Sustainable Singapore

On my recent transit to Paris, I traveled through Changi Airport again and with a 20 hour layover I had no choice but to head downtown to spend the night.  From my last visit to Singapore, I already knew that this city is On The Right Track with its head screwed on tight and a vision towards the future with an understanding of how we must interact with the environment to prepare for the success of future generations.  Once again, I was pleased to see some things that caught my eye and screamed out #sustainability.

This first image, of the side of a delivery truck for mattresses, is a large display that can quickly attract the attention of many people.  Smiling faces are prone to catch the eye of passersby, whether live or on a display.  The message is simple, "Be wise and go green.  Now."  With a world of plants in his hand, this kid is telling us that being more environmentally friendly is as important as a good nights sleep.

This second image, a small green sign, was inside one of the countless bathrooms at Changi Airport.  The small plaque, which was placed above one of the hand dryers, had a simple message as well...STOP WASTING SO MUCH DAMN PAPER, IDIOTS!  One may argue the point that these hand dryers use electricity, but one would also be happy to know that Changi practices some great environmental initiatives that have been recognized internationally.  Travelling through Singapore seems to be a new habit of mine, now that I call Australia home, and I'm happy to take part in and support such a sustainable city.

Name That Vegetable

One of the beauties of composting is that you never know what seedlings and starts will perk up out of the soil on a daily basis.  Sometimes these volunteers are not so good for your veggie garden, like papaya or the rampant lemon grass (both better in the ground or lemon grass in a pot).  But sometimes you get surprised with wonderful veggies that addmoregreen.  Take this peculiar squash-like vegetable for example...

I added some of this greatness to the pizza I made tonight, the only issue is that I have no idea what the vegetable actually is.  When I initially let the volunteer take off, I thought the cotyledons resembled those of a cucumber...boy was I wrong!  So, I need some help on this one if anyone knows what vegetable this is...in any case it was delicious!

What's For Dinner?

Before preparing dinner every day I step out to the garden first to check what fresh veggies I can base my dish upon for the evening.  Tonight, what's for dinner? GREENS!

These greens were all planted about a month ago from seedlings and they've taken off...I can easily pick from any of the varieties daily.

Above we have Silverbeet, Asian Cabbage Tokyo Bekana (crazy name I know), Basil, and more Cabbage.

Rocket and Bok Choy in the other bed.  I've been adding Rocket to my hummus lately and it's delicious.

Tonight I'm going to add Bok Choy, Silverbeet, and Asian Cabbage Tokyo Bekana to a yummy pasta dish...hope my friends coming over enjoy it!

On The Right Track

It always makes me happy to visit new cities that have made positive advances to their sustainable efforts.  Singapore is on the path too, and has three of these awesome solar-powered fans along the harbour of the Kallang River.  The giant blades are activated by motion detectors, using only the necessary energy to provide satisfaction when there are users underneath.

Surrounded by enormous high-rises where bankers and accountants spend the day in A/C, Marina Bay is a quiet sanctuary to come enjoy your lunch.  If it's too hot and sticky like it was when I was there, you can take a break under the Breeze Shelter.

A great drawing of what the promenade looks like with the large fans in the environmentally-friendly foreground of the massive skyscrapers in the background.

Dimensions and description of the Breeze Shelter components.  3500 mm across equates to about 1.5 meter blades...they were massive!

Found the perfect spot for a 'pause point' along the promenade.  An 88 degree day in Singapore after three months freezing my bum in Paris called for a fan break.  This city has found a great method to addmoregreen; I was unable to find any community gardens but there certainly was other green space in the city to relax in.

The Power of Juicing

Fruits and vegetables are an integral part of your daily intake; we've heard all the rules about how many and when specifically during the day, but to me what really matters is just making sure they go in one way or another.  If you have ten minutes to spare each day for the sake of consuming something delicious, juicing could be a good way for you to spend that time.  Here's an example of what goes into my juice...

The workstation: cutting board with heaps of delicious fruits and vegetables, compost bucket for food scraps, power juicer, juice collector (I prefer a measuring cup).

A good portion of what you see comes from the gardens and fruit trees at home: chives, kale, silverbeet, starfruit, roma tomatoes.  The oranges and carrots are both organic juicing products from local health food stores.

