Foodscape Pages

25/07/2023

Local Food Systems and Climate Change

As part of this series, our next story casts the spotlight on Christopher Leow, an urban farmer, community gardener and more!

In this article, Chris shares the processes of starting a community garden, together with insights—or the reality checks of sustaining a business model that puts equal emphasis and care on farmers.

It’s a story of reflection and also the realisation of coming full circle—back to an initiation point.

Check out the story via the link in the bio!

08/12/2022

🥳🎊🎈What better way to celebrate the launch of our journazine than to get together for an ECO-CONSCIOUS POTLUCK? 😀🥗🧆🥟🍰🥧🍫🍌🥜

As a ground-up community initiative that has no official funding, this has been how we create spaces for gathering that are inclusive, diverse and participatory. Over the years, meaningful conversations and heartfelt connections have been made over sharing our food journey during such gatherings. 

Potluck is also eases the load off the host and gives the opportunity to everyone to contribute in sharing. After all, SHARING in CARING :) and this is definitely the season for more sharing.

This festive season, we’d like to invite you to think of creative ways that you can gather in celebration, that is nourishing and regenerative for yourself, your community and the planet. 

Share your ideas in the comment, and enjoy your gatherings! 😀

08/12/2022

What better way to celebrate the launch of our journazine than to get together for an ECO-CONSCIOUS POTLUCK? 💚🌏😋

As a ground-up community initiative, this has been how we create spaces for gathering that are inclusive, diverse and participatory. Over the years, meaningful conversations and heartfelt connections have been made over sharing our food journey during such gatherings. 

Potluck also eases the load off the host and gives the opportunity to everyone to contribute in sharing. After all, SHARING in CARING 🥰and this is definitely the season for more sharing.

This festive season, we’d like to invite you to think of creative ways that you can gather in celebration, that is nourishing and regenerative for yourself, your community and the planet. 🍀🌈🦋

Share your ideas in the comment, and enjoy your gatherings!

***

05/12/2022

👀 Did you know that one tablespoon of soil comprises billions of microorganisms!
Most of the bacteria and fungi can’t be seen by our naked eyes, but we can see some of the living beings in a thriving soil community 🐛🪱🐞🐜🐚🪲🕷busy going about their roles as diggers, scavengers, composters, digesters etc. creating alchemistry as they eat, move and p**p!

Learn more as we celebrate the World Soil Day!
As more people are becoming aware of the importance of soil in our food and climate system, you too can play a part in taking actions to regenerate our soils.

If you haven’t already, check out our first issue of “The Sauce - on food, community and inspirations”, where we put our lens on Soil and bring you articles, interviews with local practitioners and tidbits on soil science and history around this important topic from our region! Get your copy now via the link in bio 😃📖 and learn about the growing movement happening right here under our feet. 👣🐾

And in the meantime, take a look around and beneath your feet.
🍀Dig in, dig deep, can soil save us?
🌸How does the Singapore soils look and feel to You?
🦋Have you ever wonder where the soils come from?

26/06/2022

Save Singapore’s Pioneering Food Forest

We note the Government’s decision to reacquire Green Circle Eco-Farm’s land plot by 31 July 22 for redevelopment purposes. Our previous appeal to extend the land lease in a bid to conserve our precious Food Forest was rejected on 25 Apr 2022.

We are now making an earnest plea to MSE and the Government - in reacquiring the land - to consider taking over and preserving Green Circle’s Food Forest.

We have set up a petition here
https://www.change.org/savefoodforest

Help us save our food forest. Share this link if you can please!

15/04/2022

A self-sustaining, more regenerative version of local food systems in Singapore is gaining ground. 🫑🥬 In a 5-part photoessay series, Jen Chan and Chen Chingwei share the stories of 5 individuals: urban farmers, community gardeners and food foragers, whose grit and vision have led them to breathe new life into the concrete jungle.

Read the main article on our website, http://foodscapepages.org

10/01/2022

This article is written by Madhu Giri in participation of Pages Community Writing Workshop for the S...

01/01/2022

Also described as a "form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home” by environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht, Solastalgia is seen as the lived experience of negative environmental change.

