Along the way I saw stunning scenery of late Autumn, the ground was covered with yellowish orange leaves. I took my film camera with me and made pictures of the landscape, trees and picturesque things. It's quite hilly all the way leading to Aarau, and I stopped for many times to take rest and lost my way once when I made a turn in a small village. The route became steeper and steeper and I knew it's not right, but I'm glad I could pick some wild apples one the way (a little treat for making those extra effort:)) </div>
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Heading back to the right track, after two hours riding I reached a hiking spot Berkenjork.I recalled my flatmate once told me if you hike up a bit, there is a lookout where you see the panorama of Aarau. So I made a detour, parked my bike and searched for this place called"Wasserflueh" for the stunning view. I walked and felling fine, though I felt a bit awkward as it was the first time to hike alone. After walking passed a winding trail, the road leads to nowhere, except I saw a TV tower up the hill and I knew it's the place I should head to. But, the thing was, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! So I followed my intuitive logic and decided to climb up to the seemingly small hill as I was already at the foothill seeing the TV tower was not far above me. Again, I lost track and tripped myself over. Without finding the lookout, I headed back. FINE. </div>
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Then I continued my road trip to Aarau and it was downhill all the way. Thrilled by the speedy ride and the beautiful old town of Aarau. I was thinking, RIGHT, I HAVE TO RIDE BACK THE SAME ROUTE, which means doing this painful uphill for at least an hour. I was so exhausted that I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Stupid thoughts started running in my mind, I feel frustrated to ride next to the highway when seeing cars driving 60km/h passed-by and way ahead of me. I came back to the same village Kuetingen, and I saw there is another leading back to Frick. MAYBE ITS GOOD TO TRY ON A DIFFERENT ROUTE? <i>Maybe it's even harder than the previous once, but at least I will see something different or have a better view.</i> Without taking a second thought I took the new route. I enjoyed the ride so much without making some real painful uphill workouts. And I saw a much better view. I even reached Frick before the supermarket closed and got my weekend shopping done.</div>
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A simple story, a normal journey, but I learned something out of it: It's good to take risk and go for something you have not tried before. To step out of the routine and to breakthrough your comfort zone. The risk you take may lead you to something nice like a surprise (as I followed the new route back home). But sometimes it might not be easier (like I searched for the TV tower without any success). <i>It may cost you time, effort and sometimes could be painful. But at least you've tried, that means you give yourself a chance to have a change</i>, because you would never know what will come out next. And it's already a little step for you to reach out something by taking courage! And most of all, you may have new perspectives on doing stuff and find a way out of the routines. </div>
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It's a painful lesson for me (well, physically my butt's still hurting), but I am think it is worth :)</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-26095036350113505402013-10-18T11:41:00.000-07:002013-10-18T11:41:24.369-07:00good bye <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>Friday night, here am I, sitting alone in the dining room eating overcooked spaghetti mixed with leftover salad from today's lunch with a week- overdue cheese . It's my dinner.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Just came back from the wine cellar after spending half a day to harvest grapes, it's almost the second last week of harvesting, and winter is already ringing the bell at the door. Oh no..I hate snow and winter, no bike trips, no mountain trips, no....</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sunshine and the country road scene from my office</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Good bye? it comes nearly the end of my stay at FiBL. Talking about to stay or leave, it's something really on my mind these days and nights. The chance to stay is no clear yet, I would say 50/50. Another internship at Frick, in Ethiopia or in Kenya or in Ghana? Today I informed my boss before applying for a new internship at FiBL, which runs from next year in January for a year. Surprisingly, my boss told me that she's about to approach me and saying I should give it a try, and they might need me for their Asia projects. I didn't expect she would say such thing. She might want to keep me, but there's no new project for me at the mean time. I also talked with several colleagues, the feedback is - 'you don't lose nothing, just try'. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>Learn to commit, to a job, to a place, to a person, to relationships. To get grounded instead of having adventures all the time.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>It's always easy to start with something just because of our curiosity and sense of excitement at the beginning. But to stick with it and work it out till the end is not so easy.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's absolutely great if I can stay in Switzerland. I truly love being in a familiar surrounding,now, and not necessarily need to meet new friends and make new experiences all the time. I'm content with what I have now. Learning bee-keeping and wine brewery is another thing* It's a gift to know Salvador and Andi, they are the few people here to have real sharing with me and they are like my mate to take me as the way I am. Getting to know Cornelia and Beda the lovely couple was also a gift, though they are leaving for Argentina to start something new soon. Also, some other people who came across my life or for only short encounters - which are enough to make an impact in the rest of my life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>While I'm making plans for my next move, maybe God has already planed something for me? Out of my expectation? </i></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>To pick yourself, not waiting to be picked. To make the first move, and take the chance. </i></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>These are the things that I'am still getting on the way to learn. From day to day, from task to task. </i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It's my last blog entry. I am going to blog for <a href="http://in.reset.org/">http://in.reset.org/</a> for sustainability topics in the coming time. Simply can't keep pace with writing thesis and 2 blogs at the same time.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">where will I leave my foot print?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I really enjoy do this my own blog, to share my own thing. Truly free :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b><i>To be continued...</i></b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-42921814672772518412013-09-26T16:14:00.001-07:002013-09-28T01:25:42.373-07:00Blogging and more bloggingThe last two weeks I was in Stuttgart and Bonn for two conferences - <i><b>the <a href="http://www.tropentag.de/index.php?menu=1">Tropentag</a></b></i><a href="http://www.tropentag.de/index.php?menu=1"> </a>in Hohenheim University and<i><a href="http://www.scienceforum13.org/about"> </a></i><b><i><a href="http://www.scienceforum13.org/about">the Science Forum</a></i> </b>in Bonn. With other 11 students, this time I was "hired" as a student reporter to attend the conferences and blog about presentations and to report on what's going on in there.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>we are the student reporters - at conference dinner in Bonn Natural Museum</i></td></tr>
