This 78-year-old organic farmer doesn't believe in retirement. Here's why

Why I Do What I Do is an original AsiaOne series where we showcase people with uncommon professions and what it takes to get there.

---

After more than two decades of cultivating crops, we'd understand if Evelyn Eng-Lim would prefer to take a step back to enjoy the fruits of her labour.

But the 78-year-old organic farmer at Green Circle Eco-Farm tells AsiaOne that she's not slowing down if she can help it, even despite her hearing difficulties.

She usually starts her work day at 7am by supervising her workers at the fields, an all-important task. 

"There was once I told my workers to cut a tree that was towering over the lady's finger we had planted below," she recalls. "When I went to check on them, the tree was going to fall and they were in the way.

"I told them 'Hey stop. Can you all please run?' If I'm not there, they would have been crushed already."

Not that Evelyn is complaining about having to remain active at the farm in her golden years. 

"I'll [work] according to what my body can handle. But I don't believe in retirement," She says. "Because the more I do, the more I learn. Just like the tree [incident] where I had to know how to cut it."

Opening a farm to be immersed in nature 

Evelyn, who grew up in the fifties, shares that her upbringing left her with a deep appreciation for the wonders of nature.

"My mother would brew me a herbal drink when I had a slight fever," she explains. "My father would share about growing up in China, where the villagers would forage for herbs that would cure a particular ailment. I grew up with the confidence in nature and what it can provide."

Apart from her affinity with nature, Evelyn shares that as a vegetarian, she believes we are what we eat. 

So imagine her concern after reading in the papers that a consignment of vegetables was rejected by the authorities due to pesticides. 

The year was 1997, Evelyn recalls, and it wasn't easy to get her hands on pesticide-free food. 

"I cannot have people controlling my health, and I was wondering what to do since there were no organic shops that sell fresh produce at all," she says.

While Evelyn had dabbled with growing a few plants in her backyard and was a volunteer in the Nature Society, this was a turning point that prompted her to give serious thought to becoming a farmer. 

Describing how her life was at a crossroads, Evelyn said she was looking for new challenges at that time: "The more I thought about [opening a farm], the more exhilarated I was.

"And by owning a farm, I can have the freedom to live a very simple life. Grow my own food, plant fruit trees and be immersed in nature."

Learning not to fear nature

Spanning over 2.2 hectares of land — or roughly four football fields — along Neo Tiew Road, Green Circle Eco-Farm produces over 120 varieties of perennial vegetables, flowers and herbs.

But when Evelyn and her husband started in 1999, plenty of work had to be done to turn the farm into the "food forest" it is today.

That included removing over 55 tonnes of building debris on the land, composting and replenishing organic material into the soil.

Due to her lack of experience in farming, Evelyn admits that it was all about learning along the way.

"As I went along, I realised, why do I need to work so hard? There must be easier ways for farming," she says, adding that looking for plants that are suitable to grow side-by-side, or companion planting, helps reduce labour and increase productivity.

Growing perennial vegetables that last for more than two years was another strategy to save on labour, Evelyn shared, but convincing consumers to eat her produce instead of imported fare was challenging.

But the Covid-19 pandemic saw an unlikely surge in demand for her perennial vegetables, flowers and herbs.

"When everyone was emptying all the shelves in supermarkets, suddenly there were people ordering my vegetable baskets online," she quips, adding that the number of customers went up to around "three-fold".

Besides holding nasi ulam (mixed herb rice) cooking workshops for people looking to include perennial vegetables in their diet, Green Circle Eco-Farm also hosts educational tours for students.

Describing the tours for preschoolers as "not too academic", Evelyn says: "We sing songs like Insects All Around so that they will not be afraid of bees and butterflies since they play a role in making food for us to eat.

"There's also a song about the five senses. But whether they understand it or not, the main thing is about instilling in them that nature is not something to be feared."

Evelyn has even suggested introducing farming to full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) in her written appeal to the authorities to extend the lease of her farm. Her suggestion was dismissed, she says. 

"But surely if you consult the NSFs, you will find a few who are interested in farming."

An uncertain future

While the land Green Circle Eco Farm sits on is now capable of producing organic vegetables with sustainable farming methods, its future remains uncertain.

The farm was ordered to pack up and move out by July 31 as the land is slated to be developed for military use. 

However, Evelyn has been trying ways and means to save the farm, from writing to the authorities to starting an online petition. 

Rather than protecting her business interests, Evelyn says her resistance is because Green Circle Eco-Farm has "scientific and economic sustainability value" and can even serve as a research hub. 

While her previous appeals for a lease extension were rejected, Evelyn has yet to shutter the farm as another appeal is still pending. 

"A professor from National University of Singapore has written an appeal for an extension so that she can do her research here," Evelyn says. "But we're still in a limbo."

While the farm remains open, Evelyn will stick with her daily routine of waking up at 6.30am to prepare breakfast with the fresh produce she has harvested the previous day.

With her farming career in danger of being cut short any day, she reflects on the biggest thing she's learnt in 22 years of farming. 

"Intuition," she says. "Like one day, I was thinking about how the hibiscus is not just to attract pollinating insects, but they might be edible too.

"So I just took one flower and ate it, and I didn't collapse. So I wasn't worried."

chingshijie@asiaone.com