A sense of self built upon an increasingly unstable and fragmented world or climate will reflect the selfsame conditions. Hence, through learning about and engaging in efforts to slow or counter climate change, we may perhaps begin to see an invaluable transformation within ourselves 🌅💚

23/12/2021

Christmas approaches amid a flurry of excitement and quintessential festivities: from riding on Christmas sales to do some last minute gift shopping to planning an elaborate dinner gathering for our loved ones. As we celebrate a season of joy and giving, let's remain cognisant of the many wasteful practices that we've grown accustomed to during this holiday. Pages has put together some tips for celebrating a more eco-conscious Christmas, in hopes we may move towards a more sustainable way of celebrating while retaining the essence of Christmas 💚

Of course, reducing food waste is but one aspect. We would love to hear from you ☺️ What does a 'Conscious Christmas' look like?🎄🎅🏽

07/12/2021

And...our new website is live! Head over to our bio now, and click on our linktree ➡️ ‘About’ to experience it 😊

Pages would once again like to express our warmest gratitude to all those who've contributed to making this large undertaking possible. We hope you find our new home a space fertile for knowledge discovery, inspiration and sharing 🤲🏼🪴

30/11/2021

Eco-civilisation, short for Ecological Civilisation, was first coined in 1984. But it was not until the 2000s when the concept gained traction. It acknowledges the set of problems faced by the world today as a singular whole, that

"We[the world is] faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.
Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." (Francis, Pope. Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home)

Learn more about the eco-civilisation approach through initiatives like the 🌏🤲🏼

30/11/2021

Eco-civilisation, short for Ecological Civilisation, was first coined in 1984. But it was not until the 2000s when the concept gained traction. It acknowledges the set of problems faced by the world today as a singular whole, that

"We[the world is] faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.
Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." (Francis, Pope. Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home)

Learn more about the eco-civilisation approach through initiatives like the 🌏🤲🏼

27/11/2021

Over the past few months, Pages' website underwent an extensive renovation in order to become a space more aligned to our vision, conducive for content, as well as user-friendly. This would not have been possible without the expert and patient guidance of a number of people including Esther and Becher, volunteers from , as well as Pages' very own web-developer cm digital-illustrator, Jun Qi. We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to them (and many more who contributed in ways however big or small) to make our dream virtual plot a reality!

Our new website will be fully ready soon, and we can't wait for you all to experience it! In the meantime, swipe to find out more on what went on behind the scenes of our website-redesign process 🛖🪴👷🏽‍♀️

24/11/2021

Differentiating one seed from another can be tricky, especially when they not only look alike but behave similarly too. This week's mystery seed shares many similarities with the Chia seed.
However, unlike Chia which originates from South America, Asia is home-ground for this seed. Perhaps that's why its plant is a household name in our bioregion!

Can you guess what it is? 🤔🤭

01/11/2021

Hello! Tomorrow, 2 Nov, Tuesday, 12-2pm (SG time), join Pages' editor, also a mindful eating facilitator Vivian Lee in this fun and interactive session to renew our relationship with food, as part of this year's virtual The Green Unconference 2021.

Alongside Thao Ngo and Hema Wu as part of the REGEN-Nations team at GEN Oceania & Asia, we will explore how the way we eat tell us about ourselves and our connection to the world.

Food - Me and the Planet 🌻

Through mind-mapping and storytelling activities, participants will be invited to reflect on their food journey, co-create stories and collectively learn how to make more mindful and conscious decisions on how we eat.

