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cultivatecentral - Let's grow food in small spaces. Welcome to the cultivatecentral page. Join us on an earth care journey.

We believe vibrant, ecological and compact urban gardens can connect people to nature and cultures to growing food. Permaculture Design has made us reframe the lack of space “problem” as an opportunity. We’ll share all that we know, continue to learn and experience as Permaculture practitioners with you. You can count on us for. . .
- Down-to-earth and simple urban gardening solutions that'll help

you create compact and fascinating ecological gardens.
- Content that'll make Permaculture accessible and help you and your family pursue earth care daily.
- Creative urban gardening workshops and events for children and their communities and organisations.
- Designing and creating nature inspired urban gardens, programmes and spaces for children, communities and organisations.

04/06/2024

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go months or years without having to buy plastic wrapped green vegetables from the local markets or supermarkets?

How can you do this? By growing in your garden or on your balcony.

We recommend these 5 easy to grow perennials (and some of our favourites) for those in Southeast Asia:

🌿Sayur Manis/Gooseberry/Katuk

🌿Brazilian Spinach

🌿Moringa

🌿Sweet Potato Leaves

🌿Garlic Chives

👉For more detailed instructions on how to grow and cook with each of these perennials and read this short artic): https://cultivatecentral.com/article/5-easy-to-grow-perennials-in-southeast-asia (link in bio).

Have you tried growing any of these?

23/05/2024

The Problem is the Solution. What does that mean?

Bill Mollison, the co-originator of permaculture, used to say “you don’t have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency”. It’s a way of seeing the solution within the problems. Instead of focusing on the problem, in this case it’s taking a look at the bigger picture to ask what the problem is telling you, which leads to creative ways of resolving it.

So, if you have too many snails, then perhaps the ecosystem you have created is imbalanced so you need a “predator” to resolve it.

Similarly, an everyday example of the application of this principle can be with our income. If we feel that we don’t have enough income, perhaps another way of thinking about it is that our income is more than enough and that we can budget better or reduce expenses.

In this way, if we apply the “problem is the solution” way of thinking, we are able to take a step back and analyse the situation, context, and get creative with our problem-solution paradigm.

Are there any problems that you can now see a solution in?

20/05/2024

🌿Permaculture principles can be learned and applied by everyone. They're a set of 12 design principles that guides how we grow and evolve Goodman Community Farm as a space and also how we work together as a community.

Best part? You don't have to have a Permaculture Design Certificate to start learning these principles with hands on practice.

🌾Come join us on Saturdays in May, June and July for our Permaculture in Practice: Volunteer & Learn sessions.

You'll be guided mindfully through activities like planting, harvesting, maintaining ans soil building by a certified permaculturist and educator.

👉First session is on May 25th! Sign up here or use the QR code above: https://cultivatecentral.com/permaculture-in-practice

08/05/2024

Why are we all so happy about this table? Because it's no ordinary table.

It represents the final touch in our shed revamp which, in true permaculture style, was all put together with these principles in mind:

♻️Zero waste principle - all materials were adopted and adapted.

🪵low and small solutions - we knew what we wanted to build and gathered all the wood and materials we needed over a period of time. Thank you Isabelle Desjeux.

🖐Many hands make light work - about 6 of the active Goodman community Farm volunteers and Masyrr Gardeners worked on this. So thank you Jeanette, Sox, Jumilia, Isa, Uncle Nelson and Nova.

🌿Integrate rather than segregate - we are combing several functions for this space, including a nursery, meetings and meals, garden shed/storage area too, rest area and more.

30/04/2024

Urban balcony composting made easy.

We got some encouraging feedback from a follower who used our 5 Easy Steps to Composting in Small Spaces Guide who shared her compost pictures too!

“𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭’𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘥-𝘩𝘰𝘤 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦-𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘺!) 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺! 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘯.”

Want to start your own balcony composting system and get your kids involved? Download our simple and easy guide. Link in our above or visit https://cultivatecentral.com/download-5-easy-steps-to-composting-in-small-spaces/

Have you tried on your balcony before?

27/04/2024

📣 New episode of Cultivating Central Podcast out!

In this episode speaks to Chee Hoy Yee who runs Project MARS (Mitigation, Adaptation, Resilience, Space), a 1.8-acre plot of agricultural land in Balik Pulau in Penang, Malaysia.

Hoy Yee didn't quite start out wanting to take on this piece of land. Her hands were quite full with her urban farm and cafe but somehow it was meant to be. She recounts the story of how she and her husband found themselves as the stewards of the land which was formerly a palm oil plantation.

She now works on regenerating the space while educating the community on eco-friendly farming practices.

Hoy Yee walks Nova through the land explaining her approach to agroecology and stewardship. She speaks about the influences of syntropic agroforestry methods and Thai agricultural practices such as Khok Nong Na which prioritises self-sufficiency.

Hoy Yee also discusses the various challenges they faced including navigating earthworks and building canals, getting funding, managing volunteers and building structures of recycled wood and mud bricks on site.

This conversation offers an insight into environmental land stewardship and what it takes to meaningfully engage a community as part of the process.

🎧Delve deepee into the conversation here: www.cultivatecentral.com/podcasts

22/04/2024

How do you manage pests naturally on an organic farm?

🌻One way is using flowers!

Captain Zakaria shares how he manages pests on his organic paddy farm in Kedah,

He fondly remembers the flowers growing on his grandfather and father’s paddy farms where he played as a child. As he began running his own farm, he soon came to realise why they planted the flowers and immediately implemented the same system at his farm as part of his integrated pest management strategy.

