How We Built Our Own Retirement Farm In Singapore

At age 55, when their peers were thinking about retirement, Evelyn Eng-Lim and her husband bought a farm at the edge of a city. It took them 6 months to grow their first vegetables and more than 5 years to break even, but their farm home has been thriving for almost 2 decades since. We asked the now 75-year-old how they did it.

Q: Hi Farmer Evelyn! What made you and Farmer Tian Soo want to start a farm and live in it as a retirement home? What was going on in your life when you made that decision?

A: When my husband & I decided to start our farm, it wasn’t for retirement. We were rather at a crossroad of our lives.

It all started in 1984, when I volunteered for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), which later became Nature Society Singapore (NSS). For 15 years, the society was my full-time job as I operated and managed its office.

During those years as a volunteer, I read of numerous cases of pesticide contamination of imported vegetables which the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA, now known as Singapore Food Agency, SFA) had rejected because pesticide residues had exceeded the allowed limits.

As a vegetarian, those cases shocked me because I did not have full control over what I ate!

I realised I had to take action, in pursuit of a self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, by growing my own vegetables, rearing my own chickens and making my own compost. As a result of this self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, I would also reduce the greenhouse effect and do my part to combat climate change. How exhilarating!

I understand you now grow your greens organically—without chemicals and pesticides. Why so?

Synthetic man-made chemicals in the form of fertiliser and pesticides are not in a bio-chemical structural form so they are like foreign invaders into our biological entity. Organic matters and living organisms like insects, bacteria, fungi, earthworms exist in all healthy soil. When humans apply synthetic fertilisers, weedicides and insecticides, these soil organisms get ‘sick’ and slowly die, leaving the soil dead.

Soil organisms in their natural cycle of life and death are providing nutrients back to the soil which can nourish plants. Plants provide animals with food and in return, animals help in pollination or dispersal of seeds. All living things are interconnected through the Food Web. We should not decimate so called “pests” to produce food. “Pests” such as caterpillars are food for some birds and insects that may help in pollination and seed dispersal. Eventually, caterpillars become butterflies which are efficient pollinators. Without these pollinators, there will be no fruits and vegetables for consumption.

Humans tend to forget that we are part of the Food Web. Out of ignorance, commercial farmers produce vegetables laced with synthetic chemicals which are now known to mimic human hormones, upsetting the delicate balance in our bodies. Some scientists even believe that these exposures could be one of the causes of cancer, diabetes and allergies, which are so prevalent even in young people.

How then did you manage to acquire farmland in Singapore when the country is mostly all city?

In 1995, I called the AVA and was informed that tenders for farmland were regularly conducted in the newspaper. While we waited for the farmland tenders, I grew some vegetables in a common area at my condominium and at the same time, the AVA’s farmland regulations also evolved to allow the building of a home on farmland. This was a new clause which further appealed to me. Now I can live and immerse in nature. Perfect!

The Neo Tiew area was one of our prospective sites to tender but the frequent bombastic sounds of fighter jets from the nearby Sungai Tengah Military Airport was a major concern for us. There were other tender options at that time but they were mostly for shorter periods, versus Neo Tiew’s 20-year lease. Another option would be to operate in Malaysia but with Singapore as our home.

Having weighed our options carefully, we decided to proceed with the Neo Tiew area. So in 1999, we took possession of farm parcel 41, Neo Tiew Road and I resigned from all posts with NSS.

How did you build and set up your new farm and home? Can you share your entire process?

Our philosophy was to only clear when we needed to plant or build.

1–Pond Excavation:

The first task was to excavate a seven meter deep pond to hold rain water for farm irrigation. As we had heard stories of some contractors and site owners profiting from the burial of construction and non-biodegradable waste, we had to be there to closely monitor the excavation process to avoid that from happening on our leased land. We can’t afford any pollution here.

2–Compost Production:

Compost is crucial for our soil because being in an equatorial climate, Singapore land has very little top soil due to intense plant growth all year round. I first learnt about bio-dynamic composting from Mr. Peter Proctor, a consultant from New Zealand.

In March 2000, we set up our tractor and a chipper and we were able to source for free carbon-rich tree waste from the nearby area. We then had to source for nitrogenous waste like cow poo, soya bean waste and rejected mung bean. In the beginning, it was just me and my husband working in the hot sun as I chipped away the free tree waste while he drove the tractor to move the chippings and nitrogenous waste and mix them into heaps of compost neatly arranged in rows.

Compost made from urban bio-degradable waste helps replenish the fertility of the soil. This makes agriculture more sustainable instead of using short term synthetic fertilisers which cannot sustain other living organisms in the soil. Long term use of synthetic chemicals produces dead soils. After 4 months of daily compost production, we were ready to clear some land for planting.

3–Land Clearing and Planting:

Our plot of land was densely covered in wild vegetation, mainly elephant grass. We had to use our tractor to clear them which later became additional compost material. However, we had to use our tractor sparingly as the tractor would compact the soil in its path.

