Agriculture students have taken part-time jobs at the strawberry farm (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The west bank of theHong (Red) River in Hanoi’s Tay Ho district is famous for its traditionalflower villages – Tu Lien, Nhat Tan, Quang An and Phu Thuong.
Trees used to celebrate the Tet (Lunar New Year)holiday such as the peach trees grown in Nhat Tan and kumquat trees grown in TuLien are said to be the best in town.
For over a decade, flower farms have been openfor visitors who want to enjoy the spectacle, take photos or just breathe thefresh air in the otherwise crowded city.
“That is the reason why we opened astrawberry farm at the heart of Nhat Tan flower village,” Nguyen An Phuong,sales manager at Chimi Farm Hanoi, said.
The 3,000 sq.m strawberry farm opened last Decemberand for the last few months, it has attracted young people and families lookingfor a new farming experience in the city.
The first crop of the temperate fruit grown byChimi Farm Hanoi is in the process of being harvested.
The farm supplies strawberries for stores andsupermarkets in the city, and they’re also available for visitors.
Phuong said that visitors can learn how to nursethe strawberry plants, pick fruit and make strawberry yogurt and other drinks. “Theycan enjoy the drinks at the cafe on the farm,” Phuong added.
“Taking photos is free of charge. You pay forthe fruit you pick and the drinks,” Phuong said.
It’s about 350,000 VND (15 USD) per kilo ofstrawberries picked at the farm.
The farm also offers young plants for 40,000 VNDwith instructions on how to tend to them.
Hoang Phuong Thao from Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem districtsaid her children really enjoyed the farm.
“They got excited about looking for ripe redstrawberries and picking them,” Thao said, adding that the kids burst intolaughter whenever they found an odd-shaped fruit or a worm under the leaves.
“The children and I had a good time at the farmas they got to play outdoors and get closer to nature,” Thao said.
She said they would visit the farm again becauseit was close to their house.
Phuong said the excitement had sparked an ideaabout farming tourism.
He said he had travelled a lot with friends and enjoyed great experiencesduring trips across Vietnam, one of the best of which was picking strawberriesat farms in the Central Highland city of Da Lat.
“A friend of mine, Vu Van Luc, has alwaysdreamed about starting a strawberry farm since he was a student at the NationalEconomics University,” Phuong said.
After graduating in 2013, Luc went to Da Lat tolearn about strawberry farming.
Luc and two other friends were the first toinspire Phuong to start a strawberry farm.
After learning about the farm tour model as wellas farming techniques, Phuong said they decided to bring the fruit to hisnorthern province of Son La as the weather there is similar to Da Lat.
“But it was not easy. Most of the 4,000 sq.m ofstrawberries that Luc planted in Son La’s Moc Chau Plateau in 2014 died,” Phuongsaid, forcing them to improve their technique and soil so the plants couldadapt better in the northern province.
In 2015, Luc opened Chimi Farm covering onehectare in Ban Ang hamlet, Dong Sang commune, Moc Chau town. The farm wasexpanded to 6ha last year, offering both fruit and tourism services.
“Chimi Farm Hanoi is a branch of Chimi Farm MocChau, which was established to promote Chimi Farm’s strawberries, making the fruitmore accessible to consumers in Hanoi and neighbouring provinces,” Phuong said.
Many visitors to Chimi Farm Moc Chau asked ifthey could find a similar farm in Hanoi and we thought, “Why not?”
“Opening a strawberry farm in Hanoi was achallenge for us,” Phuong said, adding that they had to study the weather, soiland techniques to ensure the plants could adapt.
Winter and spring in Hanoi when the temperaturehit 14-28 degrees Celsius are good for strawberries. The plants produce fruitin hot weather. It takes about 2.5 -3 months for the fruit to grow, ripen andbe harvested. At Chimi farms, the strawberries are organic without any chemicalfertilisers.
Phuong said people preferred Chimi strawberriesbecause they understood organic farming and could pick the fruit themselves,“which seemingly adds taste to the fruit”.
Phuong said that they planned to expand the farmtourism model to Sa Pa and another farm in Hanoi.
