Farmer's Markets In HK

The closet farmer's markets we can go to are:
Island East Markets - Quarry Bay, Tong Chong Street, Sundays 9-5 pm

Central Market -  Star Ferry central pier no 7, Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Wednesdays noon-6pm, Sundays 11am-5pm

Island East Markets

Food blogger Janice Leung, aka e*ting, has co-founded this new farmers’ market. With more than 40 stalls, it will be possibly the largest farmers’ market in the city. It is due to open for a four-week trial period starting September 30 to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Location: Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay
Opening hours: Sundays 9am-5pm
- See more at: http://hk-magazine.com/restaurants/article/hong-kong-farmer-markets-where-buy-freshest-produce#sthash.jb5qBnN8.dpuf

Our Meal Ideas:

Pork Chop - $68 - 300g

Spareribs - $68 - 300g

Gnocchi

Sweet potato fries

Tomato soup

Fettuccine

beef skewers

Where to buy Organic Food

• eat fresh
• wetmarkets
• supermarkets
• homegrownfoods
• greendotdot

Food Culture in Hong Kong

What we eat?

•  you can find just about anything in Hong Kong
• from Russian foods to Mongolian

How we eat?

• In Hong Kong, the people appreciate food if its fresh and alive
• People are against MSG or artificial/ processed foods
• a lot of people also like traditional foods for example, Moon Cakes, Turkey etc.

Where does our food come from?

•  a lot of the food comes fresh from the wet markets
• however the supermakerts have a wider range of foods
• in the supermarkets some of the foods are imported from China, US, Thailand etc.

How important is food?

• Many of the people in Hong Kong think highly of food and they invest a lot of their money it. 
• There are 61 Michelin Star Restaurants in Hong Kong

How has the food culture changed?

• in Hong Kong, there used to be many "street stalls", they sell canto-styled junk food, now it is more urbanized and more civilized with more restaurants. 

Planting Seeds

One of the first projects we started on was planting seeds. We planted many different herbs, such as basil, lettuce, rocket, curly red, curly green, mint and many more.







After a few weeks we had thin out the plants so that there would be more space in the cells for the plants to grow.





















We had a passion fruit in the bokashi compost and instead of throwing it away we decided to plant the seeds inside the passion fruit.

Bokashi Compost

Bokashi composting is one of many methods of composting. It is an Japanese, eco friendly composting method, which utilizes the food waste and turns it into fruit juice, which can be used in the garden and around the house. It uses an anaerobic process to break down the organic materials. The same process is used on wine and pickles.

The positives of this method is that it is not as time consuming as many other methods. Instead of taking months, it can take days, depending on how long it takes to fill the bucket. If it is done properly, there shouldn't be any bugs or insects.

The process includes layering food waste and bokashi mix. Because the box is air tight and we have added micro-organisms, the waste ferments. It doesn't decompose, but reduces in size as the water drains out through the grate at the bottom of the bucket. When the bucket is full, the food waste is transferred outside and buried in to ground to continue the composting process.



In the picture to the right is our bokashi bucket. We collect food waste from the tuck shops everyday and put it into the bucket, adding a little bokashi mix every time.

We make sure to cut the pieces as small as possible and try to remove most water.

Making a Propagator and Irrigation System

One of the first things we started doing was making a propagator and an irrigation system. A propagator is a shelf to put the plants on the protect them from weather, animals etc.

We used bamboo and string to build.

While some people were building a propagator, others were setting up an irrigation system. An irrigation system is a water system which waters the plants. It helps us so that we don't have to keep watering them everyday or so they don't die during a holiday and there was no one around to water them.

Taking Care of Our Plants

We set up a rotation system for each week. Every lunch one person will check on the plants and see if the irrigation system is working. We also made a rotation for collecting left over food for the bokashi compost.

What to consider when growing herbs and lettuce? + Factors affecting the school garden site?

There are a lot of factors to consider when growing plants, for example:

• lighting (sunlight)
• space
• seeds, to check if its genetically modified
• fertilization
• water
• pest control
• carbon dioxide levels
• pH of soil
• warmth
• composts
• health of the plants
• irrigation system 

Why set up an urban garden?

Why do people set up urban gardens? 
Basically, what urban gardens are, are small little gardens that are set up in urban areas, for example, a garden on top of a roof of a building. Urban gardens help the environment a lot because, 1) it helps to produce more fresh air, and 2) it makes the people in urban cities also aware of the issues of their health and how it can be changed by gardening.

What is the urban sustainability challenge?

The urban sustainability challenge is basically a challenge that we will be doing at the end of this course, with all the information we've learned, we are to produce a meal sustainably in which we include food which we have grown ourselves, and produces from Hong Kong.