There are five main activities at school’s rooftop farm and these are:
Composting
Focus on organic composting (to include egg shells, coffee powder) and vermin-culture. Here we reduce, reuse and recycle where possible from farm waste.
Soil Management
Basically using coco fibre, chicken dung, green compost, fruit enzyme (home-made using mainly pineapple, papaya and orange) and fish emulsion (made from fish guts and sugar).
Pest Management
Neem cake, Neem oil, pepper corn and homemade pesticides using garlic, cooking oil, blachan, chilli powder and lemon grass.
Buddy Vegetation
For attracting bees for pollination we have sunflowers and zinnias; for repellents we have garlic, onion, ku chye (chives) and various herbs (lemon basil, lemon balm, parsley, stevia, rosemary, oregano, eau de cologne mint, citronella and lemon grass.
Operations Management
Division of the farm into three main sections:
· Research and Development
· Commercial plot – harvests are sold.
· Experiments – and if successful then will transfer knowledge to commercial plot with the exception of rice planting.
To give an example, our volunteers did an in-depth study of growing cherry tomatoes through research, together with learning journeys to farms for study. And with the assistance of students and contractor, we drew up a blue-print for a cherry tomato structure; build it together with a built-in irrigation system. The Research and Development team also looked into the various types of planting media for various species of cherry tomatoes. The project was then moved over to the Experiment team before putting it into the commercial plot.
The school’s Service Learning Club adopts the farm as part of their curriculum. They are involved in composting, soil management, pest management, weeding and harvesting. Starting with planting from seeds, these students have collected data for more than one cycle. Their knowledge and experience is then translated to assisting VIA (values-in-action) activities on the rooftop for the cohort of Sec1s and Sec2s as well as CCA groups. The rooftop farm gave our students several talking points for competitions – Chinese Language, Environment Green Footprint, Animation, Filming, etc. Various groups of students also had their lessons held at the farm or experiential learning.
Composting
Focus on organic composting (to include egg shells, coffee powder) and vermin-culture. Here we reduce, reuse and recycle where possible from farm waste.
Soil Management
Basically using coco fibre, chicken dung, green compost, fruit enzyme (home-made using mainly pineapple, papaya and orange) and fish emulsion (made from fish guts and sugar).
Pest Management
Neem cake, Neem oil, pepper corn and homemade pesticides using garlic, cooking oil, blachan, chilli powder and lemon grass.
Buddy Vegetation
For attracting bees for pollination we have sunflowers and zinnias; for repellents we have garlic, onion, ku chye (chives) and various herbs (lemon basil, lemon balm, parsley, stevia, rosemary, oregano, eau de cologne mint, citronella and lemon grass.
Operations Management
Division of the farm into three main sections:
· Research and Development
· Commercial plot – harvests are sold.
· Experiments – and if successful then will transfer knowledge to commercial plot with the exception of rice planting.
To give an example, our volunteers did an in-depth study of growing cherry tomatoes through research, together with learning journeys to farms for study. And with the assistance of students and contractor, we drew up a blue-print for a cherry tomato structure; build it together with a built-in irrigation system. The Research and Development team also looked into the various types of planting media for various species of cherry tomatoes. The project was then moved over to the Experiment team before putting it into the commercial plot.
The school’s Service Learning Club adopts the farm as part of their curriculum. They are involved in composting, soil management, pest management, weeding and harvesting. Starting with planting from seeds, these students have collected data for more than one cycle. Their knowledge and experience is then translated to assisting VIA (values-in-action) activities on the rooftop for the cohort of Sec1s and Sec2s as well as CCA groups. The rooftop farm gave our students several talking points for competitions – Chinese Language, Environment Green Footprint, Animation, Filming, etc. Various groups of students also had their lessons held at the farm or experiential learning.