Self-reliance for urbanites in the heart of BKK On the 30th of June, we visited Grandpa Urban Farm in the heart of Bangkok. What solutions are available for urbanites? How can people in the heart of big metropoles like Bangkok acquire more autonomy and resilience? Grandpa Urban Farm bring some relevant answers to those questions and issues! The goal of this article is to share a bit about the history, the vision and the solutions that we saw at Grandpa Urban Farm. The Grandpa Urban Farm is a family project, Fonjew and her sister Fai are the third generation to take care of the place. Their grandpa is now 99 and has been living in this house for 60 years; thus, the name of the urban farm. Their father is an editor that has been active for more than 30 years active in the organic farming and renewable energy fields. At some point, her father realized that talking, writing and broadcasting the message was good but not enough. Ten years ago, knowing the power of example, he started the urban farm. His ambition? Establish an urban farming learning center in the heart of BKK. Grandpa Urban Farm’s target is to raise awareness, demonstrate the feasibility of urban farming and renewable energy solutions and share this knowledge. We use the permaculture flower to describe those solutions implemented at Grandpa Urban Farm. Feel free to ask questions about the different solution, we will gladly answer and/or adapt the blogpost in accordance with your feedback. The permaculture flower is available here: https://permacultureprinciples.com Land & Nature stewardship The urban farm has a small surface available to produce food. Therefore, the farming there is rather intensive. Moreover, as we are in an urban environment and concrete is not the best substrate to feed plants, fertility is an issue… Moreover, since we are talking about organic farming, for sure chemical fertilizers are not an option. The family did have to buy some soil at first and now relies on simple techniques such as “chop and mulch” as well as compost to develop fertility. In terms of compost, we saw a conventional one-month compost using organic material and chicken manure as well as a vermicompost. We invite you to access the dedicated webpage on the farm’s website to learn more about it: Thai / English This work on fertility allows the urban farm to smartly use its 100 m² to produce: • Vegetable: beds to grow salads, greens, chili, etc. • Vertical gardening for herbs and aromatic plants, • LED-based and automated irrigation systems to produce sprouts, • Banana trees, • Mushroom production, • Eggs (thanks the four chickens, see dedicated webpage on the farm’s website to learn more about it: Thai / English) and even, • Rice. The rice production stunned us… In an urban environment, on a surface under 10 m², they manage to harvest 40 kg of rice per year. Our guide, the lovely explanatory posters and related webpage (thanks to the QR code on the poster) unveiled the magic: 1 kg of rice per tank x 10 tanks x 4 harvests / year = 40 kg of rice per year. See dedicated webpage on the farm’s website to learn more about it: Thai / English The mushroom production is another impressive productive solution. With less than a square meter, the simple low-tech installation produces mushroom year-round. To cope with urban rhythm (lack of time…) the irrigation system is automated and relies on solar pump. See dedicated webpage on the farm’s website to learn more about it: Thai / English The shop also offers compost and biodynamic open-pollenated seeds. Those seeds are not hybrids, which means that they are not engineered to degrade their genetics after each cycle, which means the farmer can at the same time grow food and preserve seeds for the next season. Building The house is traditional with a classic architecture. The urban farm harvests rainwater with the help of gutter and a water tank. Moreover, the greywater is treated to irrigate the garden. Tools & Technology We already mentioned some of the smart solutions that Grandpa Urban Farm implements. The farm relies on standard photovoltaic cells + inverter + battery installation to generate electricity from solar energy and cover more than 60% of its needs. The house is still connected to the grid. We invite the reader to access dedicated webpage on the farm’s website to learn more about it: Thai / English Solar is not all. The farm also uses and demonstrates adapted technology: • LED-based units to produce sprouts, • Low-tech timer-based automated irrigation system to irrigate the sprouts, • Bicycle-pump (see video : https://www.instagram.com/p/BkrUiH7jUHX/?taken-by=laura.perceval) and solar pumps to irrigate the vegetable garden. We are convinced that there is more to see. Grandpa Urban Farm workshops seem to be a great opportunity to learn more about appropriate technology for self-reliance in an urban environment. Moreover, the library provides loads of resources to learn more about those solutions and how to implement them. Also, the explanatory posters and associated webpages provide useful information such as costing and Do-It Yourself (DIY) procedures. See examples: Thai / English. On top of documentation, the shop also offers electronic equipment. Education & Culture As written above, the urban farm is first of all a learning center. Education is key to this project. The true goal of the farm is to inspire people and support them to improve their quality of life and enhance their self-reliance. The learning center combines the impressive work of: • A 30-year foundation through books & trainings, • An extensive 20-year magazine collection packed with techniques and examples of real solutions: integrated pisciculture, vertical garden, solar-based power production, irrigation, kitchen garden… • A 10-year productive farm that demonstrates lifestyle “for real” in the context of an urban family, • Bi-monthly workshops and trainings about organic farming and photovoltaic energy production, • Regular events, especially with schools to inspire children. Moreover, Grandpa Urban Farm targets more specifically under-privileged populations. To reach