Reflections while helping out at a new rooftop urban farm
I was at a new rooftop farm for a couple of hours. What I experienced helped open new reflections which I thought to write before they are forgotten.
The invite to volunteer at this new rooftop urban farm location came via a text message in a gardening group chat. J shared that he and some friends were starting a new urban farm on the roof level of an old shopping centre. They welcomed volunteers to help construct the farm. They were at the stage of setting up new planting pots, mixing growing media, and moving things about.
J had previously said he was keen to start a farm so the message did not come as a surprise. J had been learning the Elaine Ingham’s soil food web approach. I was curious to see how he would apply the knowledge in the new place, and decided to go check it out.
The urban farm sits on the roof level of a shopping centre building. The building has a dated look having opened in early 1980s. For years, I have been to the food centre on Level 4, and had not thought to check out the roof area.
The selection of the location is a brilliant choice. This building is across the road from forested areas that would likely be protected for decades to come. It is a short walk from the train station, public housing, food market, food centre, and restaurants. An interesting place to be piloting ideas that involve people from all segments of the population. J and friends envision the farm to be a place where immediate and extended communities around the farm can see, feel and experience how food waste can be composted, and then applied to farming and growing of edibles. They imagine that it can be a space that hosts educational workshops, with volunteers coming from all walks of life and being recognised with incentives like meals or supermarket vouchers.
Some sections have been set up by the time I reached the farm.
A few volunteers were preparing soil for the planting pots. I noticed that J and friends bought bags of potting soil and sphagnum moss. We were asked to mix soil and sphagnum moss in the ratio of 1:1, before adding them to 40-litre planter bags. I wondered if rooftop farms could strive to be regenerative given purchase of soil and other materials were needed to get started. At what point in time, do we start to measuring the difference these farms make?
I usually read about environmental impact associated with sourcing sphagnum moss from their original environments, and wondered about the need to add sphagnum moss to potting soil. I understood that it was added as the rooftop environment is hot and dry for most part of the day, and sphagnum moss could help ensure that the soil keeps moist. The text on the sphagnum moss packaging was unfortunately mostly written in other languages, with a short text in English focusing on stating the quality and intended use of the product.
The soil is that of a familiar brand readily available in plant nurseries and supermarkets. There was some discussion amongst the volunteers on the quality of commercially-available soil. In my years of learning with interested individuals of the wider community, I have came to a personal conclusion that sourcing of soil from anywhere is inherently unsustainable. Healthy soil is not man-made and requires extraction from another location. Healthy soil is found in the top 12 to 18 inch of Earth, and contains minerals, organic matter and soil life of the location. When soil is extracted from a location, the soil layer takes years to naturally form again. In addition, for soil that are packaged and transported, aerobic microbial life that may be available in the soil will start to die when they run out of oxygen.
Still, between a soil-based urban farm and one that requires higher levels of extraction and energy input, I would rather support the former. During this period as Singapore encourages awareness and purchase of locally grown food and choosing to place greater support for farms with ‘innovative tech solutions’, it is important to demonstrate that soil-based farms are not any less, and are in fact better and more sustainable in all aspects of the word.
I was glad to meet with familiar faces during this volunteering session. We met one another on at least one other occasion that was related to food rescue, composting and gardening. They shared that they were moved to see younger people being interested in farming and soil, and placing resources and effort into it.
We spent some time setting up a new planting ‘pot’. It was a clever use of drainage cells, geotextile fabric and cable ties. This was simple enough for volunteers to set them up on our own, or make modifications, once we understood how to put the parts together.
The fact that this is one of the older buildings make this extra interesting. From previous conversations, management of older buildings tended to avoid having urban farms on roofs as the roof is not designed for additional weight. J’s friends include established architects who may have leaned in with credible ideas on how to make the vision possible. Looking at their current set-up, I think the weight of the soil-based planter ‘pots’ should be quite manageable. The building’s management concern of flooding at non-gardening areas result in the team agreeing to keep soil watered just enough — this would likely help with managing the weight of wet soil.
How would J and friends sustain this initiative I wonder? I hear they successfully negotiated to rent the space for 3 years. If I were the building owner, I wonder how I would rent a space that has gone unnoticed for decades. It is nice if they came to a win-win arrangement where all stakeholders are equally committed to making it work.
A final thought, what makes a place a farm, I wonder? I have been hesitant to use the term ‘urban farm’. What would farmers with decades of experience think of this initiative, I wonder? While J and his friends did not have commercial farming experience, they bring scientific understanding (soil microbiology) and other skills (like architecture design; social media communications; public speaking; readiness to try) which will put them in good stead.
I left the space with much to think about. Look forward to see how this urban farm initiative evolves!
