Not forgetting the biodiversity that we find outdoors, in and near our edible gardens :) - Taken at Ground-Up Initiative
We have positions open for research interns with a background in either a social science or science degree, AND a strong interest and motivation to question, pursue, and find new approaches with an interdisciplinary approach. As a team, we blend theory and practice to address global and local questions around climate, ecology, environment, and social injustice, especially as it relates to asking how ecological degradation occurs, and what methods we have as interconnected societies to create the necessary social environments for socio-ecological renewal.
As an intern, you will assist the Soil Regeneration Project with its 2-year Collaborative Research Project with the National Parks Board, be part of shaping its community-led action research methodology, and help to build a set of key resources for use by the wider networks that the Soil Regeneration Project is part of.
Action research is a well-established and continually shaping methodology first emerging through the contradictions of development work and anthropology. Research undertaken in one place, led by “experts”, to create value not in the area being researched but in the home of the funding country, was criticised. Action research evolved out of that to specify an iterative cycle of theory and praxis: reflection, action, reflection and action.
The Soil Regeneration Project is our attempt at piloting a form of community-led action research work: one that specifies research that builds bottom-up and horizontal forms of organising, undertaken and led by communities working for their own benefit. This grounds theory and praxis in the vocabulary and practices of people, not institutions.
What would you learn with us?
Your duties may include, and are not limited to:
1. Reading and synthesising materials shared by the team
3. Content creation for social media posts based on existing resources (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn)
4. Independent research and presentation of findings to the team or in an organised session
5. Potentially drafting and writing about their readings for a publication platform
More information about this will be shared during an interview.
Time and period of commitment: Part-time Intern
Minimum 1 month, 2-3 months preferable
Approximately 10 hours a week, flexible working arrangement.
Mostly remote work and team meetings once a week or as needed.
We have a small stipend to offer for this role.
Rolling applications!
Next start date: November / December
Apply if
You are motivated to see how action research can be used in working with diverse communities to create tools and languages that allow communities to be heard on their own terms
You want to translate the latest work, methods, and knowledge being generated in scientific and practitioner communities working with soil, for growers and gardeners based in Singapore and the region
You want to find and work with a small group of individuals to create a space for engaged, reflective praxis, that has a material and energetic impact on knowledge co-creation
About the Soil Regeneration Project:
The Soil Regeneration Project is shaping a community-led action research methodology, that focuses on bringing state-of-the-art understandings of urban transformation and agrarian change, with practical and critical action, to join theory and practice. It is part of the Foodscape Collective network and broader communities of individuals thinking about and working with land, media, community, and digital infrastructure to shape inclusive and circular food systems in Singapore and beyond. The Soil Regeneration Project team works flexibly to link individual roles in the team with ongoing work in partner organizations, with the opportunity to connect approaches and outputs across our platforms.
@soilregenerationproject
@foodscapepages
This role has a rolling application deadline. Statements of interest can be sent, together with a resume, to soilproject.asia@gmail.com and huiying.n@gmail.com with the Subject heading “Soil Regeneration Project: Research Intern”
The Soil Regeneration Project/Spores team is seeking a passionate curriculum writer and designer (CD) to join our team.
At the Soil Regeneration Project (https://soilregenerationproject.com/), we believe in the centrality of soil in biological as well as social systems and are dedicated to bringing this to light in academic, social and economic spaces. Within educational spaces, we aim to highlight the position of soil in climate change, ecology and sustainability conversations. One of the ways we are working towards shifting the current narrative towards the importance of soil is through our Soil Curriculum, a series of 10 lessons we have designed that consists of engaging activities and self reflective debrief discussions to reorient ourselves in relation to soil.
We are in the fortunate position of piloting these 10 lessons with partners so that we may collect feedback and work towards refining the curriculum. To enable this, we are looking for a curriculum designer to join our team who will drive and advise us through this process by collating feedback from the pilot runs, rewriting lesson plans and other curricula related documents to present to educational institutions and the Ministry of Education.
