CETDEM meeting (4th of January)

On the 4th of January, a few of our members attended a meeting with two representatives from CETDEM, an organisation devoted to organic farming. Their names were Miss Tan and Miss Schan, and the meeting was held in the CETDEM office in SS2. The topics discussed at the meeting were based entirely on our proposal of our Organic Vegetable Garden, which we had sent to CETDEM.

Miss Tan started the meeting off by commenting on our objectives of establishing the Organic Vegetable Garden, and suggested that we add yet another objective, to understand the importance of organic farming and organic food, to our initial list of objectives. She suggested a list of plants we should plant in our Organic Vegetable Garden, consisting mainly of hardy plants which could survive more than two years. These plants include 4-angled beans, Small cucumber, Fuyaumak, Japanese ginseng (wild),  New Zealand spinach,  Brinjal, Cili Padi, Papaya Tree, Banana Tree, Sweet Potato,  Purple Spinach,  Cekur Manis,  Serai ,  Citronela, Cabbage (takes 3 months to grow), Bayam and Kangkong.

Miss Tan also suggested a few activities we could carry out to make organic farming transcend the boundaries of merely being an environmental obligation into the realms of it being fun and interesting, such as visiting farms and home gardens, organizing organic cooking competitions and organic vegetable treasure hunts, and performing eco music related to the process of establishing the vegetable garden.

She also touched on the steps involved in establishing the vegetable garden, and decided on a few dates during which she will aid us in conducting meetings and planting activities related to the vegetable garden in our school.

No	Activity	Date & Time
1	Site viewing and Measurement of plot	11th January, Tuesday 2.30 pm
2	Talk on Organic Farming to all TER members	26th January, Wednesday 2.30 pm
3	Compost Making and Planting of fruit trees	10th February, Thursday 2.30 pm
4	Building the plot for the vegetable garden	17th February, Thursday 8.00 am
5	Placing green manure and compost for the garden	17th February, Thursday 2.30 pm
6	Planting of vegetables	17th February, Thursday 2.30 pm

      We also discussed the items we would require to establish our vegetable garden, which included four bags of compost costing between RM45 and RM50 a bag, Vegetable seeds/seedlings, Gardening tools (Cangkul, spa    Composting bins- 2 (RM40 per bin), Goat dung, Cow dung, and chicken dung costing RM5 a bag, Compost frame,  Polybags and Bamboo Sticks.

Members would also be required to collect a few items two days prior to the compost-making activity, including:

1.       Grass

2.       Dried Leaves

3.       Fresh Leaves

4.       Sugar Cane Residue

5.       Cempedak Skin

6.       Banana Peels

7.       Soya Waste

8.       Coconut Waste

We are all very eager to get started on our Organic Vegetable Garden!