Mr T Mulberry Farmer in Taiwan
During December – January 2019, I had an opportunity to visit Taiwan. My partner and I travelled through the stunning countryside to visit some of the most beautiful farms, where I met the farmers who grow their amazing crops.
Mr. T’s Mulberry Farm is the last silkworm and largest organic mulberry farm in Taiwan. He has been living on this farm raising silkworms all of his life. He produces the best quality silk, 100% organic natural silk. The silk-making industry in Taiwan has become very expensive, in comparison to other countries in Asia, which started to decline in the 1990s. All of other neighborhood silk farms are now gone. Mr. T however is committed to producing his silk products, which has helped many people with allergic reactions to modern manufactured materials and will continue to do this despite the decline of all of the other silkworm farms in Taiwan.
Mr. T has trained many disabled young people on the farm. He does this to give them an opportunity, that they just simply would not have in the modern Taiwan. This is providing them with real employment. The reality is that there are not many people willing to work long and hard to support and raise more than 200,000 silkworms for just one piece of silk-quilt.
After visiting the farm once, I was touched by this man and his dedication to his farm and the people around him. He has an air of generosity and quality about him. I couldn’t resist but to visit him twice during my stay in Taiwan. Amazingly, I don’t know any Mandarin, but I understood mostly what Mr T tried to share with me on his mulberry farm. It was a very wild and organic farm surrounded by a lot of mountains. I felt that time stopped here in this angelic setting. The breath-taking silence was just like the scenery particularly during the sunset moment.
I would like to think that Mr. T could find as many young people as he needs in his farm, to preserve and safeguard the last silk worm farm, for people to carry on benefiting from the amazing products he produced from silkworms. If I had a year in Taiwan, I would be honored to go to his farm and learn from this master of plants.
One year in this rich paradise would be incredible with the beauty of this place and the warm heartedness of Mr. T his family and guests.