How we farm
Take a virtual tour through our farm and see the techniques, tools, and infrastructure we use to farm sustainably.
Farming in Yangon is easy at times and frustrating at others. Six months of rain and an endless supply of sunlight give us all the resources we need to farm all year round. But the humid weather also helps bacteria and viruses thrive. Every season is a learning opportunity for us, and we share our lessons with you here.
What’s growing
Preparing for the market
Harvesting
We harvest our vegetables about twice a week, depending on how frequently our customers order. We take care to harvest properly using a sharp, sanitized razor, as any cuts or bruises can leave wounds on the plant that could turn into an infection.
Cleaning
Since our produce is grown without synthetic chemical fertilisers and pesticides, we simply rinse the vegetables in water for a few minutes and leave them to dry on a rack. Doing this removes impurities like soil particles from the leaves.
Packaging
After the produce is dried, we place the vegetables into a box or a clear plastic bag for delivery. The produce can stay fresh for up to 24 hours without refrigeration if it is kept in a cool, dry place. We don’t pack the vegetables too tightly to prevent spoiling and bruising.
Delivery
Our farm is only 1 hour by car from downtown Yangon, which allows us to go from harvest to kitchen in no more than 3 hours. We deliver directly to our customers using an air-conditioned vehicle to guarantee maximum freshness of our vegetables.
Market Stall
Some weekends, we sell our produce at the Farmers Market at Kandawgyi Lake, Yangon. We get to meet directly with our customers and hear what dishes they made using our vegetables. We also help them grow their own vegetables at home. At our stall, we sell bundles of curly and dinosaur kale, and herb pots.
Our research
We conduct regular experiments to find innovative ways to grow healthy vegetables at lower costs. Below are some of the techniques and methods we have been experimenting with to become more sustainable.
Azolla ponds
Azolla is an aquatic fern biofertiliser that we have been growing to reduce our reliance on chicken and cow manures. This rapidly-growing fern absorbs nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of a photosynthetic bacterium, and releases it during decomposition. In the experiments we have conducted, our azolla multiplied quickly but turned brown after a week. We are currently conducting more research to understand what conditions it needs to thrive.
Sunn hemp
To prevent a build-up of pests and diseases on our farm, we rotate our crops with sunn hemp, a leguminous nitrogen-fixing plant with edible yellow flowers. We have been growing sunn hemp on our farm for over a year now, and it has improved our soil in ways we had not imagined. Sunn hemp suppresses weeds, attracts bees and butterflies, and feeds the soil a continuous supply of nitrogen. It establishes a strong root network that loosens the soil, which reduces our need for tilling. We have observed that vegetables grown in the same spot after sunn hemp produce bigger leaves and have a higher resistance to pests.
Compost
We believe soil health is central to the robust growth of our vegetables. Healthy soil contains an ecosystem of bacteria, earthworms, nematodes and other microorganisms that help break down nutrients in the soil for plants to absorb. To improve the soil on our farm, we have been making our own compost and adding it to our vegetable beds as food for the soil microorganisms. Our compost is made from cow manure, dry straw and grass, and green vegetable waste. We have observed that it takes about three months to fully decompose into fine compost.