Wisdom from Rataouille, Bubba and Yoda- How i got into Landscaping

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” John Muir, Naturalist and Advocate of American Wilderness preservation

In Warren Buffett’s world the perfect manager is someone who gets up in the morning thinking about the business and at night is dreaming about the business. As he says: “Obsession is the price for perfection.” My good friend Bernard Cher, the visionary founder of M Workshop- Singapore’s foremost scale modelling think-tank gave me the one most important advice and analogy- which to this day has been the mantra to achieve personal legacy and my purpose in life. Ratatouille the rat, who aspires to be a chef, experienced perpetual hallucination of Gusteau his culinary hero speaking to him. Bubba, Forrest Gump’s VietNAM afro buddy who was known to have no other interest apart from being simply obsessed with shrimps, shrimps and shrimps. To have a focused singular passion is key.

In a place like small island Singapore where practicality, being down to earth and being economically sensible are by far the greatest virtues, following your heart can be one of the most dangerous things one can do. If by following your heart, it means being of two minds whether to do an MBA or take a Post Grad Dip, you are easily approved by all- since either way; you will still find yourself highly employable or highly regarded.  But if you decide to quit your very good paying job to backpack to Madagascar or take up an apprenticeship for a meagre monthly wage to be a baker or carpenter…your folks might ask you why you like to use your backside to think...go Fuck Spider or Fly Kite. For anyone who find my language colourful, welcome to Singapura, Home of Cocksford Engrish aka Singlish. Follow my site, i teach you how to become an Ang Mo Pai Ah Beng.

Imagine the high cost of living, uncoolable property prices, rising medical expenses and falling behind your peers as everyone in their late 20s and early 30s swiftly ascend ranks to become managers and directors with the ability to settle down, lay down their chips for housing mortgage and have passive income generating wealth for their retirement nest. Driving your own vehicle is optional as we have a rather good public transport system. In deciding to do something remotely bohemian and ballsy, you may be branded selfish, irresponsible, immature, 败家子 Bai Jia Zi (Prodigal Son). It is definitely a strain on personal well-being to suffer infinite guilt trips and attack on esteem and every codes of moral you were taught to honor. Sometimes your own integrity is at stake. Families, Friendship are all put to trial. You will be misinterpreted, misunderstood. Then again if it's all smooth sailing, you'll have less stories to tell, would you rather listen to Richard Branson and Steve Jobs speak or attend a PAP Walkover GRC Rally? If you do succeed, you get a pat on your back- the local media may attempt to paint you as a Golden Boy/Jade Girl, if you fail..Well you’ve been warned- that life favors Murphy’s Laws and run into a classic case of 自己拿来摔 Ji Gei Lor Lai Shooi (For best effect-Cantonese is the preferred language- To screw up oneself ) Think about it, if you had decided to take Visa’s brand slogan seriously to Just Go or take up credit financing to fund your venture and hit dog shit woes…You are as good as fucked under Singapore’s Bankruptcy Laws, Chapter 13 – Even the Number sounds so downright suay right? And then it becomes a matter of whether you wish to lie down for a while or get up and dance again. I say let's do the JBJ! You would not be advised to take any plunge without first having at least some form of safety net which is commonly called calculated risk; Just Do It is replaced by “Think Harder Before You Do It.” In fashion apparel sense, it would be like wearing your Dad’s Rockport instead of trainers to run a marathon.

So yeah, I’ve written this as an ode to myself to save me from the regret of not following my heart and to never again fear making decisions that could lead to failure." Do or Do Not..There is No Try.

It has only been 3 months since I got myself entwined by the mindvines of the Landscape World. Like a mad scientist, I seem to have been caught by a craze to know every plant and tree that lines our sidewalks and streetscapes. This obsession is not unlike anything that I tend to indulge in.. Beer, Collecting Classic rock records, Classic Movies, scourging the bargain bins of Bras Brasah for cheap ass 2^nd hand paperbacks by the truckload. Except those activities make me sound like I’m some kind of Dharma Bum Beat Poet Barfly. But I’m talking about my attempt to penetrate new frontiers where it's still quiet on the south-eastern front...

I could try to go way back to my childhood but HEY I’m a mid- career change dude so I am all about letting my actions and words be motivation for those who have yet to discover their own rudder.  Or those who have become jaded with their career which was never stemmed out of any personal interest besides $$$. Let’s not wait till I become establishment and you need to read my stuff from a press release ok..Follow me on my journey.

You could say I’d stumbled into it. It all started with an editorial article I was working on featuring The Royal Residence, Bangkok while still gainfully employed with one of South East Asia’s largest property developer. Discovering it was the talented Bill Benstley and team who were behind the creation, I became fixated with the design story and all the eclectic elements, landscaping that shaped the private residences into a romantic paradise on earth. This was followed by a visit to Legendary Thai Silk King- Jim Thompson’s rustic enclave in Bangkok that felt like a sanctuary in the heart of the metropolis and a holiday in Ko Samui resort where I’d had the luxury of staying at a pool-villa complete with an outdoor shower that blew me away. Sitting on the deck in the buff with a horizon view was spectacular no less. And not to mention Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden Walls at the entrance of Siam Paragon. The most unlikely of all factors that triggered the desire to become a landscape designer was Mark Ruffalo’s lonely protagonist in the chick flick- Just Like Heaven..in which the landscape architect built a garden in memory of the woman he loves. 

