Our vegetable garden is producing some wonderful crops! In today’s photos, you can see some of the kids harvesting two of the most abundant veggies – tomatoes and cucumbers.
The vegetable patch (which is really a large greenhouse) is located at the back of our campus, and it has been a mainstay of our horticultural efforts for several years. Once the domain of our home-grown agronomist, Sothon, who has since moved on, it is now managed by our new gardener, Martini, with the help of the kids. Besides tomatoes and cucumbers, we are currently growing morning glory and chillies.
Once the vegetables have been picked, they make the very short journey (10 metres at most!) to the kitchen, where our new cook Kimsal, who took over from Ma Khun a few months ago, uses them almost immediately to create various yummy, healthy dishes. Recently, for example, the green tomatoes were included in a delicious stir-fried pork with pineapple, while the cucumbers starred in the nompang pate that Kimsal served for breakfast. (Cambodia’s nompang pate is similar to Vietnam’s bánh mì – a soft baguette sandwich filled with cold cuts, pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cucumbers and coriander.)
Besides providing fresh, organic produce for our meals, the vegetable garden also teaches our kids some important lessons, such as self-reliance and the need for harmony with nature, so we always encourage them to tend to it with love and dedication. And we’re looking forward to some cucumber salad for lunch…