For Your Organic Experience
TO appreciate the time and effort needed to grow vegetables organically, one needs to feel the soil and soak in the environment of the farm.
Farmer Lee, as he is often called, or Lee Ong Sing is an organic farmer in Cameron Highlands with an interesting story. In my books, he is a rebel. The good kind. Against all odds, he switched from conventional to organic farming.
This 37-year-old and third generation farmer admitted that “it took three years for me to learn about and implement organic farming. I got hooked when I met an environmentalist, Steven Leong, and tried his organically grown sawi. It’s like nothing we are used to. The taste was sweeter. So, I asked to be taught about composting, fermentation and basically, all about the environment.”
His family was not happy with the decision. Logically, one can see why. Organic farming produces 50 per cent less than conventional farming and “the first time me and my six other partners tried it 11 years ago, it was terrible. Our vegetables were attacked by worms and diseases. When we did finally have some crop, there was no market for it here in Cameron Highlands. There were no believers!”
Thankfully, he didn’t give up. As he said, “the seven of us were very, very young and we had nothing to lose. So, why not persevere?”
With the crop rotation system these organic farms practise, nature will not be dictated by consumers’ demand. What nature produces, according to season, we consume – the way it was always meant to be. “Through crop rotation too, pests are kept at bay. Unlike mono crop farming system. This way, we leave it to the natural food chain!” Lee grinned.
Although he admitted, pests weren’t their biggest challenge, “the hardest thing was to change our mindsets!” Lee admitted. “Why go through it all? Look around you, isn’t it time to make a change?”
Today, Lee supplies to places like justlife stores. For those who are looking for an organic experience for the weekend, drive up to Cameron Highlands and dig up some earth, harvest some vegetables with Farmer Lee on his organic farm in Brinchang. At no cost at all, “because if I don’t share the experience with consumers, how else would they learn about organic vegetables?”
This ruddy faced farmer will gladly oblige a tour, a talk, a demonstration and then hop into what was once their office (now a steamboat place) and taste the vegetables’ organic sweetness of untempered flavours cooked in a steamboat. “Even conventional farmers around here buy from us for their own consumption,” he laughed at the irony of it.
To make an appointment, call Lee at 05-4914-807 or 019-7796-638. Be considerate and plan to go with a group to make the tour worthwhile for Lee, after all, he has many, many tasks a day!
(c) 2007 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.