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The three-day conference <i>The Tropentag </i>is a more student-oriented event for agriculture researchers to gather once a year in Europe to present their latest findings in different areas such as crop production in different farm systems (e.g. agroforestry), livestock, value chain, climate change, natural resources, pest and diseases and so on. There are parallel activities such as film fest about urban gardening, exhibition and award ceremony during evening.As we blogged almost everyday, the participants and the general public can read about discussions in different sessions without attending the talks. And we also tried to digest the scientific output from the speakers to a simpler language - KISS (Keep It Simple and Stupid!), so that everyone without particular knowledge background can also understand.<br />
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Each year the Tropentag has a theme - and this year was <b><i>Urban-Rural Continuum and rural development</i></b>. Many case studies focus in regions like East and West Africa and South Asia, which are the most popular research bases for the agricultural academia. Many masters and PhD students presented their work via poster and oral presentations, and I think it's a good chance for young scientists to get advice from the experienced scientists and exchange ideas with people who work in the same topic with you.<br />
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While for the Science Forum is quite different, this year's theme is<b><i> to link agricultural research to health and nutrition outcomes</i></b> - which is more for experts from the two streams. It was the first time to bring two groups of scientists together, and we see that further communication is needed to bridge these two research areas.<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">To follow our blog, check the below links:</span></b><br />
<a href="http://blog.tropentag.de/node/344">http://blog.tropentag.de/node/344</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-46607397246962444032013-08-27T12:08:00.001-07:002013-08-27T12:08:03.640-07:00ToT - Tag der Offenen TürLast Sunday was the Open Day of FiBL. I am not going to report on the activities of the day or give official figures like how many guests visited, for details you can check here <a href="http://www.fibl.org/de/medien/medienarchiv/medienarchiv13/medienmitteilung13/article/tag-der-offenen-tuer-am-fibl-1.html">http://www.fibl.org/de/medien/medienarchiv/medienarchiv13/medienmitteilung13/article/tag-der-offenen-tuer-am-fibl-1.html</a><br />
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Let me first started with Saturday the day before the open day, we had another big event for the FiBL colleagues and trainees - the MitarbeiterFest! But the day began with rains, and we were called to help setting up 20 pavilions for stalls in different locations. After working for the morning being soaked and tired, my stomach was compensated with lots of good cheese and bread. In the afternoon we did some shopping for the food stall and got back to the bee house doing some final preparation. The party started sharply at 5pm when the Cuban live music started slowly. Can't imagine the institute all of a sudden turned into a party place. A banquet hall with nicely set up tables and chairs with fine wine glasses on top. Colleagues got crowded around some finger food, FiBL wine and drinks. After some time of chit chat and getting together, we were ready for the food - organic and fresh full course first started with salad, the main course, dessert and unlimited supply of organic wine and beer. Of course, the best part is the dance floor of Cuban music, most of us moved along the music started dancing slowly, and I learned some new steps and moves too.<br />
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On the Open day I was running between the international group stall "the world of organic agriculture" and the bee house. At the bee house of course I would have loved to spend most of my time there. We had quite a lot activities such as honey tasting of 3 kinds of organic honey - mountain, flower and forest, the sound of bee - which is a local artist tries to harmonize bee sounds with human vocal. Salvador was giving explanations on organic and bio-dynamic bee keeping to the visitors. He plans to do an international bee keeping course next year Spring, this course will run for 3-4 months during honey producing season. It would be cool to involve in his projects in FiBL.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me- searching for my own camera</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salvador was explaining to the visitors - from Asia and Europe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">kids looking at a small demonstrated bee frame</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the sound of bees</td></tr>
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For the international group, they showcased different projects in Africa - the African Organic Agriculture Manuel with some visual exhibition like how to make your own insect trap with recycled materials, a small cinema shows short films about market development projects in Africa and so on. I like the way they decorated the farm house - with African fabric and bundles of dried straws. Outdoor there were stalls for the cocoa projects in Malaysia, Bolivia and Ghana, cotton projects in India and so on. Pictures worth more than words, I will stop here and do more readings before midnight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">small African world in FiBL</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rGnvuBznCSM/Uhz3cvlwEJI/AAAAAAAAAeI/q98di8BwCI8/s1600/DSCN0906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rGnvuBznCSM/Uhz3cvlwEJI/AAAAAAAAAeI/q98di8BwCI8/s1600/DSCN0906.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beate was giving out 100% chocolate powder as tasting</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irene our colleague from Kenya was explaining how African farmers practice diversified cropping</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nora and Monika the cocoa and cotton expert</td></tr>
