Over the weekend, I was fortunate to be allowed to participate in a bird watching session organised by the Nature Society (Singapore), and we stopped off at a kelong (fish farm) for a tour, and had our packed lunches there.
It was a lovely surprise to find their vegetable corner, along with bees, a butterfly, and they even have five Japanese bantam chickens. Here are some photos of vegetables growing on the kelong.
While I was away in Australia for my usual year end escape, my adoptive bees left their hive for good. I’m not really sure what had happened, but there was a mass exodus following a few incidents of hearing loud sounds from the hive. The day I returned, I opened the cardboard box to get a glimpse of 7 months of hive building.
Along with some magnificent combs, was a small amount of honey left, so I saved what I could into three jars – one for Thomas Lim of Edible Garden City/Plan Bee, who loaned me the hive, one for my family, and a spare one, which my brother took. Harvesting the honey was such a messy affair, it dripped everywhere, and my chickens enjoyed a taste too. It even attracted a passing bee. I couldn’t help wondering if it was from the same hive.
On 9 Jan, I’ll be speaking alongside Lucinda Law of Within and Charles Loh of Mossingarden at a talk titled Bringing Nature Indoors. This event is organised by NLB and jointly curated with Lucinda, who will also be moderating this session. More details below.
This talk is aimed at urban dwellers who seek for closer proximity to nature and ways to live harmoniously with nature in our everyday settings. Discover a ‘green’ storehouse of beautiful and inspiring ideas on how to beautify your favourite spaces with nature with Charles Loh (Mossingarden), Lucinda Law (Within) and Olivia Choong (The Tender Gardener). We will be discussing and looking at a number of plants, their cultural significance and where they might be placed in various spaces. The talk highlights key cultural issues that trigger our desire to live closer to nature as more of our time is increasingly spent on the digital space. The talk will also focus on the practicality aspect of bringing nature indoors – tips and advice on how to how to care for your plants are some of the key highlights provided at the talk. We’ll also be talking about how you can grow your own food while decorating a space. We look forward to sharing the latest ways of presenting nature indoors through various inspiring creative projects that will set the tone for 2016.