Requirements:
An individual who has experience and is familiar with curriculum development in the Ministry of Education;
Trained in curriculum design with experience in writing curricula for MoE accredited schools and/or other educational institutions in Singapore;
An innovative changemaker keen to be a part of how educational systems can evolve;
Passionate about education and ecology;
Keen to work in an inclusive and collaborative working environment with a diverse team.
Details:
Estimated time commitment of 4 hours/week with possible increase to 6 hours per week for a few weeks following each run of the curriculum pilots (a total of 3 runs) as we process and incorporate the feedback into the curriculum. This will be broken down into a modular 3-session programme. The timeline is as follows:
First run: November and December 2021, preparation begins August 2021
Second run: January to May 2022
Third run: June to December 2022
Individual will be remunerated for their services
Opportunity to work with a team of individuals dedicated towards creating a shift in educational thinking
A current or historical connection to Singapore’s food system, water bodies or soils in the form of professional work or personal relation is considered a plus but not a requisite for applicants
Much like the soils beneath our feet, we hope to mirror the diverse and inclusive characteristics of soil systems. With this in mind, we seek to cultivate a professional ethos as well as grow our team to compose a plurality of views, experiences and walks of life
Those interested can email aditipunjsood@gmail.com and soileducation.asia@gmail.com with a resume detailing your curriculum designing experience as well as a paragraph sharing why you are keen to be a part of this work.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Our curriculum pilot is made possible as awardees of the SG Eco Fund, under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore.
The story of soil is a complex, intriguing one. Our project draws to us people, resources, and opportunities to uncover more facets of its nature. So we’ve decided to start collecting notes about things that surprise us here – notes on soil. Here we post new facets of our world’s soil body when the inspiration strikes us (sometimes literally~).
Oftentimes, when we talk about making soil, soil scientists point out that soil takes a long time to form. Yet as Dr Christine Jones mentions, in an interview, the building of topsoil versus the weathering of rock are two different phenomena, and human activity changes the speed at which they occur.
“the flow of liquid carbon to soil is the primary pathway by which new topsoil is formed“
Read about her work – and Amazing Carbon, here., or read extracts of her work below.
Besides the fun of trying something new, and photo ops, we found a very clear indication of how fun soil chromatography can be:
Magic the black cat sniffing soil, Dec 2018.
Although we only had 5 good chromatograms out of the set of soil samples we tested, this process revealed several things:
fun
accessibility
colours!
ease of participation at different steps of the process
darkroom construction does take some work
soil qualities beyond the quantitative, chemical analysis
Our 5 samples at the end of the 2 days of work.
In this short article, we’ll take you through the steps (which we’ve documented in full here) so you can do your own soil chromatogram activity!
We give thanks to Europe-based HUMUSapiens, for their open wiki and inspiration across the world.
First of all, why make chromatograms with soil?
Soil chromatography was developed and introduced by Lilo Kolisko (visit the webpage! Highly recommended for a view to a woman scientist’s life and thinking in the early 20th Century), a woman scientist – who studied with the biodynamic thinker, Rudolf Steiner, in Germany.
Since then, it’s been played with as a mixture of artscience: by hackers, experimenting with non-traditional science, and by scientists and foresters: check out this resource from the University of Western Australia.
The chromatogram’s main strengths are what it doesn’t do: capture and quantify soil’s chemical properties into a number. What it does do, is transfer its properties onto a medium (filter paper) that allows the human eye to witness direct patterns emerging from the flow of chemical and other properties within the soil’s living system. In this, biodynamics considers qualities within each living organism. There are other words for this in other indigenous wisdoms (of which biodynamics is … really not). (In Singapore, we may hear of chi, prana, or semangat–different ways of looking at energy, within systems of holistic health and embodied vitality. The performance artist nor has a beautiful piece titled “Semangat in practice”, in Making Kin, published 2022 by Ethos Books.)
Left: A4, soil not dried, no plant matter. Right: A3: dried, no plant matter.
