My Gong gong's farm

I was told by Mummy that Gong gong has a farm. She was going to bring me there one day. Wow, I wonder how the farm looks like and what I would see!

One Saturday after Shichida class, Daddy and Mummy said we were heading to Malaysia to visit Gong gong at his farm. I jumped with joy when I heard that. But where is this place called ‘Malaysia’? Is it very far away?

Mummy explained, “Malaysia is another country not too far from us. We can drive there. But we would need a passport to travel to Malaysia because it is another country. Remember when we went China, we had to use our passports too.”

I sort of got the idea, but still yet to understand well what a ‘country’ is.. I do remember singing this song that has the word ‘country’—“This is my country, this is my flag, this is my future, this is my life, this is my family, these are my friends. We are Singapore, Singaporeans.”

Anyway, I’ve no time to figure this out for now. My mind is wandering off, thinking about the farm.

As we reached Singapore’s customs, Mummy explained that this is where ‘policemen’ checked passports, passengers and cars. So good behaviour was expected.

Our car soon cleared the customs and came to the causeway. Here, Mummy showed me how Singapore and Malaysia are separated by the Straits. “Zhirui you see, in front of us is Malaysia and behind us is Singapore. Say bye-bye to Singapore and hello to Malaysia.”
We met Gong gong shortly along the way so that he could lead the way. I was exteremely excited when Gong gong hopped onto our car. Gong gong too was beaming when he saw me. I fell asleep during the car ride and continued to sleep when we arrived at the farm.

Refreshed from my nap, I started exploring the farm. Gong gong and Daddy were busy burning away the plant debris. They had to employ the excavator to lift the wood into a pile. Mummy showed me the Banana and Winter melon plants that were planted not long ago. There were few hundreds of them. Mummy said we could have bananas in another 6 months. We also saw chickens and chicks at the neighbour’s house. Gong gong invited me to go up the excavator but I was too afraid of the monster machine.

On the way home, Mummy told me that we should help Gong gong more often at the farm as Gong gong is old. She asked me to think about the ways that I can help. Hmm..

Last Saturday, we went to the farm again. That was one month’s time away from the first visit. This time, Aunty Meifeng came along with us. The Banana plants have grown taller, and the Winter melon has bloomed. Wow! Gong gong told me we could have winter melons soon!

As Mummy was shopping for trees at the nursery (to plant at the front yard), she also bought some sunflower seeds. That was so wonderful! Because recently Mummy read me a story about the sunflower. Now we are going to plant them ourselves! With the help of Daddy and Aunty Meifeng, I planted the seeds, fifteen of them along the driveway and watered them. I can’t wait to see them sprout!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mummy tots:
Zhirui, I hope that this experience (and many more to come) at Gong gong’s farm has enriched your life. Hope it has impressed on you different perspectives that most urban children may not see.

Realize and appreciate how we can create things from zero, or even with our bare hands. This is the entrepreneur spirit. The ‘I can’ spirit. Gong gong is a living example. At a retiring age of 62, he is still diligently making things happen.

Run on the dirt, touch the soil and feel Nature’s big wide heart. Sow seeds and see them through harvest. You will learn to treasure your food as they do not come by easily.

愿你出污泥而不染。