The $19.9 Mystery
Many friends have asked me: Are you sure that people who enter the park with a $19.9 ticket are only tasting? You weren't following them, so how do you know if they ate all they wanted? You don't know how much they ate with $19.9, plus the waste, you've lost a fortune.
Initially, we launched the $60 all-you-can-eat ticket, and we really didn't consider those who couldn't handle the sour taste, or whose stomachs or teeth weren't accustomed to it. As super fans of bayberries, we thought about how satisfying it would be for everyone to eat bayberries to their heart's content for 2 hours, something they'd craved for so many years.
As we received feedback from group members, we realized that some friends (including children) wanted to eat, but genuinely couldn't eat that much, so the $60 all-you-can-eat ticket truly wasn't cost-effective. We also reflected on our own oversight. Therefore, the $19.9 tasting ticket was born, which led to the questions from friends at the beginning.
I remember I often go shopping at Coles and WWs. Sometimes I would buy things at Coles and then go to WWs. One day, I found my shopping cart full of Coles items, with the WWs items placed on top where I usually put my bag. I knew which items were bought from which supermarket, but the staff didn't, and they never stopped us to check every single item!
I suddenly realized that this is the trust between people in this society. Society is using this method to tell us: everyone must do their part. Parents taking their children shopping is the best example and teaching method to educate children about honesty. No matter how many cameras there are, they cannot control people's hearts; bad things will still happen where there are no cameras. How wonderful it would be if everyone managed themselves well.
I remember on the afternoon of the second day of opening, a family bought 6 tasting tickets: parents, a maternal grandmother, a paternal grandmother, and two children. Occasionally, when I passed by the orchard, I heard the grandmother (either maternal or paternal) telling the child: "Baby, don't pick that one, it's not ripe. I'll pick a ripe one for you. That one can grow a bit more; wait until it's ripe to eat it." No one wasted anything just because our staff wasn't present. I was very touched at the time; everyone cherished the fruits of our labor.
There was also a "dashing" young man who came alone and bought a $60 all-you-can-eat ticket. Why do I say he was "dashing"? Because when he arrived, I asked him: "Do you need a basket to take some with you?" The young man waved his hand and said: "No, thank you." More than an hour later, I saw the young man again; he was still empty-handed but smiling. George asked: "Young man, how was it?" He laughed and said: "My belly is full of bayberry juice!" Hahaha, everyone burst into laughter.
One friend in the group asked: "Boss, we want to pick up, but can we just take the kids in to pick 3 bayberries? We adults don't want to pick, just to let the kids experience it. I promise we won't eat a single one, and we'll pay for all three that are picked." I was touched by this friend's sincerity and kindness. As a mother, I empathize with wanting children born here to understand and learn about plants from their hometown. Many friends who came for pickup, we invited them to see the bayberry orchard and pick one from the tree to taste, but they all waved their hands and said: "No, no, I'm buying them, no need."
We believe that trees also have life. We treat our bayberry trees as living beings. When we work in the orchard, we always play music for them. When we first bought the farm, these trees seemed to have been abandoned for several years; they were so dense there was no space, the branches looked like they hadn't been pruned in years, and the ground was covered with thick fallen leaves, preventing rain from nourishing the soil. There were also many diseased and injured trees. Our farm manager Aysen is always very careful and meticulous when pruning branches. He joked, "If I over-prune or cut them wrong, they'll get angry and won't bear fruit!" This made me laugh heartily.
I hope our farm can bring positive energy, sincerity, and trust to everyone, and that everyone is happy and relaxed on the farm. We always hear various reports now: wars breaking out here, unrest there, panic events happening elsewhere... Everyone feels a lot of hostility, and we hope our small farm can be a pure land.