Chromatograms allow a human eye not accustomed to working with soil’s ecology, to see how soil is living and complex, to be understood qualitatively and viscerally and not only quantitatively or morphologically, as a vibrant, living matter.
Although we did want to understand how soils in two locations appeared, part of the process (which we didn’t do perfectly!) was also to see how this transformation of qualities occurs.
In the lab, chemical analysis these days is measured to a chemical standard; from there, a list of quantities of which chemical compound is generated.
When well done, chromatograms reveal not only proportions, but also vitality: jagged edges and sharp notches. Ours are just beginners in training. HUMUSapiens in Europe has much more on soil with their soil camps.
Left: B1: not dried, without plant matter; Right: B3: dried soil without plant matter.
Although these resources exist, it was hard finding a simple workflow for non-hacker culture participants. So we made one ourselves (after our series of mini-success (chromatogram blooms!) and mini-missteps (questionable labelling, and AgNO3 blots on Huiying’s hands).
Made by the soil team, Dec 2018
Select soil samples
First, find the spots you’d like. You can select any spots! Or consider comparing spots based on shade/non-shade, where you guess some soil may be doing better because you’ve added some compost, etc.
Collecting samples can be done by different hands.
Prepare soil solution
Mix soil with 5 times the amount of base solution. Some guides recommend 0.1% sodium nitrate solution. We used baking soda which is more easily available, adding in molar excess (until no more baking soda dissolves.)
Leave soil solution to sit for at least 12 hours (Zuazagoitia & Villarroel, 2015)
Guides said you had to dry the soil first… but we wanted to see what undried soil would show up as. So we compared 2 sites, with 2 conditions: dried and non-dried. The additional bottles are just additional controls – we didn’t go on to develop chromatograms for them (we must have run out of either filter paper or time).
Prepare darkroom
Includes Red lights, tweezers, weighing scale, glass bottle for silver nitrate solution (1 per filter paper is best, or 5 if you are doing 10 sets for e.g.), filter paper fitted with wick, box for drying filter paper that ensures no light enters during the day
Prepare filter paper with silver nitrate solution
NOT the right way to measure out AgNo3 (should be done in a darkroom!)
This has to be done in a darkroom, with gloves. Always use gloves while handling silver nitrate solution. As a solution, silver nitrate stains hands permanently. While it eventually comes off as your skin renews itself and sheds, it forms jet black stains as silver oxidises under sunlight. It can be removed with strong toxic chemicals (e.g. some form of cyanide) but we recommend leaving it be until it comes off.
Measure out enough silver nitrate to make a 0.5% silver nitrate solution. E.g. 0.5g to 100ml of water.
[Optional] Mark out filter paper to be prepared in order of preparation. E.g. FP 1, FP 2, FP 3 or any other coding system that suits you. This is an additional step to track the consistency of the silver nitrate application.
Place the filter paper with wick to the solution. Let the silver nitrate seep into paper a radius of 4cm. This takes approx. 20 minutes per filter paper, depending on the quality of the paper.
Let filter paper dry overnight (still in darkroom conditions) or 2 nights during rainy season.
Wick soil solution onto prepared filter paper
On prepared, now dry filter paper, add a new wick.
Add 1 filter paper per soil solution. Each filter paper takes approx 15-20 minutes.
[Observation step] Observe the changes on the paper as the solution is wicked up: does solution begin showing up? How fast does the solution take to be wicked up? Do this if your paper quality is not consistent or to catch light leakage in the darkroom.
So that’s it! We plan to do this again, sometime, in a different site…. when that will be will appear 🙂
Read/download the full step by step instructions here:
Written by Huiying.
Also as a testament to how qualitative and aesthetic understandings of ecology are seen today: you might like this passage from The Moon and Madness, written in 2011. Today we’ve moved a bit further on from the idea that moon cycles are completely separated from our human and ecological cycles of life and death. 🙂
We have shared news of Walter Friedrich Hahn’s work in Palawan Island, the Philippines in an earlier post.