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Next month I will be in Germany for a month to attend workshops and conferences... Probably I will update the blog after a month or hopefully earlier!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-84332668334462664342013-08-18T15:28:00.002-07:002013-08-18T15:32:45.877-07:00~~Viva Con Aqau! - in Freiburg~~ After 2 days in Bern to meet my thesis mentor and doing some data stuff, I'm glad that I had a "get-away" weekend to Germany - Freiburg to see my friend Benni and his girl friend Sabrina. It's just 1.5 hours by train from Bern, and I reached already the green city of Freiburg, the student- uni town well-known for its alternative out-spoken activists campaigns and movements. It actually has a nice "Altstadt" the old city and small streams that flow through the streets. It's been almost a year since my last visit to this beautiful town. I made plans to come over Freiburg quite spontaneously, was thinking to just do a bit of sight-seeing and go to the Black Forest. It turned out I did something not that touristic at all and got the chance to learn about a really cool organisation - Viva Con Aqua.<br />
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<br />
They started in Hamburg, Germany. A "non-traditional NGO", founded by a German soccer player in 2008 and it's like a young people movement in Germany from cities to cities. What they do is to go to events, concerts, sport events like soccer games and parties, to collect "Pfand" (beer-bottles ransom) from the audience and raise money for water projects in Uganda and other developing countries, to help people access to clean-drinking water. My friend Benni was one of the core campaigners in Freiburg. They contact event organisers, clubs and bars, go to the events and collect "Pfand". Sometimes in good events they can raise up to 4000-8000 euros per night, which is pretty cool. People from different background can engage in their activities, they also give educational events and school talks about water conservation projects and global environmental issues. With their large social networking, it's easy to get people involved, like many artists, musicians, and cross-cultural activities. More to check on their website <a href="http://www.vivaconagua.co.uk/">http://www.vivaconagua.co.uk/</a><br />
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<br />
Yesterday I was with Benni, Sabrina and a few Viva Con Aqua volunteers in a reggae concert in a suburb cultural club Smitz Katze. We started setting up around 2pm, it was totally hot and maybe the weather was too fine and people preferred to stick around in cafes in the city or do bike trips somewhere else. At the end of the day, we collected around 30 Pfand and raised 30 euros..We broke the record I think, of raising the lowest money?! But it was great to get to know about the NGO, talk to the volunteers and most of all, free entrance to the mid-night reggae concert. After some mid-night dancing moves to the relaxing reggae music and Jamica night, we were already pretty tired and rode the bike back home.<br />
Find out more : <a href="http://www.schmitz-katze.com/">http://www.schmitz-katze.com/</a><br />
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<br />
On Sunday we hiked to the Black Forest to the Schauinsland forest, where you can take a cable car to the mountain top and see an overview of the Freiburg area and a bit of the Alps. We took a cool Weizen beer in a mountain hut after walking for an hour and I was disparately looking for schwarzwälder kirschtorte (Black forest cake), but ridiculously I couldn't find any in the Black forest, but a nice cafe shop in a nearby valley village Günsterstal.<br />
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This weekend was really absolutely a "perfekt" get-away :)<br />
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<br />
African Kiss Festival in Freiburg 22-24 November 2013<br />
the 7th year! <br />
<a href="http://www.spendenfreun.de/index.php?id=174&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5bbackPid%5d=62&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=52">http://www.spendenfreun.de/index.php?id=174&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5bbackPid%5d=62&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=52</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-47296887614962586662013-08-09T13:06:00.001-07:002013-08-09T16:26:10.370-07:00So Far, so close…<div class="MsoNormal">
Where am I situated right now? Friends may
wonder where I have been the last 2 months. At the moment when I am writing
this passage, I am still in Ningxia China, sitting along lakeside with lots of
lotus leaves and a bright sun overhead. So far away from Switzerland, so close to
my home – Hong Kong, only with 3 hours flight. In a week time I will be back to
the land of mountains and cheese. And most of all, I will say good-bye to
Mandarin Chinese and switch back to German mode again.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It is stupid that in China people can’t use
Facebook or Google because of censorship and there’s always limitation of
information you can get from the national news. It’s definitely true to say
China is like a black box, there is always a mysterious side of things.
Government officials, companies, communities, a person, people just like to
keep things on their own. Unlike Western culture, Chinese don’t work directly
and straight forward. We have a saying goes as “A man takes you wandering in a
garden” means things don’t work out right away, but take lots of turns. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Let me first briefly say why I am in China. Here
is North West China in Ningxia province. You can hardly find people from
southern provinces, like Guangdong, or even from Hong Kong. I’m staying in a
town called Qingtongxia, 40 km from Gangchengzi village, where I carried out my
field work to interview apple growers. I visit their orchards for farm
assessments. Until now, I have visited around 20 orchards to find out what
had changed in their farm practices after converting to organic farming. Also, to see what
are the social, economic and ecological benefits of growing organic apples, and
what do they plan for the future. Another thing is to carry out RISE (Response Induced Sustainability Evaluation) for 10 orchards and at the end, to hold a farmer workshop to feedback
the results to those farmers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I am glad that things turned out quite well
at the end, although there were some tough times and frustrated moments.
Because of the early April hailstorm, apple blossoms were hit and apple trees
can bear only little fruits, 60-80% less than the normal yield. Therefore, many
farmers were not at home and out of town for side-jobs, as construction workers
or work for some nearby vineyards. So it was hard for me to contact farmers for
interview or to visit their orchards. Only their wives or grandsons- or
daughters stay at home. For a few times I slept over at their homes because it’s
already late when I finished the interview at late night. But most of them are
very warm welcoming; getting known I am from afar and generally they are
helpful all the time. It’s funny to see one farmer has a big mansion with a
rose garden next to his apple orchard. I nearly got lost when I was looking for
a toilet. Most farmers have a big pasma or LCD TV at home and quite well living
standard. I wonder if they earn more than what we earn in Hong Kong, as most of
them own beautiful houses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The highlight of my stay was to hold a
farmer workshop to present the topic what is farm sustainability and findings
from my RISE assessments. Talking about time keeping, Chinese farmers ain’t
like Swiss. We planned the workshop at 7 pm and there were only a few came. I
was so worried back then, but people started showing up one by one, slowly, and
finally the workshop started at 9:15am. I tried my best to finish it on time.
