Felt like a student again on an excursion to Quan Fa Organic Farm, the first certified organic farm in Singapore ^.^
Since 1999, Quan Fa has been cultivating organically grown vegetables and fruits. Over the years, it has grown from humble beginnings of a small organic vegetable retailer to one of the leading distributors in Singapore today.
Farm tour leaded by Mr Liao JunJie (JJ).
The first organic plant shown to us was very "mysterious" covered by translucent "veil" lolxx...
Veil revealed: 7 days old Sunflower Sprouts! These sprouts, if continue to grow, will grow into sunflowers (ermmm... of course, but this was me first time seeing a baby sunflower plant!!!). But they are harvested in 7 days for consumption.
Being organic, the sprouts can be eaten straight from the soil! And it's YUMMY!!
Pardon my triple chin >.<
Budding Sunflower Sprouts :)
Beneath another veil: Wheat Grass.
Hate them or love them: Coriander leaves.
Fragrance in the air!
JJ was holding a turnip. It's much smaller than those I normally see in supermarkets and the leaves were obviously eaten by some pests.
JJ said, this is what they sell. Smaller turnips due to the local soil and "holy" leaves since they do not use pesticides at all, but they are fresh for consumption. He recommended turnip soup!
The yellow little flags are seen around the farm. They are sticky pads to trap pests as well as mosquitoes.
Spring Onions with very strong scent. Only organic plants smells this way.
Kangkong.
I am able to recognize vegetables before JJ introduce them! *prouds*, heeheehee...
My years of doing marketing (in wet and supermarkets) is not for nothing lolxx..
Hot chillies hot chillies HOT HOT HOT!
Called 指天椒 in mandarin, direct translation "Pointing The Sky". Some of my tour mates pluck and challenge them on the spot!
Some papaya trees are also found in the farm.
Knowledge gained from these lumps: Quan Fa Compost System.
This method originated from a Japanese technique using a unique culturing medium to eliminate obnoxious odours of raw materials (mixture of decayed vegetations).
These are the decayed vegetations. As you can see there's a green "fresh" pile there, which will slowly break down and decay like the others.
The decay process subsequently produces a nutrient-rich organic debris; which deters the rate of damage caused by disease infection and insect infestation
During the process, the temperature can be as high as 80 degress. JJ dug a hole and we were all very amazed to see hot steam actually came out!
The compost is used throughout the farm to condition dead soil back to its arable state, which eventually enhances and stimulates plant growth.
JJ's father, Mr Liao watering the crops. I don't know why but I found this a very heart-warming sight. I could feel his dedication towards the farm. He could had leave these work to some workers. But here he was, growing his farm, with his own hands ^.^
Had been eating brinjal all my life and this was the first time to see how the corp looks like.
To ensure each brinjal to be the fattest and best, they allowed only one brinjal to grow on each branch.
Spotted it's purple flower which will grow into a fruit one day. Yes, brinjal is a fruit actually, lolxx..
With the improvement in soil activity from the Compost System, Quan Fa’s vegetables need not and do not require external substances such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilisers.
But shelters are still needed to block partial sunlight for many crops.
Those outside the shelters, along the paths are mint leaves. Plucked and chew eliminates all bad breaths, heehee...
We meet Mrs Leong, the mama, she was sowing and it's just lovely.
Special breed of round leaf kailan.
Free of harmful chemicals, bursting with more nutrition and taste!
Sweet potatoes （番薯叶）
Pak Choy 小白菜
Nourished and well-balanced soil produces this plot of green, healthy and strong plants.
Choy Sum 菜心
Nai Bai 奶白菜
Beautiful lettuce without chemicals.
Here's a garden of bitter gourd!
All protected with plastic bags.
This random tree is a tree of curry leaves! And yes the tree smells like curry lolxx.....
I was feeling hungry throughout the farm tour, cos' the vegetables were so green and delicious looking!
Besides the farm, there's a mini-mart selling Quan Fa's organic vegetables and imported vegetables from Australia!
Happy shopping!
Organically grown vegetables, free from pesticide and chemical fertilizer.
And I found somebody familiar <3
To reserve or enquire a fun farm tour + shopping, just send them a email at farmtour@quanfa.com.sg
Brought home a bag of organic vegetables, brought them into the kitchen and onto the dinning table...
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JJ said Quan Fa's little turnips are best for soup. So I tried.
Chopped the turnips into chunks, lup in the leaves as well, added some carrots and pork ribs - THUMBS UP! I had cook turnip soups before but the taste was very much better with organic turnips! It's sweeter!
These organic Sunflower Sprouts, PRETTY and TASTY!
I made simple salad with it, adding hard boiled egg, boiled carrots, corns and bacon bits.
Sunflower Sprouts is an atas alternative to bean sprouts ^.^
I put them with stir fried udon, sooooooo perfect! Sunflower Sprouts is officially one of my favorite veg now!
Detox cooling juice.
Quan Fa Organic bitter gourd + green apples + orange + chia seeds
All the while, I know organic vegetables are free from chemicals. But becos' they are more costly, I hardly bought them. Now I know organically grown foods taste better! Putting our money wisely where our mouths are in organic food is the best for our body, nothing is more important than health.
Blogging is sharing, so here's
Reader's Perk!
Online Purchase 10% Discount Code: QuanFaOrganicFarm
Quan Fa Organic Vegetables are also conveniently available at various Sheng Siong Supermarkets, Tsukada Nojo Japanese Restaurants etc. For the full lists of locations, click HERE.
Quan Fa Organic Farm 全发有机农业
35 Murai Farmway
Singapore 709145
Tel: 6793 7693
Email: info@quanfa.com.sg