In the past months, Palawan too has been caught in the Super Typhoon Rai, or Typhoon Odette as it is known locally. News reports that emerged in December across the New York Times, Reuters, and other news outlets have trickled away as media outlets switched attention to other world news.
NY Times’ report of Super Typhoon Rai to hit the Philippines with first landfall on 16 December. The storm would proceed in waves for the second half of December.
The United Nations issues a video conference around areas affected by Typhoon Odette, as it’s known in the Philippines.
Walter has issued a few newsletter updates in the intervening months, describing the work of the farm in providing Emergency Pedagogy to affected communities.
Within the framework of, or on the fringes of, emergency pedagogy, there are always opportunities to remedy the situation where someone has been overlooked or neglected in the aid measures of the government or other organizations. Overall, the aid measures are well organized on the basis of the political communities, but it still happens more often than you might think that someone needs extra donations, the further you get into the mountains and off the roads, the more so. Or in the case of the community of Bucana, which was completely drenched in mud and whose residents endured the fear of death because of the opening of the dam: this community is not in the recognized damage area of the typhoon and therefore no help can be expected from the government, the church or international agencies . Here we are on our own with our resources, all measures carried out are financed by us alone. In other places it could be a food subsidy, repairing a roof or helping to rebuild an entire house. Whenever possible, we make sure that the means for self-help are given and, in the best case, that know-how can be imparted through working together.
from the newsletter
Business-as-usual disaster relief
Disaster relief is often couched in terms of humanitarian aid. The United Nations and its subsidiary institutions that have grown with it – UNDP, UNICEF, UNEP, are responsible for this discourse. While humanitarian aid speaks the language of human rights, and is influenced by it, it sits within and legitimises a larger structure of lending. The World Bank is the implementing arm of the International Monetary Fund’s financial structures, and continues to make loans, a big chunk through its Agricultural Developmental Programmes through the 1970s-1980s.
From the World Bank’s visualisation of IBRD Statement of Loans by Country, updated February 15 2022. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans are public and publicly guaranteed debt extended by the World Bank Group. IBRD loans are made to, or guaranteed by, countries that are members of IBRD. IBRD may also make loans to IFC. IBRD lends at market rates. Data are in U.S. dollars calculated using historical rates. This dataset contains the latest available snapshot of the Statement of Loans. Explore the data.
And yes, there’s history here! Where African countries resisted, countries like Chile, Brazil, Ecuador in Latin America; and Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia in Southeast Asia signed on to these programmes in the 1970s and 1980s.
Today, the idea of lending is tied to the idea of “poor” countries needing more capital to “develop”. Yet these structures were set in place by specific, intentional mechanisms in the 1970s, after the US pulled out of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1974, in order to deal with its domestic economy’s overproduction problem.
The solution? It set off a period of free-floating currencies, and the IMF created Structural Adjustment Programmes that included a portfolio of lending. The first of these countries to receive loans, Ethopia, realised quickly how the demands that came with these loans replicated their earlier experiences with colonial powers: right down to the level of how households should manage their monies.
Today, the Philippines is #9 of countries in the world with the highest loans from the World Bank at 27 billion USD in loans. Its total debt at the end of September 2021 was 230 billion USD. Like other national governments that continue to work with debt, the Duterte government has been described as “not afraid of debt” (The Diplomat), focusing on spending its way of it.
A different kind of relief is needed
World Bank loan-based relief – much of which is meant to go directly into humanitarian aid organisations that suck up any loans – creates the “frame” and “solution” to disaster.
None of these programmes are suited to meet the needs of people in the Philippines and other countries, who have watched their economies and cultures devastated by repeated colonisation.
Walter’s biodynamic work in Palawan goes some way towards this, while providing practical aid and emotional trauma relief. Trauma is a big topic, and the way it intersects especially with Global South economies, will be an immensely important part of long-term regeneration of local cultural institutions and lives.
