Our Site:
Sustainable Urban Farm
A thousand one acre farms rather than one thousand acre farm.
Urban Hijau: A small Urban Farm
Lush and lively, Urban Hijau is an urban farm, showing the potential of permaculture within a city in Malaysia. After years of raising awareness about sustainable wholesome food locally and internationally, we started producing to sell ourselves as well. Now we are open to visitors every Sunday morning to get fresh wholesome produce from our farm market.
Over the years, people from Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya areas would come to learn during one of our events and take a stroll through our farm enjoying the variety of vegetables, fruits as well as the beautiful tropical flowers.
At the same time, we have also been fortunate to share our experiences with various students from around the world while being honored by visits and shared experiences with experts like Geoff Lawton and Rosemary Morro.
Our site is a little more than half acre sloped area, and it is designed to be an educational and aesthetic experience for visitors. The site also is a showcase of various methods of farming that are possible within the local climate – so everyone can get activated, one garden at a time.
What is Urban Farming?
Urban farming is simply the growing of food in locations that are within or on the periphery of the cities where people are living. While the structure of urban farms can differ ranging from community owned and volunteer driven parks – to more focused private farm that are also supported by the community nevertheless.
The key thing is bringing the food to the customers as fresh as possible and allowing the consumers know where their food comes from, how its grown and who grows it.
So the production and distribution of the food is localized. This naturally has benefits on so many levels besides nutrition – like reducing carbon foot print, sustainability as a whole and community integration to name a few.
ORGANIC & NATURAL IN A CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM
Surely within the urban landscape toxic pesticides is a “NO NO”! (They should actually be a NO NO everywhere!). No one wants the toxic chemicals going around their neighborhood!
There are urban farms which use chemical fertilizers or methods which are not natural to grow – but, for us at Urban Hijau, following the Permaculture principles, we make sure we are always designing the system following the patterns in nature. We aim to become as closed loop as possible, producing our own compost as much as possible and only using organic and natural ingredients.
For example to keep the pests at bay, we plants several different varieties as companions and add lots of pest repelling flowering plants. (More on this later here.)
Plants are best grown with natural methods within a closed loop system where the nutrients from the organic waste that is sent by the community is composted and used to become the food for the plants. Thus the basic structure of the “Circular Economy” is formed.
The more we are able to close the loop, and reduce outside elements from the city, the more sustainable the system will be.
Permaculture Design
Urban Hijau was brought to life by a group of students who enrolled in a Permaculture Design Certificate course (a life changing 2 weeks intensive course). We decided to practice what we had learned and try to develop the available abandoned housing plot within the city.
Since the founding of of the farm in 2015, the team poured time and effort to transform the construction waste rich area into a model urban farm to showcase various sustainable practices guided by the principles of Permaculture.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture as a design philosophy is at the heart of Urban Hijau’s creation.
Permaculture is the integration of heritage knowledge, patterns in nature and appropriate technology to design sustainable systems.
Permaculture design can be used to design any system – a house, a kitchen, a city or even a museum (to design the flow of people)!
At Urban Hijau, we realized that one of the core priorities that we wanted to address was wholesome nutrition and thus the production of good healthy food. Thus our mission was aligned to achieving just that.
Read more in depth about what permaculture is here.
Based on an intentional design to maximize the use of natural elements that are available, just as downward water flow and sunlight exposure and others, we try to employ a variety of different systems and processes that are in line with making Urban Hijau a truly resource independent urban farm.
This includes creating different soil mixes, aquaculture, polyculture, and vermicomposting to name a few as explained further. Our site is sectioned into zones based on the need and access for various farming resources and making an easy pathway for our team and visitors to interact with as much of the farm as possible.
Key Sustainable Systems at the Farm
Urban Hijau is proud to have installed systems of urban sustainability on its site. These systems function both as production houses and educational showpieces.
Mandela Garden
Right behind our Sunday market we have our Mandela Garden. A unique and beautiful design where different plant guilds can be planted in raised beds with several sizes within a circular shape. We also add varieties of flowers like the marigold and sunflowers to keep the pests at bay.
The raised beds have several walkways where the kids (and adults) love to maze through and enjoy being immersed into the environment with the the variety of plants, butterflies and bees.
Open Raised Beds
Right at the entrance on the slope are the open raised beds which are designed to be on contour slowly capturing the organic matter and water while allowing the extras go into the banana circles on the side.
These that greet visitors upon entering and are an easy and inexpensive way for anyone to start a small productive garden.
Aquaponics
Going vertical within the city always helps with producing more in a small space. We have built a 300 square foot (grow area) aquaponics unit, which is a closed loop unit circulating nutrient rich water from a fish pool to the vegetable and salads towers which absorb the nutrients cleaning the water. The key thing is having the nutrients become available through a process of nitrification where microbes become part of the ecosystem between the fish and the plants. Unlike most of the hydroponic systems, chemical fertilizers fertilizer A and B are not used at all.
Additionally in order to cut down on any loss, we have also further integrated with an azolla growing pool to further clean the waste water and add natural feed for the fish.
Compost Stations
Composting is a must! We have a system where tons of food waste, dry leaves, cut grass, wood shavings and many other waste get composted at the site using the power of microbes again. Using hot compost stations processing becomes easy and produces rich organic fertilizer for the plants.
This process if done right can help process a ton of waste within a month in each heap.
Vermicomposting System
In order to get an even richer source of microbes rich soil amendment, we have also set up various vermicompost systems throughout the farm. While this system is slower, as the worms slowly eat up a lot of organic matter producing the black gold as we call it. On top of that we also get the worm juice which is an excellent addition for the plants as well.
A typical vermicompost system can easily be set up in a container like an old tub or a tank with holes to allow water to go out slowly and not flood the worms.