When we were at his farm we saw Tunrera, Marigolds and Lantanas around the periphery of his paddy plots. Each flower has a part to play. For example, Tunera’s are a host plant for an insect that preys on leaf eating caterpillars.

The best part? They serve a dual purpose. Like the Lantana’s that attract pollinators like butterflies, creating a more harmonious and biodiverse ecosystem on his 10 acres of land.

Want to learn more about how Captain Zakaria runs his organic paddy farm?

🎧Tune in to our Cultivating Change episode with Captain Zakaria. Link in the bio above

22/03/2024

We continue our conversation with Shannon Lim of

🦐In Part 2 of Episode 2 , we delve into the intricacies of running a polyculture fish farming business. This ranges from the challenges of finding hatcheries, the right talent, basics about running a fish farm as a business including the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and the potential of running fish farms in open international waters.

🐟Shannon also shares why he feels it is important to share the know-how to create abundant hyper-local decentralised food systems, how he has been doing it even in space-scarce dense urban Singapore, and whether the IMTRAS system he uses is replicable.

🦀As a bonus, Shannon also takes on a quick tour of the crab condo set up in his homestead as he elaborates on what he calls his “crab scam” system.

🎧Listen to Shannon's no nonsense views on the topic by clicking on the Podcast link in our bio. Or visit www.cultivatecentral.com/podcast.

21/03/2024

Do you have childhood memories of harvesting fruit and gobbling it down happily?

We harvested some custard apples at the Goodman community Farm recently. This prompted Nova to share one of her favourite food memories from her childhood in Selangor, Malaysia:

“𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.

𝘐’𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘍𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥…𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘩” 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳😂"

12/03/2024

People Care.

Forming strong lasting relationships. We’ve been building a network of freelancers, collaborators, resource persons, educators, artists, students and partners who believe in the mission over the years.

Some have worked patiently and quietly behind the scenes. They’ve seen Cultivate Central grow over the years. They’ve given time, their knowledge, guidance and a listening ear.

There have been two very special individuals who have really had our back over the past few years, especially through the early days, pandemic, then post pandemic and now as we grow. we’d like to thank: Priya and Ma.

Priya: As a mum of two growing children she totally understood and appreciated the vision and mision. She rolled up her sleeves and got involved without hesitation. She found time to learn about all our workshops and then helped Nova push through some really tough and uncertain times during the pandemic. Always adapting, quick thinking and armed with a “don’t worry, we will figure it out” attitude, Priya provided Cultivate Central a solid shoulder to depend on.

Ma: Ma is on the board of the company. He has mentored and guided quietly with wisdom, insights and empathy. Often times, advisors are not in touch with the day to day challenges of a startup social enterprise, but not Ma. He always challenges us to reach our full potential, explore different business models, innovate and continuously reminds us of the “bigger picture” while allowing us to stay true to our mission, ethics and purpose on a day to day basis.

They’ve been key members of our .

11/03/2024

How do you build a health movement?

Step by step. Over a long period of time. With a lot of patience, care, and understanding.

The Better Eat Better Movement to inculcate more mindful, resilient, health conscious habits among the children at the Tak Takut Kids Club (TTKC) began with a community garden project back in 2022. It was called Kebun Rasa Sayang. We took a dormant shared space at the Boon Lay Drive flats and transformed it into an educational hands-on edible garden.

The success of the garden led to the next step which was to build a participatory action research project to understand the community of children, their needs and their level of awareness about the food they eat in order to help shift their eating habits.

Today, the Movement continues with the support of team at TTKC and our funders and children are learning to be more conscious about what they consume, when, and how it affects their bodies. And we have fun while doing it, hence Food Experiments on Saturdays!

Learn more about the Movement here: https://cultivatecentral.com/the-better-eat-better-movement

This project is funded by Tote Board and MOHT. And supported by The Majurity Trust.

23/02/2024

🍚In Southeast Asia, we consume rice everyday.

But have you ever wondered what goes into rice production? About the synthetic chemicals we consume through the rice. Is there a way that paddy can be grown organically, chemical-free? Can farmers achieve the same yields without the use of pesticides and fertilisers?

🌾 Episode 1, Part 2 of our conversation with Captain Zakaria Kamantasha who started and runs Sri Lovely Organic Farm ( ) in Kedah, Malaysia we get some answers to these questions and a whole lot more.

🔊Link to the episode in our bio above👆

08/02/2024

🌾 Food matters. Food is essential. Food is not trivial.

And that ’s why we, at Cultivate Central, are embarking on a journey to capture and share the stories of Southeast Asian farmers, food producers, urban growers, culinary trailblazers, researchers, environmentalists and individuals reimagining, designing and creating healthier more sustainable food futures from the ground up.

👂Tune in to the very first episode of our new podcast Cultivating Change.

In Episode 1 (Part 1) we spoke to Captain Zakaria Kamantasha, a retired Navy major who started a 10-acre organic padi farm in a rural area of S*k district in Kedah, . He shares the story of how and why he started and his perspective on the worrying state of Malaysian padi farms and farmers.

This episode gives you an insight into the predicament of padi farmers in rural Malaysia. It also gives you an appreciation of the natural approach to farming that older generations of farmers had and the idea that going back these ways may hold the key to our future food abundance.

🌾 Listen and learn more from Captain Zakaria’s experience: https://m.soundcloud.com/cultivate-central/cultivating-change-padi-farming-with-captain-zakaria

P.S. Look out for Part 2 of this conversation, coming out soon!

04/01/2024

When life gives you Belimbing…
Make Belimbing Sambal!

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