Likewise, there are always opportunities to convey basic concepts of nutrition, medicine, education or agriculture as part of or on the fringes of emergency pedagogical assignments. While the emergency rations of other contributors contain almost exclusively instant noodles with flavor enhancers and white rice, we make sure that we bring whole rice and fresh vegetables and herbs with us, a small part of which can be harvested on our land. Grace teaches how the plants in the area can be meaningfully integrated into healing processes and shows the great effect that compresses and footbaths can have. And with relatively little effort in speaking, concepts such as the open-ended toy can be understood because they become visible during our operations.
At the same time, follow-up projects from these assignments are in the air, be it in education, agriculture or the development of sensible, ecologically justifiable small businesses. The sources of income have been largely destroyed and it takes 15 years for a coconut palm or a cashew tree to grow back to full harvest. Every third house in the country already has a Sari Sari Store (a store with some „basic“ needs), but you won’t be able to survive on trade alone. And for now, hundreds of thousands of people are being fed via feeding programmes. In order to secure life in the long term, sustainable sources of income must be developed.
…
Pictures are from an emergency educational mission Walter and Grace carried out in January 2022.
Biodynamics in Palawan? Moving beyond black/white categories
At this point, though, I also want to highlight: the use of biodynamic agriculture may seem out of place in Palawan. And yet, how can different groups of practitioners come to develop new structures together, with humility and openness to change, to work together to build egalitarian relationships?
While I wholeheartedly support the food vision, I also think any idea of seeing local people as “childlike”, or some people as more childlike than others, draws on ideas of a hierarchy of human maturation that have been more destructive than supportive. Yet, if we work beyond black/white understandings of goodness/badness, we may come to see beyond the words (translated across a few languages), to how people engage with one another.
To engage more fully with the trauma, healing, and support structures needed in the next decade, including practices to defuse eco-fascism: Heather Luna has an excellent set of workshops, and runs trainings and consultations, at her company Keduzi.
Walter Siegfried Hahn and Grace Zozobrado Hahn share more about emergency pedagogy in their newsletter, and you can learn more about their work at https://koberwitz1924.com.
For orientation on what happens with the donations: an emergency pedagogical intervention costs around 1,000 to 2,000 euros – depending on whether other sponsors contribute to the costs, a complete house 500 to 1,000 euros, a roof or minor damage 100 to 200 euros. We still have plenty of seeds from our own production and otherwise we shall work together with other seed initiatives in the north of the country. We also have 80 water filters worth 20 euros from previous initiatives in stock – if we have to buy more, we have to reckon with 30 to 40 euros each, with which a large family can easily be supplied with drinking water.
If you would like to support their work, they do receive donations, which can be transferred to the following accounts:
Directly to the Philippines via wise.com. Account Name Koberwitz 1924 Inc. Account Number 130-3-13024518-9 with Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa City, BIC (Swift) MBTCPHMMXXX Here, it is necessary to state the postal code 5300, my e-mail address waltersiegfriedhahn@gmx.de and that the addressee is a charity / non-profit company.
If you are in Europe:
Germany: Future Foundation Development at GLS-Treuhand e.V., GLS Gemeinbank eG Bochum IBAN: DE05 430 609 67 0012 33 00 10, BIC: GENODEM1GLS Intended use: Koberwitz-Palawan
Soil is completely black, plants not doing so well. Worms don’t move around, they just gather in the worm bin.
Are they overfed there? Not really…
Might be an environment issue instead – not enough sun
If we grow fruiting vegetables, they may not do as well compared to asystasia, sweet potato, kang kong, ginger.
The garden also has white ginger flowers – grown for the fragrant smell.
Irene hasn’t been so responsive on the chat, so Megan has been conversing with Doris more
They have a vermicomposting thing going.
Hougang
Not active since June, as there was a complaint from a resident which escalated. Madam Zhang who was involved in the garden, was made to step down as Chairman. A resident had complained against practices in the garden which she was directly involved in. Vivian and Hanjing approached Jacqueline from NParks, who went to negotiate with garden manager.