It was the first time for me to present in Chinese. To be frank I speak English
better than Chinese, but I am happy that they told me my mandarin Chinese had
improved a lot in a month time. My parents also came for visit and support, I’m
glad to let them know what my work is actually about and everything in a
Chinese farm village was new for them – people from the big city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2odPyaKwlo/UgVLKq_i2kI/AAAAAAAAAZE/SVd3QtmepKQ/s1600/IMG_7959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2odPyaKwlo/UgVLKq_i2kI/AAAAAAAAAZE/SVd3QtmepKQ/s1600/IMG_7959.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The sun is heating really hard right how
overhead me, I guess I have to go and hide inside a library. Last few days in
Ningxia, I plan to visit a few closer apple growers and farewell with them,
travel to south of Ningxia to the “no-man’s land” and gather myself again. My dad mocked me, saying I live like a Gypsy, a
nomadic girl, moving from place to place. I also wonder where and when will I find
a place to settle down, where I feel like home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-77843280057171314902013-05-24T15:19:00.001-07:002013-05-25T02:25:37.730-07:00Fricktal Bees :-)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Still
a week to go before </span>I leave Frick for my field work in China –
Ningxia – a dry region in south of Inner Mongolia. Work-wise, I am quite
prepared for the 30 interviews with the apple growers out there. These days I am
sort of on my way to finalize the questionnaires for the farmer survey, some
translation works have got done too. But what also takes time is to coordinate
with the trading companies and my mentors and supervisor, they spread all over
the world! Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, China… Internet and skype really
make communication easier in this era of globalization. At the moment, what I worry the most is the language barrier. In Ningxia, Hui is the local dialect that most farmers speak. I can speak Chinese Mandarin, but not even fluent (Cantonese is my mother tongue...). I can imagine works would be more tough, when I don't speak the farmers' language at all. That also means it will take double time to finish an interview, which took me an hour in my trial interview. Can't even imagine a 5 hours RISE assessment (a sustainability assessment tool at farm level) will turn out to be 10 hours. I think both me and the interviewed farmer will gonna be K.O!!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #990000;">Bee-keeping </span></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Speaking
about bee-keeping, there are quite many colleagues somehow either are
bee-keeper (Der Imker), or find it appealing and plan to learn on their own. My
colleague Sal keeps 40 honey bee hives on the Swiss mountain nearby Luzern. He’s
a very experienced “Imker” and produces organic honey back in his home. I was
lucky enough to be his “office-mate” for a week time, and got to know about ‘how
honey is made from’. Before I didn’t really know how honey is produced, which I
feel a bit shame of. This amazing insect or you can describe them as an “animal”,
means so much to us the human being in terms of food production. More than 1/3 of our food depend on the pollination through bees. Bees are highly hierarchically organized in terms of their roles (job
functions of worker bees, drones, and the Queen) within a colony or a
bee hive. By collecting nectar and pollen from flowers to flowers - within
different species and varieties of crops, plants or trees- they help to transfer
pollen and facilitate reproduction of plant, which is known as the process
pollination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g1vK8zi5iZ4/UZ_jijlCNfI/AAAAAAAAAWY/Oqgf5j-kjNg/s1600/IMG_0454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g1vK8zi5iZ4/UZ_jijlCNfI/AAAAAAAAAWY/Oqgf5j-kjNg/s1600/IMG_0454.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hope the bees will soon adapt to their new home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: inherit;"><i>“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9810.Albert_Einstein" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Albert Einstein</a></span></h3>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Worker
bees are really hard-working little guys. They start life as a nurse bee
nurturing brood (unborn bees, drones and queens). Other tasks include guarding
the entrance of the colony, building honeycomb, ripening nectar to honey,
packing pollen, cleaning the hive and carrying out the dead.</span> The last
and the most important task too, to fly out and look for nectar, pollen, water
and propolis. During this time they would be eaten by birds or insects. And in
industrialized conventional farms like almond, corn, wheat and soy plantations
in California, bee colonies are disappearing without any traces because of
several reasons. The most frightening is that chemical sprays are absorbed by
the plant vascular system and contaminate the pollen and nectar that the bees
collect and encounter. The chemicals disorient the bees and damage the homing
ability of bees, that is why many bees lose their way back to their hives, and
bee colonies slowly die out. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
<span style="color: #990000;">Bee swarming</span></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Back
to Frick, this spring is apparently too cold and a bit windy for the Fricktal honey
bees. We had only less than one week really sunny nice warm weather. When you feel
that spring has finally come, she is gone the next day. It’s also not so easy
for the bee keepers to control or predict bee swarming. During spring as the
weather gets warmer, food become abundant and bee population grows fast in the
colony. New queens are produced and finally only a single young new queen is
raised by other bees. The old queen then is replaced, then she leads half of the
colony includes the drones and worker bees to leave the hive and searches for a
new home. Next time when you see bees cluster somewhere underneath a roof or
within bushes of trees, don’t be panic, they are natural but could be quite aggressive
sometimes. On sunny days, I followed Sal to the Bienen
Stand (the bee house) nearby our office to control the bees. To check the
number of queen cells and to see if there is a sign of swarming. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tQW-JtvqF08/UZ_jj9JdtwI/AAAAAAAAAWg/B6pZjjW98ss/s1600/IMG_0459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tQW-JtvqF08/UZ_jj9JdtwI/AAAAAAAAAWg/B6pZjjW98ss/s1600/IMG_0459.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">bee swarm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I
really am grateful for having the chance to share the joy of keeping bees with
Sal. But one big obstacle that I still have to overcome is…to avoid being
stung!!</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<h3>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #990000;"><b>More about honey:</b></span></h3>
<span lang="EN-US">More than Honey - A "Swiss made" documentary about contemporary bee-keeping industry </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.morethanhoney.ch/">http://www.morethanhoney.ch/</a></span><br />
