On 17 September 2022, wethefarm at Beauty World Centre and The Circle for Human Sustainability hosted 3 students from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) School of Design & Media (SDM) and 15 exchange students from Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University (BSRU), Thailand, to a rooftop urban farming experience.
The students enthusiastically helped with topping up of soil to some of the pots, and removal of spent butterfly pea vines in readiness for the next cycle of planting. Students also got to try their hand at setting up a hot composting station with mulch, cardboard and plant cuttings. They were also introduced to the earthworms in the vermicompost.
“It was so therapeutic!
I didn’t realise that time passed so quickly until it was time to leave!
It was really cool to see what Singapore’s efforts are towards sustainability,
especially at the community level.”
To end the session, we all gathered at the shelter to have some freshly made fruit juice while we held a Q&A, as the students had watched our talk on Natural Cycles prior to coming to this event. All in all, it was an interesting experience for a very diverse group as the 3 SDM students are pursuing Diplomas in Experiential Product & Interior Design, Motion Graphics Design and Animation & Visual Effects while their Thai counterparts come from many different faculties – Faculty of Management Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology, and even the College of Music.
“It was a really fun experience!
Learning more about how Singapore intends to further sustainability
is really inspiring to me as a 21st century designer!”
Special thanks go to Deputy Manager Grace Toh of NYP and Associate Professor Chalermsup Karanjakwut of BSRU for coordinating, managing and organizing the students, and Tan Jing Xiang and Nicholas Chin of wethefarm for sharing their knowledge and insight on how we can produce food in an urban environment using methods that are in harmony with Nature.
See photos of the event here.
If you would like to volunteer at wethefarm, check out our Events Calendar for available dates.
Written by Ar. Catherine Loke
on behalf of the
Resilience Working Group
