3月份見識之旅活動，於2019年3月16日由呂明澐小姐帶領24位祐生見習生及家長們，進行苗栗舊鐵道風情暨有機食農教育之旅。出發當日天氣晴朗，見習生們及其家長皆準時集合並出發。活動開始之初，領隊呂明澐小姐提醒本次活動注意事項及觀察重點，先行建立見習生的背景知識。
For the study tour of March 16, 2019, Ms. Lu Ming-yun led 24 ARF interns and their parents on a tour of old railroad track and learned about organic food and farming in Miaoli. It was clear and sunny on the day of the tour, and the interns and their parents were on time for the departure. At the start of the day's activities, team leader Ms. Lu Ming-yun reminded everyone about things to note and what to observe, and provided the interns some general background knowledge.
上午行程以搭乘苗栗舊山線鐵道自行車為主軸，行程一開始，由解說員搭配影片播放，說明乘車安全規範以及駕駛原則等事項，講解完畢，即搭乘鐵道自行車。沿途經過龍騰斷橋、魚藤坪鐵橋，直至終點站鯉魚潭水庫再原路返回，眾人得以從不同角度欣賞早期鐵道工藝與山城之美。乘車體驗結束後，回到龍騰斷橋進行解說，由當地發展協會總幹事陳中和先生擔任導覽老師。他首先介紹苗栗是全國唯一獲得國際雙慢城認證的縣市，近期透過舊山線鐵道自行車之運行，幫助民眾加深對三義鐵道文化的印象。
The morning's itinerary began with a ride on Miaoli's old mountain line rail bike. After a video explanation of the safety precautions and steering guidelines, everyone cycled to and back from Liyutan Dam, passing Longteng Bridge and Yutengping Iron Railway Bridge, and enjoyed beautiful scenery of the mountain town and appreciated the craftsmanship of early railway from different angles. Back at Longteng Bridge after the ride, chief executive of the local development association, Mr. Chen Chunghe, introduced Miaoli as the only county city in Taiwan with two international "slow city" certifications. Recently, the operation of the old mountain line rail bike has helped the public deepen its impression of Sanyi railway culture.
接著導覽老師講述龍騰斷橋的歷史淵源與價值，因歷經關刀山大地震及921大地震侵襲，僅剩北端六座及南端四座橋墩，部分橋墩亦有受損，十分可惜。隨後步行至南斷橋，可見雀榕盤據於磚造橋墩的特殊景象，呈現人造建築與自然巧妙結合的樣貌，但雀榕氣生根牢牢盤繞，長期而言卻不利橋墩保存，如何維護與取捨，正是當下刻不容緩的議題。
The tour guide, Mr. Chen, also talked about the history and value of Longteng Bridge, which is left with only six abutments at the northern end and four abutments at the southern end, and some damaged abutments, after surviving the Shinchiku-Taichu earthquake in 1935 and Chichi earthquake in 1999. Walking to the south end of the bridge, everyone saw the unique scenery of a red fruit fig tree entwining the brick-built bridge, which is an ingenious combination of manmade structure and nature. However, the entwining roots are unfavorable for preservation of the abutments in the long term. Thus, the urgent issue is how to protect the bridge.
中午前往廻鄉有機生活農場享用有機蔬食餐。飯後，導覽人員帶領眾人至農場進行戶外導覽，說明該農場運用生態農法，以裸地栽種，不使用農藥、除草劑與化學肥料，主張種植具特殊氣味之植物來驅離害蟲，如草莓園中種蔥，也利用食物鏈的相互關係減少害蟲，如瓢蟲吃蚜蟲。此外，在野草管理方面，菜與草共生，若野草長得較高則須除草，除草不除根，避免強勢草種破壞農地生態平衡，割下的野草可作為土壤養分。農場亦另闢一處土地，種植花草及挖鑿生態池，提供昆蟲棲息地並降低周遭溫度。隨後來到紅蘿蔔園，體驗採摘樂趣，眾人將剛離土的紅蘿蔔，以清水沖洗後現吃，品嚐新鮮紅蘿蔔的味道。行程最後，進行手工豆腐DIY，從黃豆開始打漿、洗漿到製成豆腐，見習生皆是第一次接觸，成就感十足。至此，本日活動已近尾聲，大家一起合照留念後搭車返程，並期待於下次見識之旅再相見。
After an organic lunch at Huixiang Organic Farm, the tour guides brought everyone on a tour of the farm and explained that the farm practices ecological farming method. It does not use any pesticide, herbicide or chemical fertilizer, and advocates cultivating plants with unique scents to ward off pests, for example, planting spring onion in the strawberry field, and making use of feeding relationships in the food chain to reduce pests such as ladybugs eat aphids. To control weed, vegetables are grown together with weed plants. If weed plants grow too high, they are cut off without uprooting so as to prevent aggressive weed species from damaging the farmland's ecological balance, and the cut off weed plants are used as soil compost. The farm also has an area where flowering plants are grown and an ecological pond is dug out to provide habitat for insects and to lower the surrounding temperature. In the carrot field, everyone had fun harvesting and tasting freshly plucked and washed carrots. At the end of the tour, the interns tried their hands at DIY tofu for the first time, and felt truly accomplished after completing the pulping, washing and curd making. At this point, the day's itinerary came to an end. Everyone took a group photo before heading back and looked forward to the next study tour.
