Urban Farm promotes a sustainable lifestyle

Once upon a time there was a cow who boasted that she was tall and produced milk for the people. The cow asked an earthworm, "What can you do as a little pink tube?" The worm replied: 'I make holes in the earth with my long stretched out body. Air and water can then pass through those channels more easily.'

This scene comes true The Earth Worm Miracle, a fairy tale told with the help of hand puppets to small children who visit the Organic Way City Farm, a 1 rai urban farm at 30 Rat Burana.

The fairy tale makes it clear in a nutshell what the farm aims to do: to promote the cultivation of food without the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. The farm tries to spread this message through educational programs and workshops.

Healthy products with a pinch of pride

The farm is an initiative of Portip Pechporee, former assistant to the principal of a private school. Two years ago she rented the piece of land, which previously served as a bus depot. With the help of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, she transformed the area into a Garden of Eden: fish swim in a pond, rabbits happily hop around, vegetables, fruit, flowers, trees, shrubs grow and that ecosystem is maintained by beetles , bees, birds, insects and earthworms.

The farm now produces numerous organic vegetables and fruits. They are used for the composition of a vegetable box, as ingredients for the dishes in Portip's organic health cafe next to the farm and for a delivery service with healthy ready meals.

Portip says they are tastier than the products long stocked in markets. And they have a higher nutritional value, she says. 'But above all, my products are the tastiest because a pinch of pride has been added to them.'

(Source: Bangkok Post, February 13, 2013)