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Der Imker - the bee keeper, a touching story about a Turkish bee-keeper who tells how his life and family had been changed by Turkish-Kurdish war that caused a turmoil in the country.<br />
<a href="http://www.derimker.ch/">http://www.derimker.ch/</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-64440165403497829922013-05-19T13:40:00.002-07:002013-05-20T03:14:20.890-07:00Yamagishi Frühlingsfest <span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">It's been long and not having time to sit down and dig my head into writing my blog. It's always easy to start up with something new, but try to keep it up is always an issue. In the last couple of weeks, I noticed spring had gradually come, but not so obvious. Now in May still, the weather is cold and sometimes when it rains and winds chilly, you 'd wonder does seasonality really exist. I remember in primary school, my geography teacher told us "In Hong Kong, we have four seasons, Spring is from January to April with moist warm air from the East China sea, we have foggy and the cloudiest sky of the year. Then Summer comes in May and lasts till August. When you see tree leaves turn yellowish and start to fall in September, you know it's Autumn and it's a season for family hiking.We have cool and dry winter from December till end of February." However, nowadays Winter doesn't necessarily mean overcoats and gloves. When I was still small I remember the time during Chinese New Year which is usually around Jan/Feb, kids used to follow the parents from homes to homes to visit relatives and send out new year greetings. My mom would put me on the warmest clothes and dresses, since it's supposed to be the coldest days of the year. This <span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21.33333396911621px;">cliché</span> omage of lovers huddle together walking on winter streets with Christmas lights on might soon becomes outmoded and far-gone. Winter is not that cold anymore in Hong Kong and don't be surprised one day you may see your guests wearing T-shirt and sandals come visit you in Chinese new year.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">2 small volunteers :-) </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">apple trees flowers, in late May and June they will slowly mature to apples!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Angus beef... fed on fresh silage </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">delivery fresh regional farm products to Swiss !</span></td></tr>
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My time in Switzerland has gone like an arrow. I'm happy and lucky enough to have met some angles around. When I'm abroad, it's always been my wish to try out more local things, and do stuff with the locals. It's the way to help yourself to adapt to a new culture. Last weekend, I was in a Yamagishi Früflingsfest (Spring festival) at my friend's family farm nearby Winterthur. Usually Früflingsfest is a time for farms to open up for visitors, to showcase their fresh farm products and to celebrate the coming of Spring. People from the nearby villages or the region come with family and kids, enjoy the day and have some freshly produced regional cheese, milk and vegetables. But it's a bit different with Yamagishi farm. "<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">The </span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Yamagishi movement</span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> is a network of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egalitarian_community" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Egalitarian community">egalitarian intentional communities</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> which originated in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Japan">Japan</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">. People in these communities live without </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Money">money</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> and with minimal </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_property" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Personal property">personal possessions</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">, but their needs are provided for by the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamagishi_movement#" id="_GPLITA_2" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=Q0g6Mzk4NDM6MjMyNTpjb21tdW5pdHk6YzNhZjE5OWRlNDc5MmJlNjU2YmY5OWM3ZjViMmRjNGI6ei0xMzM1LTE3NTkyMzplbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnOjQ4NTQ0OjM5MDI5MGQwNTk0MjQ1MTkwZTNiNDBjMGVkOGE4MDY1" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">community</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">. There are no bosses or set working hours. Their primary industries are </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Agriculture">farming</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch" style="background-image: none; line-height: 19.1875px;" title="Ranch">ranching</a><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">." (WiKipedia). </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yummy :-) it tastes homemade Japanese style!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Okolomiyaki - Japanese pancakes, so tasty! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The laying box on the left keeps the hen warm with small eggs laid </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Farm Eggs - visitors come pick their own ones from the laying box</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Their idea is to create a</span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> world "in which our children and grandchildren can live without worries, a world in which everyone and everything has the same chance to live a happy life, that is our goal, and we work for life". A lady who shared with me her life-changing experience with a Yamagishi farm in Japan back in 25 years ago. She said, it's all about "to do things from your mind to your heart, and from heart to actions". They live and work with their motto <i><span style="color: #073763;">"</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-center;"><i><span style="color: #073763;">Ich - ein Teil der Natur - werde ein Mensch, dessen Gedanken, Taten und Gefühle zum Gedeihen aller Lebewesen, der Sonne und der Erde beitragen"</span></i> , which means I, being a part of nature, a person will contribute its thoughts, actions and feelings to the prosperity of all living beings, the Sun and the Earth. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">There are around 14 people live in the </span>Yamagishihof in Switzerland, they keep livestock like Angus beef cattle, chickens for eggs and fattening pigs for sausages, and a small orchard for apple trees. Animals are respected and provided with comfortable living space, to have a happy life. The Yamagishihof buys farm products from neighboring farms like seasonal vegetables and deliver farm products to small quarters in cities like Basel and Zurich.