Doing business in the mountains

In the past ten years, the story of going up to the mountains to do business in the Seven Mountains region has become an attractive topic. In addition to the local people, many people, because of their passion for the beautiful scenery and the atmosphere of the mountains, have chosen to try their hand at being mountain people. However, achieving "sweet fruit" is not easy, the process of attachment requires patience, sensitivity and costs a lot of money.

From Rach Gia ward, Ms. Tran Thi Anh Quyen followed her husband to Dai mountain to start a garden, almost 7 years ago. Calculating the cost to have the property today including a 5ha orchard on the mountain, homestay rooms... she also cannot estimate exactly. Step by step, she used the income from banana trees available in the forest to grow avocados, durians and now developed it into a destination for tourists from far away to experience "healing".

Visitors to the homestay resort. Photo: MY HANH

The attraction that made Ms. Quyen accept to return to the mountains to become a farmer, to be friends with trees every day is because of the fresh, cool and peaceful air of the mountains. This is also a favorite plus point that many tourists have responded to her when they come to experience. The homestay is built on the top, located in a convenient location, you can see the clear blue lake below the plain. In the remaining directions, looking far away, you can clearly see the majestic To and Cam mountains.

“On rainy days or early mornings, you can “hunt clouds” and watch the beautiful sunrise here. On cloudy days, the early morning sun is sparkling, the clouds are thick and fluffy, sitting and “chilling” drinking tea, having breakfast… feels like being recharged with energy. No wonder the owners here call it the Garden in the Clouds”, said Mr. Ngo Tuan, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City.

From the foot of the mountain to Ms. Quyen's garden is about 4km of road. Along the way this season, you can see gardens of long beans with hanging fruits, bananas, grapefruits, and herbs grown intercropped on the low floors. In August, Ms. Quyen's garden only has avocados - a famous specialty besides durian to welcome visitors up the mountain.

We asked: “After the avocado and durian season is over, what will visitors experience here?” She confidently replied: “There are also longan, jackfruit, grapefruit, dried banana, coconut, guava, and organically grown green vegetables. In addition, there are dishes prepared according to visitors’ needs such as grilled beef and grilled chicken. Some people wait for the fruit season to visit the garden, others simply look for a place to relax and regain balance after a busy and stressful working period.”

In the Cloud Garden, there are not only clouds to see, taking advantage of every space, Ms. Quyen arranges a sitting area for guests to relax, enjoy the wind and look at the plains from above. In addition to fruit trees, there are also ornamental plants, flowers, accessories... Production on the mountain is typically dependent on rainfall, so she rarely uses fertilizers or pesticides, but mainly lets the plants grow naturally in a clean and healthy direction.

This year, durians have been quite fruitful. Ms. Quyen has planted varieties such as Musaking, Thai, barn, Ri6. Although the selling price is high, it is accepted by customers and even in high demand. Thanks to the initiative in the irrigation water source, durians are harvested earlier than neighboring gardens around the mountain, and all are sold to tourists and passersby. Even tourists from Tien Giang , the durian growing capital, come to the garden to enjoy the taste of mountain durian.

When customers come to buy avocados at the garden, Mr. Duong Phuoc Hai (Ms. Quyen's husband) jokingly said: "Consider carefully, if you buy avocados here, you won't want to eat avocados from other places. Due to not having enough time to take care of them, the hundreds of wax avocado and 034 avocado trees don't have much yield." Yet each fruit is as big as an arm, some weigh up to 600 grams, with soft, fragrant yellow flesh. Every year when the season comes, customers ask to order them.

Ms. Quyen harvested bamboo shoots from the forest, pickled them and sold them to customers. She successfully dried bananas growing in the wild and has now been certified to meet 3-star OCOP standards. Every morning, workers go around the garden to find enough food to prepare dishes for guests. Not only elderly customers, but also young people like to come here, some of them register to stay for a week.

Making a living by welcoming tourists to visit the garden on the mountain, the number of tourists coming to her homestay is just enough, not too crowded, not noisy but continuous. Without exploiting to the maximum, she receives guests based on the criteria of harmonizing supply and demand, hoping to gradually switch to the form of welcoming guests to serve macrobiotic meals to limit the impact on the environment on the mountain. That is also the way she appreciates this land, with beautiful scenery, fresh nature, contributing to building a greener living environment.

MY HANH

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/lam-kinh-te-tren-nui-a425736.html