And a delicious finished product.  I'm not a nutritionist, and don't want to pretend to be a preacher of healthy living secrets...I am, however, a very healthy vegetarian who experiences the delight of consuming fresh fruits and vegetables first hand.  You can read more about what other's have to say here.

Les légumes de Paris

Tucked away quietly in the Parc de Bercy (PARIS 12ème) is le jardin potager de Bercy, an edible kitchen garden for kids of all ages to feel enriched with the spirit of nature.  In a city where so much is constantly happening, this garden is a simple way to get away from all the noise and consumption.  

Although there seems to be some man in the first picture, residing over the garden, the school children of Paris are actually the ones with dirty hands around these veggie beds.  Starting them young will help encourage them to be fully conscious city dwellers in the future.

In all reality, one thing that I can honestly admit that I miss is gardening.  Being in a city for another extended period of time after having learned so much all summer and then using that knowledge to get a great garden going again in Australia has halted that growth.  Seeing this jardin potager inspired me to find more ways to @addmoregreen while I am in Paris.

Another thing I have noticed while living in a city again is how difficult it is to find convenient ways of composting your edible waste.  There seems to be a really great setup going in this garden, but that's not spreading the word to a large enough audience.

There's a place for compost in it's first stage, around 2 months.

Then there is another place for compost that is ripe or mature, at the end of 6 months.

This is a really great setup to grow lettuces during the winter, it keeps them protected from weather that gets a bit too harsh, but still provides enough sun during the day to keep them energized.

There weren't too many ripe raspberries, but I found one and it was delicious.

Here are two guides to the vegetables that are provided to the Île-de-France, cultivated from the garden at Bercy: three types of cabbage, chicory, gherkin, potatoes, crosne (vegetable isn't in my dictionary, I have no clue what it is), red winter squash, lamb's lettuce, and spinach.

Vegetables provided to Paris, cultivated at the jardin potager also: onions, white gherkin, small green gherkin, big white winter squash, carrots, sorrel, and lettuce.

This was a great garden expierience, and it happened out of nowhere as Guy and I stumbled upon the jardin potager while walking through the Parc de Bercy.  The parc, home to the Maison du Jardinage, seems like a great place for a community garden in Paris...now if only we can find ways to bring them to every arrondissement.  

They Wrote The Book

Michel and Jude Fanton started an organization in 1986 that in my opinion could solve billions of cases of starvation if their voice were to reach enough of a global audience.  The couple would have been my favorite professors if they had been employed by Babson College while I was there.  Together they bring about a passion in each other to share their vision with everyone listening and have really found an exciting way to AddMoreGreen.  

I recently had the opportunity to visit their house and incredible gardens when they hosted a Seed Savers' Open Garden Day at their home in Byron Bay.  The morning was comprised of educational experiences to broaden our fruit and vegetable vocabulary.  They also shared their personal takes on making curry powder, made entirely with home grown ingredients.  Pictured below are just some examples of potential combinations and below that is a chalkboard full of ideas.

 Superfoods rock!

Now on to the real inspiration, for me at least.  Their veggie beds were jam-packed with green goodness of all sorts.  After all of these years figuring out what works best they have a soil consistency that makes you want to bathe in it.  No mulch needed here because all of the bad stuff has already been weeded out...literally.  What makes me happiest is that they've found an incredible way to regenerate and sustain their garden season after season...it self-seeds!  What else could we expect from Seed Savers?

Can you figure out what all of these yummy vegetables are?  Maybe you should get your copy of the Seed Savers' Handbook which is also jam-packed with green goodness.  Listed inside are more than one-hundred veggies, herbs, and edible flowers with information on origins, cultivation, usages and more.

 and it goes on...

 ...and on...

 ...on some more...

 ...they @addmoregreen everywhere!...

 ...and finally to the compost!  I know I'm happy with the compost that brought my garden back to life but Michel mentioned that these guys have a five year plan.  When it comes to thinking about the future it's really important to forget all the negativity, and simply focus on what your needs will be in the coming years.  Composting, self-seeding, saving seeds; all of these components add up to one really important outcome...food for the future.  We're going to need it, and with the help of Michel and Jude we will all be a little closer to feeding the mouths of many.