On weekends, the group lawn is fully staffed with the members. While Pamintuan tends to her herb, Cedillo trims her papaya leaves for compost, and Chua picks bittergourds to create bittergourd and soy sauce.
The team holds workshops for both local residents and local hospital students. Once a year, they come together to keep a Farmers ‘ Market, selling their personal make, with money used for lawn maintenance.
A NEIGHBORHOOD Group WITHIN GARDENING
Asked if they have other popular interests besides agriculture, Ong quipped:” Makan”!
On some vacation, they’ll get together for a hearty meal after planting. Sometimes, they’ll make up, or have luncheon sessions in the garden. There will be baked bread paired with roselle jelly, made using roselle from the garden, roast meat, pasta with basil soup made with parsley from the backyard, and washed down with blue pea tea, from, yes, blue pea flowers from the garden.
Birthdays and colorful events, such as Chinese New Year and Christmas, are also celebrated up.
Our Kitchen Gardeners have even traveled to Gardens by the Bay to view the annual floral exhibits, visited gardens, conducted butterfly see studies, and swarmed the flower exhibits. They have also taken workshops at NParks ‘ Center for Urban Greenery and Ecology to improve their gardening abilities.
Chua recalls gathered in the courtyard one evening to witness a dragonfruit flower bloom. We were all very excited to see it because it was our first dragonfruit rose to rose, she said. At midnight, the plant thoroughly flower before turning wilted in the morning.
The five people also assist the residents in receiving rescued vegetables each week. These come from donors like the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre’s fruit suppliers, not the area backyard.