Register for free here: https://tinyurl.com/TGU2021
Check your local time here: https://bit.ly/3ErWAh3

~~~

Check out the rest of The Green Unconference 2021 daily sharings running alongside COP26 - Climate Change Conference -

Dear friends,

Next Tuesday (Nov 2), our team at REGEN-Nations will facilitate this fun and interactive session to renew our relationship with food 🥦🥐🍚🍫🌰🥑

What does the way we eat say about ourselves and our connection to the world? 🌏

Through mind-mapping and storytelling activities, participants will be invited to reflect on their food journey, co-create stories and collectively learn how to make more mindful and conscious decisions on how we eat.

This is a session in the Green Unconference 2021.
🌟 Register for free here: https://tinyurl.com/TGU2021
Check your local time here: https://bit.ly/3ErWAh3

P/s: note that our session will come at 2.15 PM AEST after a 15 minutes sharing of the Philippines Permaculture Research Institute 😉

21/10/2021

After a month of hard work, Pages’ community writing workshop has finally come to a close 🥳✍🏽 Our team of writers spent the last two sessions finalising their articles for the creation of a Seedmap. We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to those who’ve joined us, for taking the time and energy to be a part of this meaningful project. And not forgetting our brilliant facilitator, editor and creative-writer Megan () whose guidance was integral to its fruition🍈

During our recent meetings, we discussed at length about creating a ‘language of care.’ It may involve unlearning entrenched lexica and exploring (and cultivating our own) alternative ways of communication; relinquishing terms such as “target audience” in favour of “intended audience”. Or perhaps recalibrating our perspectives on the nature of communication, by speaking about someone or something as if they were physically next to us.

We leave you with some questions/prompts to steep in 🛁: What is your understanding of a ‘language of care’? How may we adopt a language of care in our daily lives? And how will doing so further enrich our lives, and the connections we have and make? ☺️

10/10/2021

is a homegrown vegan bubble tea brand with a focus on sustainability 😊 The store uses compostable cups, lids and straws, as well as offers a 15% discount for customers who BYO cups. We also love how wide their variety of plant-based milk alternatives are - aside from the usual soy or oat, they are one of the pioneer users of bamnut milk in bbt in SG!

A relatively unkown plant-based milk alternative, the bamnut has immense ecological benefits (and a rich creamy texture, so we hear). Native to West Africa but increasingly being cultivated in Asia, the Bambara groundnut from which bamnut milk is produced has soil-regenerative properties! Its incredibly resilient nature also makes it a less resource-extensive crop to farm 🌤☔️

08/10/2021

& more on the literary origins of Ghedeism 🍃

08/10/2021

Drawing from and expanding upon old sources of spiritual insight in the 21st C, Ghedeism is a new secular form of spirituality accompanying the age of the Symbiocene 🎋

27/09/2021

This seed has risen in popularity lately for its high nutritious value and culinary-convenience. Rich in protein, fibre, vitamins and antioxidants, its no wonder it has been hailed as a 'superfood'! 🧚🏻‍♀️

How do you usually consume this seed?🧐

23/09/2021

Generation S 🌏 a collective defined more so by its sense of duty to and compassion for the earth than demographic boundaries; also the generation holding the key to attaining the dream of the Symbiocene. Faraway a concept as it may seem, we are Gen S. Ground-up initiatives seeking to propogate climate-consciousness are aplenty, we need only reach out to learn more.

Everyone of us has the potential to effect change in our own ways. Its nothing grand, but just being conscious of the fact that no action of ours is inconsequential is a step in the right direction!🤗✊🏻

If you are interested to learn more about the Symbiocene, Gen S and related ideas, we will be linking a list of resources in our IG story and highlights. Alternatively, do check out Albrecht's book on the subject and more titled Earth Emotions.

19/09/2021

It has been roughly a week now since we held the second session of our community writing workshop. To recap, Pages is working with to build a seedmap of our bioregion, telling the stories of seedsaving practitioners through transcribed-interview articles 🧤

Our volunteer writers have been hard at work crafting their articles, sharing their progress with one another during our last session. We are thankful for the positive energy in these meetings, as well as all the thought and care our writers have put into their work! It is heartening to see everyone getting more comfortable with one another and the content through open sharing and feedback.

Two more sessions of our workshop to go! All the best to our participating storytellers and to those reading this, stay tuned for more updates on our upcoming issue of The Sauce journazine - Seeds!🥳

18/09/2021

A versatile ingredient used in a myriad of dishes across many cultures, this seed truly is a gem in the kitchen. Swipe to the end to find out what seed this is!

The next time you come across it on a menu, we recommend you give it a go - when boiled, they have a sweet, mild taste and are often compared to chestnuts 🌰😋

14/09/2021

It can be hard to find wholesome and affordable foods in town 🤔
We fortunately chanced upon Simple Lifestyle (Healthy Vegetarian) Cafe recently. They offer a diverse menu of hearty soups, sides and veggie mains at reasonable prices 🍲🥗

So if you're in the CBD area and looking for a healthy lunch fix, do consider paying them a visit! They are open 11.30am-2.45pm on weekdays 🤗

08/09/2021

Continuing on from last week's theme of cyclical forces in nature, we shift this time to look at the study of Phenology; a means for us to decode the wax and wane of natural systems - ecosystem services, food webs, water and carbon cycles...and draw out relationships that exist among them.

Fun fact 🌿 the typical flowering season for water lilies is from May through September. But in tropical climates like sunny Singapore, these flowers bloom all-year-round!

03/09/2021

Pages held our very first community writing workshop last weekend 🛖

We looked through the interview materials with seed saving practitioners from Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. After looking through a few possible writing formats, each of us set off to craft articles most suitable for our assigned material.

Our participating storytellers will be working hard to put together a draft for sharing and feedback during our next session! 🍄

31/08/2021

Did you guess the correct seed and its plant this time? 😊

This tropical plant is a common sight around Singapore. Perhaps the next time you see one, you may recall and make good use of its medicinal properties in addition to enjoying its fun, interactive nature 🌞

28/08/2021

Yin and Yang. Dualism. Rebirth. Life cycles. Terraphthora and Terranascia are but two of many ways in which we may concretise and verbalise these opposing yet interconnected forces in nature, how they make us feel, and in time, come to appreciate their inherent value.

More information on similar terms and concepts can be found in the book, Earth Emotions by Glenn Albrecht.