Original test bed was very clayey. This was dug up, but not done in time, so it became a pond with fishes. It had to be removed; the soil was removed, and Jacqueline brought clay soil to fill up the plot with a hugelkulture method. The RC wanted them to dig this up and cover it with soil, but Jacqueline managed to convince them to use a hugelkulture method. They then had to do a cool off period – no one was allowed to go except for the RC chairman.
But this is a good thing too – the soil can rest and break down. After Heightened Alert, we could continue.
Rectangular plot was removed (mulch was removed), and compost was poured into soil.
Gonna stick with garden as garden members are active.
Madam Zhang had had a big operation, so been telling her to rest. She is also passionate, so she also wanted to do things, but had to tell her to rest, and not overstretch herself (and her post-operation stitches) and others around her.
Some lessons: soil regeneration in SG is unique: Need to take one approach and slowly ease into it. Community gardens do get shut down when residents who don’t understand something well enough make a complaint.
Garden originally wasn’t cemented, then it was, and this created an overflow of water on the vertical side. It was not designed with a garden in mind. It made gardening so much more difficult, and when gardening is difficult, there is more collision in ideas, and sometimes the garden just closes down because of this.
Cemented gardens
Bring additional problems, such as algae, which operations managers resort to removing with high-pressure waterjets.
Oi Lian shares that she was very sad to hear about the old rain trees cemented over in Margaret Drive. Tree roots are severely impacted when paved over with cement, even if they reach into the ground. We urge BCA to consider working with the National Parks Board to merge complementary technical and best practice recommendations, so our construction and built environment industry can help to grow a healthy ecosystem of urban trees, plants, soil and water for the next 55 years and more.
Tldr:
when we try to solve a problem with just one view,
it creates more problems.
This is why we need:
Contextual, lived experiences to speak to, and be heard by policy and current practices
Changing one garden at a time, one gardener and one resident at a time.
Just continue what we’re doing, there is a reason we are doing this, and we’ll try our very best to reach as far as we can go!
NParks has to deal with the bureaucratic stuff, but at the core of it, they do see the value of it
Continue to do the fieldwork, and mark your fieldwork hours!
Our design principles are woven into the soil project, and value systems too.
Here we introduce our first completed designs, something we’re very proud of, that embodies what we consider a living culture for the project.
We also take some time to find out about the person behind the designs.
Interconnection, community, and the cycle of knowledge (re)generation are values we work towards. We believe they are needed more than ever today, to rebuild what we have of already-broken agriculture and food systems, and divert the flow of energy and resources from industrial food systems, towards ones that can support microsolidarity networks, decolonial food cultures, and place-based communities that support their farmers.
Working on the illustrations and logo for the project was a unique experience, one that slowly took shape over time, just like the project itself. I took the important values about the project and used that to direct the decisions I made throughout the design process for the illustrations and logo.
Wei Yang, concept artist
Transitions aren’t always easy, but they are also joyful. Work, done well and hard won, with others, teaches us fulfillment and lessons that make us all better people.
These designs were conceptualised and made in collaboration with Ng Wei Yang. Find out more about his work and ongoing projects at www.ngweiyang.com/.
Wei Yang is a concept artist and illustrator based in Singapore. He graduated from the Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2017 and subsequently from FZD School of Design in 2020. His journey in art and design started from a couple of design courses in university, which eventually led him to pursue concept art. Wei Yang’s interest in both real-life and imaginary environments drive him to create environment concept art and illustrations. Outside of work, he enjoys taking pictures and travelling.
Living a self-sustainable way in a Japanese zen monastery for 3 years, organically farming up to 4 types of rice and more than 20 types of vegetables – Ee Peng comes back to Singapore in 2015 and continues to farm in urban spaces. She has been actively transforming an industrial space in Seletar Aerospace into farming areas with regenerative farming practices.
What plants do you grow in the area?
Pumpkin, Roselle, Okra, Eggplant, Purple Chilli, Sweet potato leaves, Kangkong, Fame Flower, Ceylon Spinach, Mustard Greens, Pak Choi.. With other herbs
Do you grow on a raised bed or directly in the soil?
