Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Grow your own grub
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 22/11/2015
» Readers must have heard of His Majesty the King’s por piang (self-sufficiency) economy for farmers. Based on the assumption that a farmer owns 15 rai of land, it advises the land be divided four ways: 30%, or 4.5 rai, for a pond or water reservoir, 30% for a rice field, 30% for vegetable and fruit orchards, and 10%, or 1.5 rai, for a residential area.
A place in the shade
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 14/06/2015
» I was enjoying my favourite phad thai at the Sampran Riverside’s Inn Chan restaurant when I overheard someone telling resort owner Suchada Yuvaboon that her family have been regular guests of the resort for decades. She said they would either spend their weekends there, staying overnight at the hotel, or drive from Bangkok on Saturday or Sunday just to have lunch at the Inn Chan. Not just every now and then, but nearly every week.
The magic mountains of the Philippines
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 10/05/2015
» From primary school, Filipino children are taught how rich the Philippines is in natural resources. But as a child I saw how the Caraballo mountain range straddling our province of Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon was being denuded of its forest cover, either by illegal loggers or settlers clearing the land for cultivation.
Growing farm fresh kids
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 03/05/2015
» Not many teachers would use a farm as an educational tool for grade school children, but Preciosa Soliven, PhD, is no ordinary teacher. As the founding president of OB (Operation Brotherhood) Montessori Centre, which operates five schools in and around Manila in the Philippines, she motivates children to develop into self-dependent adults from the age of three.
Taking a leaf of faith
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 08/03/2015
» For the past several decades, Damnoen Saduak in Ratchaburi province has been a popular destination for foreign tourists wishing to see its floating market. While most visitors love it, there are those who think the market is only staged.
All’s not fair in Kaset’s meagre store
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 08/02/2015
» The agricultural fair that ended yesterday at Kasetsart University was a misnomer. Well, there were farm products alright, like rice from Surin, garlic and shallots from Si Sa Ket, sweet tamarind from Phetchabun, strawberries and some vegetables grown in Chiang Mai, as well as Manila tamarind and one or two fruits from elsewhere, but that was about all.
Sweet benefits of soursop
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 13/07/2014
» Seeing the potential of soursop as a cash crop, a couple I have known for years have planted 100 saplings on their farm in Ratchaburi. In three years, we may be able to find the fruit on the market, and visitors such as Ibrahim al Rumhi — who emailed me last week to say he was leaving the following day and could I please help him find soursop to take home — might not have to leave empty-handed.
When your garden goes squirrelly
B Magazine, Normita Thongtham, Published on 02/03/2014
» In urban gardens, the occasional squirrel or two feeding on the fruit of trees can be a welcome sight. When my children were growing up, my son would not let me pick ripe fruit from a papaya tree that was within reach of his bedroom window so that squirrels would come to feed on them. “We can buy fruit, the squirrels cannot,” he said. Now we have star fruit trees, and the ground under them is littered by young fruit which have fallen after squirrels have eaten their tender seeds. During the mango season, the fluffy-tailed rodents jump to neighbouring trees to merrily nibble at my neighbour’s ripening mangoes, or jackfruit on another neighbour’s tree.