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">mini music concert and afternoon cake session</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">The festival</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">Last weekend the Yamagishihof were busy preparing for the festival. There I met more than 20 people and volunteers from Belgium, Korea and Kenya came to set up the ground and event. It was cool there was even an Indian tipi and camp fire inside where we were sitting around to keep warm and make hot tea. On Saturday we set up a mini golf course and collected wild flowers for decorating the dining tables. I was shifting around various tasks, sometimes being outside or stayed in the kitchen preparing dinner. The kitchen I must say, is always the busiest corner with the "cooking mamas" preparing good meals for us :-) In the evening after the long day of preparation, we sat down in a circle and sharing. We went a round to say what we had learnt or felt about the works or "zusammenarbeit" (work together in German). I feel everyone is so motivated to helping out and does everything from the heart. You've got to take initiatives, because nobody is giving orders, but people are ready to instruct you. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">On the Sunday, the event started at 10 a.m. and I guess during the day over a hundred people came. Most of them are Yamagishihof supporters or customers, some of them are old friends or farmers from the region. Since Yamagishi has a close link to the Japanese community and the culture, there were quite a lot of Japanese visitors. Funny thing is, I was mistaken to be a Japanese, I would never mind cos I can't tell European faces too.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">I am happy to be invited to this farm event and to get to know more about Swiss farms. Yamagishihof has set a good example of promoting community supported agriculture (CSA) by establishing close relationships between farmers and customers. By educating customers the importance of buying seasonal and regional farm products. It is not necessarily be organic, but agricultural products could be produced in more ecologically friendly methods, which concern more about animal ethics, use less chemicals and live in harmony with the nature, so that species can be nourished by high biodiversity of the farms.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowds searched for farm eggs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our mini golf-course looks good :-) Good job Lukas !</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merci viel Mal Aunt Renate, Auf Wiedersehen..</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;"><b>More about yamagishi in Switzerland:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://yamagishi.ch/">http://yamagishi.ch/</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-74807281990783937402013-04-25T13:16:00.000-07:002013-04-26T14:22:39.060-07:00apples and cherries Blossoms <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's a beautiful time to come visit Frick . Blossoms of trees keep surprising you everyday, clusters white apple little flowers sprouted from buds. Size of apples may depend on the flowering time, the 'king flower' is the first to open and gives rise to the largest fruits. Flowers are 'raw materials' for fruit production, heavy flowering is induced by how much sun light a tree gets. To get an optimize size of apple, in 2 weeks time we will do "flower thinning", to take off flower clusters in order to trigger physiologic shock to the tree, and to stimulate return bloom and tree growth and maintain tree structure.<br />
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It also gives more stable yields and prevents "alternate bearing of apples", which means the tree doesn't bear apples for next year. It's so nice to see and admire these pretty flowers, but in an orchard, this is the fact you have to remove them, to get higher yields. Pretty sad, huh? This week we also counted number of clusters and leave bud per tree. You can tell which ones are flower buds and leave buds. If a tree has too many clusters per branch, it will bear less apples or in smaller size or not in optimal quantity. Thinning is usually done by hand, since you need to measure or check manually which clusters to remove. And for different varieties, thinning method also depend. One dwarf apple tree can bear around 155 apples, and in European market smaller sized apples are more preferred.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">white apple flowers start blooming since last week</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-950TQ8YGl8o/UXmFkWEamvI/AAAAAAAAARc/NBA8fP7PUtA/s1600/IMG_7310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-950TQ8YGl8o/UXmFkWEamvI/AAAAAAAAARc/NBA8fP7PUtA/s1600/IMG_7310.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the apple orchard look much more lively, isn't it?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZpAtL2iqtQ/UXmFkW-SxDI/AAAAAAAAARk/dwZPPijpuMA/s1600/IMG_7314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZpAtL2iqtQ/UXmFkW-SxDI/AAAAAAAAARk/dwZPPijpuMA/s1600/IMG_7314.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mowing machine to mow the weeds as mulching on the top soil.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hh6koOC6-Rw/UXmFnb6KSzI/AAAAAAAAARs/S95hK7vu8TU/s1600/IMG_7316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hh6koOC6-Rw/UXmFnb6KSzI/AAAAAAAAARs/S95hK7vu8TU/s1600/IMG_7316.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We spent the whole week fixing the weeding mat on the floor<br />
for against competition of weeds to the trees</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Willkommen auf dem Fricktaler Chriesiwaeg!</span><br />
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Just told by my colleague Corrine, that Frick is actually famous for its lovely cherries, and it's a well-know cherries production region in Switzerland. So today, me, Corrine and Tomas went cycling to this Chriesiwaeg (Cherry trail in Swiss German) to experience this spirit of cherries.<br />
It's not far away from out house, just 20 minutes to get there. It's a bit hilly at the start, but it's "sehr schön" to bike along the meadows and passing by the cherries tree blossoms. I really look forward to the end of May, when the cherries are mature and ready to be eaten (i'm pragmatic I know :) <br />
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<a href="http://www.myswitzerland.com/de/fricktaler-chriesiwaeg.html">http://www.myswitzerland.com/de/fricktaler-chriesiwaeg.html</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me on the bike with cherries..this is something I will remember<br />
about this place after years</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Weingut FiBL</i></span><br />