those people, the Grandpa Urban Farm has a “mobile unit” that goes directly to the needy neighborhoods of Bangkok to provide dedicated workshops and support. One big next step for the farm is to go up in scale and use the recently-acquired two acres of land near the airport to provide answers to needy families and prove that one can feed a family with two acres of land. With more time on the farm we could surely write more about the cultural aspect of the farm. Nevertheless, we have the feeling that Grandpa Urban Farm actively participates to shifting the paradigm for urbanites. As described above, the father has been active for more than thirty years and the magazines and publications available at the farm’s library clearly deliver solutions to support people in their journey of ethical and practical adaptation to ecological realities. The shop also offers compost, electronic equipment and biodynamic open-pollenated seeds Similarly, the great success of the monthly workshops allows to reach more and more people and support them in their transition effort. An average 1 000 people per year participate to the workshops. More or less 10% start their own project and more or less 30% are just waiting for the proper conditions to start their own project. Fai provided us with precious information about other positive initiative for us to discover in the Thai capital; several initiative leaders formerly participated to Grandpa Urban Farm workshops. Apparently, the Grandpa Urban Farm is a nursery for more urban farms and positive initiatives towards sustainable lifestyles. For instance, we went to an organic café and refill station as well as a hostel with its own rooftop kitchen garden that provides ingredients for the cooking classes this hostel offers in the heart of the city. We acknowledge that this community of changemakers is big and getting bigger. Fai also introduced us to the “Thai city farm”. Thai City Farm is a website and community that participates to this cultural shift effort towards more sustainable, compassionate and conscious lifestyles. For instance: Thai city farm offers an interactive map that locates positive initiatives in the metropole: http://www.thaicityfarm.com/cityfoodarea/www.thaicityfarm.com/cityfoodarea/ Grandpa Urban Farm also offers consultancy services. Feel free to refer to their website to get more information about it. Health & Spiritual Well-Being We did not talk about health and well-being as we visited the farm. Nevertheless, we know that organic food production provides family with healthy foods. What we also acknowledged is the warm welcome and perpetual smiles. The family sure seems happy. I believe that this place also makes them feel safe. Fonjew told us about how their lifestyle makes their household more resilient and reduced their stress towards issues such as floods. Floods are a massive issue for Bangkok and a great risk in times of sea level elevation. Fonjew told us that she did not fear the floods as much as most of the people in Bangkok. When the city has the feet in the water, people rush to the supermarket to buy food and prevent the shortage (at their individual level). At Grandpa’s urban farm, food is available, electricity also. Finances & Economics We did not talk about those aspects. The self-reliance solutions allow the family to cut down the costs for food, water and electricity. We hope that the diversity of activities allows sufficient income to make this enterprise profitable. Land Tenure & Community Governance We did not address this topic during our visit. What we know is that this is a family project. Complementary and subjective remarks We look for sustainable solutions that empower individuals and communities and offer them greater autonomy, enhance their self-reliance. We want to validate that solutions are available, accessible, scalable, desirable. Ideally, we “come back to the normal life” with those solutions. This website, and more especially this blog, is about sharing those solutions and, hopefully, inspiring us to prefer those solutions. In this blogpost, we do not write about why solutions are needed, about collapsology, or global problems (health, social, geopolitical, environmental…). Nevertheless, the more we learn about positive solutions the more we also contemplate the global mess in which we put our world in. In those times of uncertainty, we acknowledge that uprooted urbanites also count among the most vulnerable. At this point, we do not look for “permanent” solutions anymore… We understand that sustainability must not only be regenerative, it must also aim for resilience. Solutions are available! So many issues are directly linked to our destructive individual and collective habits. The impacts are often hidden from the public. We believe that those “secrets” are intentional and meant to avoid disturbance in the evermore consuming and wasting capital-oriented process we are fed with day after day. I am so thankful to activists that open our eyes on those issues that destroy our planet, our societies and even ourselves, those issues that we fuel with our own money; food and energy are fore sure two great ones! Those issues are terrible and learning about it can be very painful. Knowing about it forces one to question our habits and to realize our own individual impact. Many go through denial. After denial and if left without solutions, I must say that it is a very disturbing, disgusting, depressing truth to swallow. I am so thankful for those people we meet that clearly demonstrate that it is possible to do it differently, that remind us that it has not “always been like that” and that if ever it has, it does not mean it is right. Each and single one of us has the true power to change, and this might be one reason to hope and still have trust in people: they can change for the greater good. Where to start? your money is one big leverage. It is not the only one: even urbanites can do their share and gain more self-reliance towards more sustainable and meaningful lives. Go further… Grandpa Urban Farm:
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