GreenHouse
The tropical rains as well as the hot sun can be too much for some plants. Having tied and testing so many methods our latest setup is the 800 square foot greenhouse, offering a controlled environment to maximize the yield of our veggie harvest.
Starting by growing in raised beds in the netted greenhouse which protects the plants from the heavy rain, sun and the insects, we are always optimizing further to make the system more productive and easy to manage.
Food Forest
Replicating the tropical forest is ideal as it follows the patterns found in nature at the most bare state. Rather than having a forest with random trees, in our design we plants various fruit trees and other trees which produce the food for the fruit trees like nitrogen fixing trees.
A single good tree becomes like a factory creating abundance of wholesome that just spreads and keeps getting better every year.
Rain Water Harvesting
With so much rain in Malaysia, and all the roofs all we need is a simple setup connecting the rain water gutters and a tank for storage. At urban Hijau, we capture the rainwater at the aquaponics rood, azzola roof, canopy as well as the greenhouse in tanks or pools and use the water as needed.
Not only is the water the purest form of water (as explained by Nahrim), but its helps slow the water down and thus reducing the erosion that can be caused by the heavy tropical rains.
A single good tree becomes like a factory creating abundance of wholesome that just spreads and keeps getting better every year.
Nursery
Establishing a nursery becomes a backbone to the processes of any farm which needs to produce regular harvest. Giving certain vegetables the time in the protected space allows them to become stronger so they can yield better and also saves space.
Apart from that the nursery becomes the core starter of the cycle of growth and harvest. Without a properly planned nursery and seeding process a farm will constantly move from a lot of harvest to less or no harvest at other times.
Consistency is key and having a good nursery is needed for that.
Banana Circles
One of the easiest things to establish in a farm at these beautiful productive circles which can have bananas, papayas, coconuts, and many other shrubs circling a pit full of organic waste which slowly composts and becomes a food bowl feeding the plants.
These pits also become the sink absorbing water from various channels and only allowing excess water to go out slowly after being filtered with as much nutrients as possible.
Chicken Coop
Chickens play a very important role in explaining the simple integration that can be designed within the permaculture systems. Besides the educational purpose, the kids just love to actually see the chicken upfront and see how the eggs are harvested in the designated areas.
Not only do they produce the eggs, they also help to eat away any vegetables and fruits that are not good which producing rich compost with their manure. (Note: Not for sale ! The core team takes them all!!! 🙂)
These pits also become the sink absorbing water from various channels and only allowing excess water to go out slowly after being filtered with as much nutrients as possible.
Many more systems
There are many more systems within the site that would be beyond the scope of this page. Join the newsletter and follow our posts as we share about the different systems in more details as time permits.
Not only do they produce the eggs, they also help to eat away any vegetables and fruits that are not good which producing rich compost with their manure. (Note: Not for sale ! The core team takes them all!!! 🙂)
These pits also become the sink absorbing water from various channels and only allowing excess water to go out slowly after being filtered with as much nutrients as possible.
Biodiverse Ecosystem
Since the beginning, Urban Hijau has sought to become a thriving ecosystem with a variety of fruits, veggies and herbs, free from pesticides. Our most recent crop count on the site demonstrated over 150 different edible species of plants, and we seem to find a new unrecognizable species every week.
Our crops include common kitchen veggies from tropical spinach to lettuce to the more elusive varieties of native herbs. Our focus is on boosting the growth of local plants for local consumption, and encouraging buyers to add these options to their existing palate.
Aside from edible varieties, Urban Hijau also actively grows plants that add both form and function to the site. We have an array of flowering plants that have a dual use of beautifying while being a pest control, such as marigold, sunflowers and other.
Vetiver grass is another favorite on the site, as it grips the soil with its roots and prevents erosion at our sloping areas. It is an excellent example of how a single plant can help improve the design of the site for the long run.
Having biodiversity is important but not just in the plant to pant variety, but the integrated systems. Just like one plant can benefit another companion plant and both in turn benefit from the relationship, different systems work together to complete the natural cycles.
The food waste for example brought by the customers, is composted producing rich compost. This is used by the farm to fertilize the plants which is later sold to the customers who are happy with the healthy wholesome produce.
Productive engagement and market
Produce
The proof is in the pudding as they say. If there is one thing we are humbled by here at the farm is the depth of the rich soil that we have built over the years.
While on one side we have built the soil and the biodiversity of trees around the farm, a sustainable farm must be productive and contribute directly to the local community.
While we constantly take waste, we also constantly deliver wholesome food in our Sunday Markets. That is the key link that urban farms must establish and integrate with the local community at the same time.
Soil
Without the foundation of good soil and a proper microbiome for the vegetables, true healthy nutrition cannot be established. When we started working on this urban site, it was full of construction waste and barely had any top soil.
Over the years with loads of compost and organic matter that was brought into the farm, we steadily have grown the soil depth and are proud to find certain areas have more than a feet deep rich soil.
If there is one thing we hope for anyone who interacts with us to learn it is this: They should participate somehow in helping to make good soil. That is the foundation of sustainable civilizations!
Market
While we sell the regular greens like those mentioned below in the market, we are always aiming to activate the community and help them to grow something at their own homes no matter how small their spaces are. Thus we provide the basic materials for anyone wiling to give it a try, from seedlings, soils mixes to grow kits which they can use to get started.
Some of our regulars are:
Pak Choy, Mustard Leaves (Sawi), Bayam (Tropical Spinach), Pudina (mint), Kale, Lemongrass, Sweet potato leaves, Chaya leaves, Cassava leaves, Mulukhiyah, Moringa Leaves, Kang Kung, Ladyfinger (Bendi), Eggplant (Terung), White Radish, Cucumbers, Chinese spinach (Mak Choy), Malabar spinach, Bananas, Papaya and others.