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Friday is usually quite empty in FiBL. Most colleague work only 80% a week, and they can choose a day off, most people would pick Friday of course. Since this week, I started having lunch in the cafeteria almost everyday. Especially in this warm early summer weather, and in FiBL there is an open terrace for us sitting outside, enjoying organic lunch or coffee breaks under shades of chestnut trees. As I told before, the work environment and culture in FiBL is very exceptional. You have lots of chances to exchange with colleagues, about your projects, research, or casual chats. There are many great people here, who are so experienced in organic agriculture and knowledgeable in specific topic. Everyday you talk to somebody else and always learn something new. Since there are many varieties of work here, soil sciences , animal husbandry, crop production and orchards, and test of parasites of plants. It's always interesting to encounter some research students by chance, and they probably would explain to you how they test the effect of charcoal on the growth of soy beans; how they growth fungi or spores in Bodenlabor to test susceptible varieties.<br />
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Something I like here is that everyone is willing to share, on an eye-level, not hierarchical at all, unlike the Chinese culture. You can call your boss or head by the first name, and talk to them as if other colleagues. When I first came here, I was not so used to this coffee breaks, and long lunch breaks and too much networking sometimes. As time goes by, I am used to this work culture here, and these in-between breaks are something I look forward to everyday.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Friday on the month there is a wine- tasting session<br />
in the small vine yard, with 40 varieties of wine!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-36819224205980179442013-04-14T08:20:00.002-07:002013-04-14T08:20:17.683-07:00happy cows!!I am so happy to say goodbye to the long lasting Winter finally! Just 2 days ago it was still a bit chilly with some cold drizzles, now we have a"super sonnig" (sunny) day of the year! For the cows, today is the day they have been looking forward throughout the year, to get out of the barn and freely pasture on the green grassland. From now on, they are released to the big patch of grassland just right in front of our house for 2 hours every day. I can see how excited they are, nearly dancing and chasing after one another, enjoying the spring tasted sweetie pasture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walk the cow, not the dog.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking on bare-foot embracing the first summer day.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big boy Thomas was too excited to see the cows<br />as our new neighbors! </td></tr>
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Being raised up in Hong Kong, a crowed compacted city which is well known for having skyscrapers and shopping malls, a city girl like me hasn't really imagine, one day I would see cows feeding on a grassland right in front of my house. And what I was dreaming of in Hong Kong, to have a backyard home garden to grow some vegetables and herbs, here I have them all :)<br />
Sitting out having lunch with a couple of friends, doing gardening or some readings with birds chirping around. Wish I could stay here for long, but sadly I will leave here next month. Time flies here in Frick. It's so true what people say, <i><span style="color: #351c75;">happiness flies away for those who want it most.</span></i><br />
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We have a new colleague Corrine, she's working on a project in central India about farming systems comparison, between organic, organic dynamic, conventional and conventional with GM (genetically modified) . This long term field trials were set up by FiBL to test the effect of different farming systems on soil, yields, emission and yields. Back in 1978, FiBL set up a "DOK Versuch" project in Switzerland in a small town nearby Basel in cooperation with the Swiss Confederation. Similar to the trial fields in India, it's for testing different farming systems and to prove to the local Swiss farmers the advantages of organic farming. Unlike the India project, it focuses not only on scientific research, but more like an inter-disciplinary project in cooperation with local farmers and ordinary people. <br />
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Last Friday, me and Corrine drove down to the "DOK" field with a colleague Colline from the soil group, he showed us how to get soil samples for testing the bulk density of different systems. They have four crops maize, soy beans, winter wheat and grassland, in which different fertilizers are applied on regularly. For examples, conventional fields with synthetic mineral fertilizers or slurry; organic fields with manure and slurry; biological dynamic farming tested with manure and slurry, plus some spray solutions of plants and herbs. GHG emissions can also be tested with these crops, like 2 year rotation grassland has the lowest nitrous oxides emission.<br />
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Interestingly, crops perform the best in the bio-dynamic system. It's a school of farming, on which the organic farming principles developed or evolved from, and it has theories on planetary influences on planting calender or astronomy elements, and its spiritual scientific perspectives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collin is doing his PHD on system comparison.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Because of the cold weather, we did only 10 samples in day. Thanks Collin for giving<br />us a in-depth site visit tour in the DOK:)</td></tr>
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In the morning Colline tried to explain his own experiments and gave us an overview of the trials. Then we learned to take soil samples under his supervision.What we did was to drill an auger to a certain depth from the top soil and sub soil, and sample a certain amount of soil with tools. The most difficult part is the get the right among of soil inside the sampling tube, and get the soil from the right spot and depth. Since everything here is for research purposed, it is very important to get things right, if you don't want to get wrong numbers or measurements in your experiments. Different treatments, crops, climate, soil all are control factors in the experiments, for some tests like GHG fluxes measurements, farming practices like ploughing, slight-tillage or no-tillage systems, or fertilizing, weeding methods are also critical factors.<br />
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For me it is a totally interesting thing and so much to learn. Since I took a year soil management courses in Freising, I have sort of a basic background and it's good to learn something that builds on your previous experience, not just being there without knowing anything or start from the scratch.<br />
