It's time for wild vegetable school! The invincible headmaster and doctor of plants will teach you to open the ecological method and enter the wonderful world of wild vegetables.

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"I am already interested in nature, and I think this future may be a trend, so let's learn about it first." Miss Tan from Taichung said so.

"I was taking a course on vanilla plants, but I came here today to learn more about it. It should be an eye-opener." Miss Wu looked expectant.

"it was always eaten like this in ancient times, but I've come to savor it today." Mother Yang from Taipei said excitedly.

What exactly is the curriculum that brings the old, middle-aged and young generations together in Samsung, a school with no classrooms and only farmland in Ilan? What on earth is it that everyone wants to know and remember?

The invincible headmaster set up a wild vegetable school. "Wild vegetables are the way to get people close to ecology."

"it's wild vegetables!" Chen Mucheng, founder of Wild vegetable School, announced the answer. "everyone of my generation has his own wild vegetable story," he said. "

Chen Mucheng hopes to lead you into the ecological world with wild vegetables. (photography / Yang Yuyun)

Chen Mucheng, nicknamed "Invincible Principal" (taken from the homonym of his English name Woody), made his name when he was president: he created the first "diving graduation ceremony" in Fulong Fu Lian Primary School, restored 10,000 firefly flying campuses in the Jian'an Primary School in the three Gorges, gave birth to the private Cambridge International School, and promoted two public private experimental schools: Cixin Huadford Experimental School and Ilan Humanities National Primary School. The achievements of education can be described by the amount of cars.

After retiring, he wants to promote ecological work. "there are many different ways of ecology, and I think wild vegetables are a good one." In two simple sentences, he stated his original intention of setting up a wild vegetable school.

Huang Chaoqing, Doctor of Special Health Center, "Principal and Bell ringing"

Although Chen Mucheng is the son of a peasant family, he has stayed in Taipei since he attended teachers' college, and his farming work is already rusty. Chen Qingzhi, the first president of the school, was a good friend of the teachers' college. Although the two have been friends for nearly half a century, President Ah Zhi is still groping for agricultural methods. It was not until Huang Chaoqing took over as headmaster that the wild vegetable school slowly grew into what it should have been.

With a doctorate in botany, Huang Chaoqing joined the ranks of wild vegetable schools in March this year after retiring from the Special Health Center of the Council of Agriculture last year. When he was a child, his mother planted rice behind his back, and his grandfather went to the hills to grow fruit. Huang Chaoqing held a hoe and stepped on mud since he was a child. Later, his career was related to plants, and he was no stranger to "growing vegetables."

Huang Chaoqing said: "before the study of a lot of wild plants, will not think about how to eat, do not care about diseases and insect pests, but now all have to shoulder." When he went to the wild vegetable school, he was not only a "principal and bell ringer", but also a volunteer principal who was not paid at all.

"Principal and bell ringing", Huang Chaoqing, holding a moon peach capsule, leads the students into the world of wild vegetables. (photography / Yang Yuyun) look, knead, touch, smell, taste, and use the five senses to understand the knowledge of wild vegetables

"Dangdang!" The class bell rings and the wild vegetable school begins!

Today's first textbook is "Treasure Hunt". After grouping, the students take eight plant picture cards to the farmland, find the corresponding plants according to the plant characteristics on the card, and draw two kinds of edible parts: leaves, fruits, flowers, etc., and judge which plants are toxic.

Unfortunately, such a lively and interesting course was hindered by the heavy rain, and the students could only rely on President Huang Chaoqing to directly pick more than a dozen kinds of wild vegetables for explanation. Huang Chaoqing first took out the white Luoshen flowers, and everyone was surprised that they had only seen the red Luoshen flowers, because the white flowers were not as good as the red flowers, so few people planted them. But "just because unpopular varieties don't mean they're worthless." The first lesson of wild vegetable school caused a lot of reflection.

White Luoshenhua (Photography / Yang Yuyun)

Then, Huang Chaoqing took out the burst Yuetao capsule, which is neither flower nor fruit, and has a strange appearance, which is really quite unpleasant. He said that the peach fruit has many curative effects. The leaves of the peach can be wrapped in zongzi, the tender stems can be cooked, the flowers can be made into cakes, and the stem fibers can also be woven into ropes or straw mats.

Huang Chaoqing introduced different wild vegetables one after another, asking everyone to touch, rub, and smell them. The scent of spring onions smelled to the nostrils, Toona sinensis smelled of gas, and the most amazing thing was that vanilla had a strong taro fragrance. Marigold was almost as sweet and sour as if it had just drilled out of the thimbus, which was very sweet and sour.

Finally, Huang Chaoqing also introduced a dish of eggplant chicken. It turns out that eggplant trees common in Taiwan can also be served. "cover the bottom of the pot with three layers of old leaves of eggplant trees, then chop up the young leaves, add seasonings such as garlic, salt and wine, and stuff them all into the belly of the old hen. finally, the hen is covered with a layer of old leaves of eggplant trees, and the cover of the pot is covered with wet towels. after simmering over low heat for two to four hours (depending on the size of the chickens), it is eggplant chicken with full flavor."

Make your own lunch and make your own novel ingredients and serve them one by one.

Huang Chaoqing said a mouthful of good food, so that everyone was so hungry that he immediately divided into groups to cook a charming taste of wild vegetables.

The food on this day is really rich, with seven dishes, one soup and one dessert. This group is responsible for stir-frying Chuan Qi and green meat. The crisp fried pumpkin slices of that group will be mixed with salted eggs. The eggs baked with scallions must be served quickly. The team members at the back are still waiting for the boiler to stir-fry shredded wild ginger. The most interesting is the innovative dish of Yuzi pizza. Yuanzi is the bead of Chuanqi, which tastes between potatoes and water chestnuts. It is spread on the crust to give the pizza a crisp taste. According to the "unscientific poll", Yuanzi was voted as the top grade of wild vegetables that day.

In addition, the wild vegetable school also prepared stewed pig feet with star anise, as well as warm pumpkin sweet soup and pumpkin.