Combination of the two
Roughly how large is your site?
About 1600sqm – courtyard area (800 m2); carpark (300 m2); production area (500 m2)
What are the microclimate conditions over time? (how sunny or shady, for how long? How wet and windy is the spot?)
A variety of conditions from full shade to full sun. Windy in all spots.
What practices do you use with the soil?
Hugelculture. Using pruned tree branches as bottom layer of raised beds, green materials as second layer (uncooked food waste + Coffee grounds), third layer with garden prunings and then last layer with unconditioned clayey soil from original site.
Is there anything else about your site that is worth noting?
Materials from nursery are brought in for most plots only in the initial stages of growing. While some beds were started without compost or topsoil, only the soil originally in ground.
sunn hemp, pigeon pea, roselle, okra, sweet potato leaf, peanut, grape tomato, purslane, chilli, fame flower, malabar spinach, lemon grass, mani cai, mugwort, joyweed, Indian borage, brinjal, radish, turmeric, ulam raja, basil, balloon vine, lime tree, cranberry hibiscus, perilla, kang kong, mint, tarragon, moringa, okinawa spinach, aloe vera, tapioca, green chiretta, black face general, curry leaf, laksa leaf, mulberry, kale, Brazilian spinach, long bean, cotton
Do you grow on a raised bed or directly in the soil?
Combination of the two
Roughly how large is your site?
120 sqm
What are the microclimate conditions over time? (how sunny or shady, for how long? How wet and windy is the spot?)
It’s an open area without cover. Most of the area has direct sunlight, about 10% of the area is under tree shade.
What practices do you use with the soil?
The planting beds were initially created with a mixture of clay and compost providee by NParks. Throughout the time, we bury kitchen waste, fruit peels, compost, leaves from pigeon pea and sunn hemp in the soil regularly. We also created a hugelkultur bed where we buried decomposing logs inside.
Is there anything else about your site that is worth noting?
As it’s located in a park and not fenced up, it’s accessible to the public
The lively pond area at MGS, in a regenerative food garden.
An aerial shot of MGS garden. The garden attracts biodiversity and sequesters carbon.
The garden space in Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) was badly damaged a few years ago when their sports complex was built near to it. Construction debris such as broken bricks and rocks was buried in the garden under a thin layer of landscape soil, on which grass was later planted.
Before growing any crops, my friends and I had to remove as much construction debris from the soil as possible. We also added purchased soil and purchased compost to quickly amend the soil for growing. We used about 3 tons of purchased soil and 600 kg of compost to create the grow areas. We won’t need to buy anymore soil or compost because we are now creating our own soil and compost in the garden using food scraps from the canteen stalls, garden waste, grass clippings and fallen leaves.
The pond in the garden was poorly managed. There was only one species of fish – tilapia. The filtration system was not functioning properly. The water didn’t smell nice and there were string algae floating around. The school management was already planning to give up the pond and fill it up with soil to grow grass. I asked the them to let me try to revive the pond. Luckily, they agreed. Instead of using their artificial filtration system, I planted a diversity of aquatic plants and introduced more than 20 species of fishes. The ecosystem created is working well and the water is clear now. I have recorded 23 species of dragonflies visiting the pond. A few species are breeding in the pond. I can see their exuviae sometimes.
Today, the garden is producing food for both people and animals and is also providing ecological services. Teachers and students come to the garden not only to admire it but also to make observations on ecology. It is now a living classroom for students to learn about food and nature.
What plants do you grow in the area?
Edibles and ornamentals, annuals and perennials
Do you grow on a raised bed or directly in the soil?
Combination of the two
Roughly how large is your site?
About the size of a basketball court. 436 sqm
What are the microclimate conditions over time? (how sunny or shady, for how long? How wet and windy is the spot?)
A mixture of these
What practices do you use with the soil?
Mulching – the main practice.
Composting using soil in a shaded area.
Burying food scraps in soil in grow area.
Is there anything else about your site that is worth noting?
It is a regenerative food garden attracting biodiversity and sequestering carbon.
