Singapore: Urban farms – Get up close to a beehive and sip on farm-to-table drinks on rooftop
The Sundowner Rooftop Farm Experience
By Clara Lock
Straits Times
Dec 21, 2020
Excerpt:
From behind a netted hood, we watch as Mr Chua explains bee behaviour, such as huddling together when they sense rain so as to protect the comb, or fanning their wings at the entrance of a hive to regulate the temperature within.
A honey-tasting session opens our eyes to the tastes, textures and colours of honey from around the world, from the warm, caramel notes of blue gum from Australia, to the woody and resinous dark amber pine honey from the Mediterranean.
We also hear from farmscaper Jeremy Beckman, who, together with Mr Chua, planted rows of Asian herbs such as laksa leaves, Thai basil and kaffir lime, as well as more finicky varieties such as thyme, sage and rosemary.
Mr Beckman, 35, explains what goes into a good potting mix as we layer soil with a bag of compost he has prepared.
“Good soil should not smell bad,” he says, and indeed the black mix, comprising waste such as leaf litter and horse manure, is odourless when I scoop it up with bare hands.