"Among the city’s concrete jungle, chaotictraffic, crowded streets and domination of automatic technology devices, theavailability of farms and manual farm work bring people joy," Phuongsaid.-VNS/VNA
Trees used to celebrate the Tet (Lunar New Year)holiday such as the peach trees grown in Nhat Tan and kumquat trees grown in TuLien are said to be the best in town.
For over a decade, flower farms have been openfor visitors who want to enjoy the spectacle, take photos or just breathe thefresh air in the otherwise crowded city.
“That is the reason why we opened astrawberry farm at the heart of Nhat Tan flower village,” Nguyen An Phuong,sales manager at Chimi Farm Hanoi, said.
The 3,000 sq.m strawberry farm opened last Decemberand for the last few months, it has attracted young people and families lookingfor a new farming experience in the city.
The first crop of the temperate fruit grown byChimi Farm Hanoi is in the process of being harvested.
The farm supplies strawberries for stores andsupermarkets in the city, and they’re also available for visitors.
Phuong said that visitors can learn how to nursethe strawberry plants, pick fruit and make strawberry yogurt and other drinks. “Theycan enjoy the drinks at the cafe on the farm,” Phuong added.
“Taking photos is free of charge. You pay forthe fruit you pick and the drinks,” Phuong said.
It’s about 350,000 VND (15 USD) per kilo ofstrawberries picked at the farm.
The farm also offers young plants for 40,000 VNDwith instructions on how to tend to them.
Hoang Phuong Thao from Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem districtsaid her children really enjoyed the farm.
“They got excited about looking for ripe redstrawberries and picking them,” Thao said, adding that the kids burst intolaughter whenever they found an odd-shaped fruit or a worm under the leaves.
“The children and I had a good time at the farmas they got to play outdoors and get closer to nature,” Thao said.
She said they would visit the farm again becauseit was close to their house.
Phuong said the excitement had sparked an ideaabout farming tourism.
He said he had travelled a lot with friends and enjoyed great experiencesduring trips across Vietnam, one of the best of which was picking strawberriesat farms in the Central Highland city of Da Lat.
“A friend of mine, Vu Van Luc, has alwaysdreamed about starting a strawberry farm since he was a student at the NationalEconomics University,” Phuong said.
After graduating in 2013, Luc went to Da Lat tolearn about strawberry farming.
Luc and two other friends were the first toinspire Phuong to start a strawberry farm.
After learning about the farm tour model as wellas farming techniques, Phuong said they decided to bring the fruit to hisnorthern province of Son La as the weather there is similar to Da Lat.
“But it was not easy. Most of the 4,000 sq.m ofstrawberries that Luc planted in Son La’s Moc Chau Plateau in 2014 died,” Phuongsaid, forcing them to improve their technique and soil so the plants couldadapt better in the northern province.
In 2015, Luc opened Chimi Farm covering onehectare in Ban Ang hamlet, Dong Sang commune, Moc Chau town. The farm wasexpanded to 6ha last year, offering both fruit and tourism services.
“Chimi Farm Hanoi is a branch of Chimi Farm MocChau, which was established to promote Chimi Farm’s strawberries, making the fruitmore accessible to consumers in Hanoi and neighbouring provinces,” Phuong said.
Many visitors to Chimi Farm Moc Chau asked ifthey could find a similar farm in Hanoi and we thought, “Why not?”
“Opening a strawberry farm in Hanoi was achallenge for us,” Phuong said, adding that they had to study the weather, soiland techniques to ensure the plants could adapt.
Winter and spring in Hanoi when the temperaturehit 14-28 degrees Celsius are good for strawberries. The plants produce fruitin hot weather. It takes about 2.5 -3 months for the fruit to grow, ripen andbe harvested. At Chimi farms, the strawberries are organic without any chemicalfertilisers.
Phuong said people preferred Chimi strawberriesbecause they understood organic farming and could pick the fruit themselves,“which seemingly adds taste to the fruit”.
Phuong said that they planned to expand the farmtourism model to Sa Pa and another farm in Hanoi.
"Among the city’s concrete jungle, chaotictraffic, crowded streets and domination of automatic technology devices, theavailability of farms and manual farm work bring people joy," Phuongsaid.-VNS/VNA
VNA