Providence brought us a worker who specialised in making raised planting beds. In the meantime, we sought advice from a Malaysian agriculture consultant, who was aligned with our organic farming philosophy. He helped to kickstart the operation of planting long beans, corn, lady’s finger, cucumber, sweet potatoes and tapioca.

Our clearing and planting process was executed in stages as I did not want to bare the soil to heat or rain, which would kill off soil organisms or wash away nutrients hidden in the soil. As we progressed, I hired two temporary workers to plant more beds and lay irrigation pipes under my husband’s supervision.

4–Infrastructure:

While all of the above were in progress, my husband was also busy executing the farm’s infrastructure plans, overseeing the building of our office, visitors’ hall, workers’ quarters and our residence with an engineer and contractor.

By 2000, year end, these structures were ready and we had planted about one fifth of our plot. It was time to generate some income.

5–Operation: 

As the farm’s initial operation stabilised, we needed income to offset our operating costs. We first sold our organic produce to relatives and friends by private delivery. Our workers harvested according to what was ordered, packed them with minimal packaging materials and private deliveries were scheduled as early as possible to ensure freshness upon reaching our customer’s doorstep.

During the internet growth phase in 2001, when information exchange wasn’t as readily available on the internet yet, my husband attended a website development course and built our website for our marketing and promotion purposes. As a result, our sales volume increased so he purchased a van and delivered the vegetables commercially. At the same time, we gained more attention from the media and the public. Schools and corporate clients were enquiring about farm tours so I seized the opportunity to design informative educational tours, which became one of the most important aspect of our farm. I am most passionate about using our farm as a platform to raise awareness on sustainability and environmental issues.

By 2005, my husband and I were still without salaries but our farm had broken even. Instead, we were remunerated by the presence of the wildlife: birds, bees, butterflies, squirrels, garden lizards and the wide variety of chemical-free vegetables and fruits for our own consumption. This was what we had envisioned, a self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle.

Now I had control over what I ate! 

What about farming techniques and processes? Where did you learn those from?

We learnt some of it from Peter Proctor and our Malaysian consultant but a lot of it was self-taught and through a series of “trial and error”.

What is your routine like now that you’re a farmer? What do you do on weekdays and what do you do on weekends?

During 2005 to 2010, a typical day for us was:

7am—Check crops (>100 varieties).

Most workers only had experience in planting rice and growing vegetables in the conventional way by using lots of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. They often wondered why I would forbid the use of pesticides to eradicate pests. Hence I had to educate and change their mindset and supervise them on how to care for the plants, to increase efficiency of their assigned tasks such as weeding, planting and harvesting.

1pm—Lunch break.

2:20pm—Continue work on the farm and supervision.

As if that was not challenging enough, residue building debris from the mid-1980s was littered under the surface of our plot. The debris was supposed to be carted away but instead they had been unscrupulously buried and old foundations were not dug up. It was discouraging for us, when tilling in the hot sun, to find these residue debris. We also had to dig out historic mortar using only a straight steel rod to check for deeply embedded ones. When I wasn’t around, our workers turned a blind eye, resulting in the poor growth of deeply rooted vegetables and fruit trees.

Things around the farm started to improve after 2010. I was more experienced and our workers were more efficient. I spent less time in the field and more time in the office, responding to customer feedback and queries; hosting group tours for kids, students and the elderly.

By 2015, competition had intensified and I had to increase our marketing efforts by promoting our group tours. A typical day for us now still starts at 7am with 3 foreign workers reporting to me and telling me what they planned to do for the day. Farming and housekeeping tasks are then assigned on a priority basis based on weather conditions and the efficient use of our resources.

To some, weekends may be a time for rest but since we live within our farm, we are never fully rested as there are endless tasks at hand and improvements to be made. However, we do enjoy a good meal and a movie occasionally to unwind. My husband loves listening to music and golf while I am an avid supporter of local theatre and stage productions.

Do you think it’s important for Singapore to have its own farms?

It is very important! Singapore must have its own farms so that our citizens and younger generations can obtain an understanding of the farming process, which results in what goes into our diet. We must create little food forests for healthy and efficient growing of food to promote sustainable farming.

Although it is almost impossible for Singapore to be fully self-sufficient in farming due to our limited land mass, we can still create sustainable farms in Singapore to be used as farm models for other regional farms where we import food from. 

What do you hope to achieve when you conduct tours on your farm?

In 2015, we actively marketed our informative educational group tours to schools, universities and corporations. Our primary objective was to educate each participant to not fear nature because all living things are interconnected and we depend on each other for our survival.

During our group tours, participants learn:

a—To SHARE food with insects and animals: nothing wrong with eating vegetables with holes.

b—Why a 50% plant based diet is important for their health and why walking under the sun for half an hour is healthy. 

We particularly like to influence the preschoolers in their early formative years (we try our best to do it in a fun, creative and activity based way).

Evelyn’s farm, Green Circle Eco-Farm (www.greencircle.com.sg), presently conducts cooking and farming courses and provides farming consultation, on top of selling vegetables and running group tours. Next week, we’ll have another chat with Evelyn about the challenges of being a organic farmer and what she’s learned from dealing with those. See you then!

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Evelyn Eng-Lim. Interviewer: Sy
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