I told myself before, that I should learn to treasure the time here in FiBL, like a sponge to absorb more ideas or learn new things from people, from experience. But on the other hand, my own thesis project seems works out slowly, still some problems to be fixed and sometimes it's not even within my ability to solve those problems, especially the coordination works. Hope things will be sorted out later.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-90961646351248060512013-04-02T11:45:00.001-07:002013-04-02T11:45:47.247-07:00Sustainable fruit system SFSin a Sustainable fruit system, pest and diseases are under indirect control, that is to use disease tolerant and resistant varieties, plant flower plants in tree rows, or selected plants for hedges and use less plant protection products like sprays. Obviously, it needs more intensive management and labor work to check on the trees and for physical control, especially after the new growing season starts, good protection of young plant organs like buds, leaves, shoots and young fruits is important if you want some good looking and tasty apples this year!<br />
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Preventive works like clearing out fallen leaves sounds like a tedious job, but last year there was an outbreak of apple scab (a fungus infection) in the apple orchard and we lost some good yields. This scab spreads by wet leaves and warmer temperature, they stay and infect the fallen leaves and overwinter, wait till spring and summer they inject pathogen to the air...sounds scary right? So, we spent a day just to clearing out the dead fallen leaves, this should have been done earlier in Autumn. Probably they had too much work and were busy with controlling the scab.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">simple works with good reasons</td></tr>
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We also killed off the water shoots that had grown from the bottom part of stems or surface roots, they are enemies of trees cos they uptake nutrients and compete water with the trees. Last season, they also put white paint on the lower part of tree stem to balance sun energy reflection or insulation of the upper and lower part of the stem.<br />
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There are many manual works in the orchards, if you can afford to grow it organically and extensively. Like putting weights or bending rubber strips to fix the growing angle of tree branches. For the whole afternoon, we checked tree by tree to see which branches have grown with too narrow angle. No wonder organic fruits price much higher with such huge maintenance costs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">little weights we put on trees</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">water shoots -- shot you off!</td></tr>
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<b>Home. Swiss home</b><br />
I have some very nice flatmates here, Simona from Bavaria and Elke from Stuttgart previously there were Frauke but she moved out last week...I really like the simple life and time we have in this little guesthouse. Making pizzas, long night chats and the feeling of being part of a family.<br />
The idea of WG sounds great, you have your private time and space, but when you want some fun and someones to talk to, go to the kitchen and common room! Sadly I only stay here for 2 more months, wish I could find a similar place in Freising or Munich.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15819125265000409388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1894687858970469068.post-19408696663703633102013-03-22T14:10:00.002-07:002013-04-06T13:18:52.817-07:00hair cut for the apple treesIt's not easy to record back what I've done during the last weeks. 2 weeks ago I came to Frick, a small town nearby Basel in Switzerland for my master's thesis placement for 3 months. My stay is sponsored by DAAD SMP program, it supports students to do overseas placements.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frick </td></tr>
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I work in an Organic Agriculture Research Institute FiBL here, established since the 70s and is one of the well known institutes in this field. There are different work groups like Animal health and husbandry, crop protection and production, soil sciences, fruit production and viticulture. I stay with the international group, which operates development projects in countries like Inida, Malaysia, eastern Europe, S.America or Africa to help the small holder farmers with organic farming skills to improve their market access and livelihood through more sustainable farming practices.</div>
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Part time I also go to the field and learn about fruit trees management. Since the growing season will start soon when the weather gets warmer, some preparation works that was not done in last winter like prunning, have to be done before the winter's gone. Prunning generally helps to control the quality, size and color of the fruits. Pome fruits like apples give better and reddish color with more sunlight. It also minimizes the problem of alternate bearing of fruits, which means there are fruits harvest for this year, but nothing for next year. It's a skillful state of art to do prunning! You get to see and think where to cut and growing direction of the branches, and foresee where you want the new shoots to grow. Water shoots are something you must eliminate, cos they don't bear fruits and uptake extra nutrients and water from the tree, also shade the underneath growth if they grow in the canopy. Branches and stems grow in a narrow angle like vertically, you also need to cut them off. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m1tzHa1saiE/UUzHFUxqAQI/AAAAAAAAAMs/03I6sLO3038/s1600/P3225902.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m1tzHa1saiE/UUzHFUxqAQI/AAAAAAAAAMs/03I6sLO3038/s1600/P3225902.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">what a work, 3 people prun a dwarf apple tree!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a good capture to see how short the trees are, dwarf varieties<br />
are main stream in apple production</td></tr>
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I was standing so long in front of the trees, not sure where to cut and was afraid to hurt the tree when I trim too much. But I like it when I have to think, what the tree will become, when I prun the tree in a different way. Unlike growing crops or vegetables, fruit trees you grow them for years, and each year you can always do something to improve fruit yields. Amazing to know how human can manipulate nature, apples standard trees I think we all know how tall and big they are. But in small scale orchards or commercial orchards, dwarf varieties are more common, an apple "tree" is only 2 m or less tall, it's easier to harvest and manage. And they all look fragile creatures, need so much care and protection. And varieties tests on different cultivars are carried out here. </div>
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It's not easy for me to learn about fruit trees from the scratch, but life is always challenging and I am glad that FibL people are super nice and eager to teach everyone. I love the working culture:)<br />
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DAAD Erasmus SMP program: <a href="http://www.tum-erasmus-smp.de/en/smp-praktikum/index.htm">http://www.tum-erasmus-smp.de/en/smp-praktikum/index.htm</a><br />
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FiBL: <a href="http://www.fibl.org/">http://www.fibl.org/</a></div>
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