Grow Healthy Food at Urban Balcony

Viaggio di una famiglia urbana per coltivare il proprio cibo sano sul balcone

‘Every journey begins with a single step”

~ Lao Tzu (老子) the great Confucius philosopher ~

Thank you for downloading this Grow Healthy Food at Urban Balcony free app.

In August 2010, we were shaken by the news that a very dear family member was diagnosed with the Big C. That wake up call changed everything. We dived in to read more about the disease and came to realise that eating healthy food is no longer an option, but a must.

Our journey to grow our own food begun in January 2016. We were ecstatic about the idea of starting our own vegetable garden at our own rather sizable 24 feet x 10 feet balcony.

We learned a little bit about aquaponics system, ie growing a combination of fish and vegetable, and soil-lessly We bought a simple aquaponics set, which consisted of a blue tank, two modified cabinets which served as grow bed, a water pump, one oxygen pump, several PVC pipes, a bag of clay pebbles as the planting medium, and around 20 crayfish.

We moved on to grow fish. The diy project is to build a new aquaponics system from scratch. This whole project runs based on trial and error. This is by no means a bible to a perfect balcony farm in growing our own food. We made a few modifications to the system every now and then to ensure that it works and functions well. We modified the system by adding a black bin, to function as an exterior sump tank, to capture the solid waste from the tilapia fish, as we notice the sedimentation will not breakdown fast enough, which eventually caused a clog to the water flow outlet from the grow-bed.

3 years into aquaponics, we managed to keep the system well maintained, and in return, it supplies us a family of 4, a good source of pesticide-free, home grown vegetables, as well as a good quality and tasty fish. We are sort of self sufficient from our own balcony farm, at least, we have managed to cut down the bills in buying vegetables.

We grow some plants and herbs in pots too. We have mulberry, ladies fingers, egg-plant, tomatoes, ginger, some local herbs eg daun cekur, thai basil, ketumbar jawa, serai, daun limau purut which is used to cook the Thai delicacy TomYam.

As we strive for chemicals free home-grown food for ourselves, we do not use any store-bought chemical fertiliser. Water from the aquaponics system is used to feed the plants in the pots.

Kitchen waste are composted by burying them in the pots. The end result is nutrient rich compost soil for the plant to grow. There are many more ways of composting, which ultimately comes down to the end result, that is reduce waste and recycle, which is also friendly to the environment.

The beautiful harvest are captured and shared in the gallery in the app. There are some tips in pest control in the app too. Not only the plentiful harvests are always being shared out to bless friends, neighbours, and families, they are also being turned into creative gifts. We have dedicated a section of Q&A through our sharing at the social media Find out more in the app.

The journey to grow our own food is by no means effortless, hassle free, without setback or sweat-free. We learn to be patient, and learn to respect nature. The whole family is involved in the building of the system. This helps us to bond, and also gives us common topic to talk about.

We are also joining support group in Facebook, and some social media chat group, learning and encouraging fellow aquaculture enthusiasts, building friendships along the way.

The overall journey in growing our own food is very fulfilling and satisfying. We managed to influence a few friends to pick up the interests as well.

Download this free app now, to be inspired by this family from the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is their journal and sharing, that it is possible to grow your own healthy vegetables and food.

Take the first step. Start small. Start anyway.

After all, no one says no to home-grown pesticides free fresh produce, you would surely agree, wouldn’t you?