Happy Farmer - Your neighborhood Organic farmer

When a friend exclaimed "is there an organic farm in Penang?" after telling her that I've just came back from an organic farm, I decided to write something about this organic farm that I've visited to pick up my freshly pluck organic vegetable. It is a farm located at Relau agro-tourism center ('Pusat Agro Pelancongan Relau'), run by an engineer with a nickname called Happy Farmer.

With more than 20 years engineering background, about 10 years ago, Mr. Lee Kok Leong decided to start organic farming to escape from hectic engineering life in order to lead a healthy lifestyle and at the same time, benefit the community around him. The first few years was tough with no consistent result, it was difficult for Mr. Lee to meet customer demand. Learning to farm was not an easy task for Mr. Lee who had no farming experience, especially organic farming which is so labour intensive. The effort was not paid off until recently, when the produce are more consistent with regular customer base. In this farm, everything from weeding, seedling, transplant, prepare bedding, composting, preparing repellent, preparing liquid fertilizer, harvesting and wrapping of fruits all done manually. Now I understand why organic products cost more. Here are some produces available when i was there.

Sweet basil for pesto anyone?

The home of sting-less bee in the farm.

Honey in progress.

Food for the bees.

The bees are busy pollinating. Can yo spot them?

We were so fortunate that we were just in time to get some sweetcorn which we missed last batch. The sweetcorn were incredibly sweet.

Can't wait for this bitter gourd to be ready for harvesting.

Mini-cos.

Cabbage 'in progress'.

Swiss chard, look at how colourful they are. Red and yellow stalk, it is one of the superfood.

Do you know that fig is an Asian species of flowering plants in the mulberry family?

Organic banana.

The farm is now certified MyOrganic by Agriculture Department of Malaysia. The soil, water source and produce are subjected to lab test for heavy metal residue and pesticide contamination periodically, so we can be rest assured that the produce from this farm is safe for consumption with no artificial pesticide used.

Be a smart consumer and get to know where your food come from. Do not just trust the sticker with organic wordings on the wrappers. Get to know your farmer and visit the farm to understand how your food are produced. Volunteer at the organic farm and you will appreciate the small size veggies with holes. What else would you ask for, if you can get locally grown organic vegetable for your family?

Contact Mr Lee to get your organic produce today.

You can find this farm by typing in 'Pusat Pertanian Relau' in Google map.