And many other sources fell into place rather naturally as I gravitated towards anything to do with gardens, flora and ecology. Progressively I’d also started to read more beyond aesthetics based interest and further into environmental innovations ie. Landscaping Engineering. I begun to correlate all my boyhood indulgence in Nat Geos and 2 decades of long standing affinity for culture, anthropology, history and literature- Andrew Wallace’s musings in the Malayan Archipelago, Joseph Banks’s journey with Captain Cook on the HMS Endeavor, The Arabian Nights, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s romantic love and devotion to the passing of his queen, for whom he dedicated the Taj Mahal ( With its lovely courtyard and landscaping to flank the monument) to..Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong and his lifelong garden complex project in the Forbidden City.  Edward Scissorhands and his surreal topiary. It helps that I live right smack beside Pearl’s Hill Park with endless canopies and vice versa for my girlfriend who lives near the Chinese Gardens.

And so during the summer of 2010, i backpacked Europe and visited 10 gardens in Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain. A year has since passed and as I juggle to keep afloat as a self-employed art director, I let my burning passion lead me to enrich myself in the skills required to join as a novice in the industry.  In Louis Chia’s historical wuxia fiction Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, the protagonist Zhang Wuji was known to have learnt from many cult masters and labeled as off-centered. That is what I am about- I am not academically inclined to be in any position to gain entry in formal education such as our local Polytechnics or Universities, so here I am attempting to learn through diverse methods and hope to stumble into my Nine Yang Divine Skill. Later in life as I will surely become more eccentric, I shall develop my Yang Guo Melancholy Palms!  To go as far as whatever accreditations are available to stay fit in competition.

This is only the beginning…As the old Chinese proverb from Lao Zu says: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  And in Van Gogh’s words- If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ Then by all means paint…and that voice will be silenced. Whatever I cannot achieve on my own, I will with God’s guidance. I may have tanked my grades in science when I was 16 but that will not stop me from knowing i will become a certified practicing horticulturist and arborist because i know i can. 

Screw you Singapore Education System, I’ll burrow a tunnel in man..and when i get to teach the children, i'll light a ganja for some aroma first. Oooh Yeah

A Brave New World

It's 2 am. I should probably be asleep by now to get up early at dawn for my WSQ Landscape Operation course which has just resumed this week. Under the cosy warm effect from a glass of Waipara Valley 2009 Pinot Noir, my body should be comfortably conditioned to mellow down for shut eye. Yet my mind's occupied by loads of afterthoughts, was simply just zest up-inspired and fascinated.

Earlier at prime time, i had just caught a good feature documentary on our local Channel 8 about Gen Y Farmers. How apt..since i had just finished a fruitful day mingering with soil and plants at Sun Plaza Park in Tampines Central. This goes along nicely with all the exchange between students and lecturer about our current landscape industry, which in spite of all the hype and rave about Gardens by the Bay- the industry's wages, labour and manpower issues is demographically in the dumps, plagued by some policies that begs to be looked into. Do you smell bullshit? Along with construction, it seems headed for the sunset with a thumping Bangladesh jingle to accompany the end credits, since our local contractors pretty much have no one else to hire besides our hardworking friends for SGD$600 or lesser..who can outwork any other locals- in this case mostly old cowboys retiree uncles. What's worse, many towkays actually prefer to hire Banglas, since they can exploit them and get to go shopping for another white Mercedes sooner. Singaporeans they find, have too much reservations and complains. Even if levies increase, the contractors will still have their tricks. Tenders go for the cheapest quote, contractors also try to squeeze more balls. Gahmen don't care..continue to invite more over to increase productivity.

Anyway let's get back on track. The docu featured two local boys of my generation who took over their family's agriculture business Quanfa Organic Farm in Murai and are doing some incredible work as third generation farmers. How fortunate they are to be born children of farmers, children of the earth. I often wish i was a kampung boy who could return somewhere to do this. I was very glad and inspired to know there are some like-minded folks out there who are all about roots. As modern agrarian advocates, Max Liao 32 and his younger brother have been rather successful in revamping their parent's agriculture practice into a fully sustainable operation built upon what i feel is a rather impressive business model in sync with the market. Having identified the fast growing demand for organic food among health aficionados, old methods were improved with a compost system from Japan which uses a unique culturing medium to eliminate the obnoxious odors of raw materials to produce a nutrient rich organic debris; which deters the rate of damage caused by disease infection & insect infestation. This compost is used throughout the farm to condition dead soil back to its nature state, which will in turn enhance & stimulate plants growth. With the improvement in the soil activity, their vegetables are produced without the usage of synthetic pesticides & chemical fertilizers. Dedicating themselves to the back breaking work of harvesting the vegetables early in the morning for distribution, the brothers have further personalize their business by conducting veg tours, talks, workshops as well as offer healthy culinary advice and alternative recipes.

I understand there's nothing new about this locally...over the last decade or so, some like Mrs Ivy Singh of Bollywood Veggies, the spirited folks at Kranji Countryside and Lai Hock from Ground-Up Initiatives have championed these worthy eco initiatives and causes to bring people together to connect with Mother Nature, and have a greater appreciation for the earth, and the food on our table. But this is not meant to be perceived as some fad or trend. This is here to stay. This is Life on Earth. Max was motivated to bring it to an educational level when he recalls how a friend's young daughter was asked where the vegetable she eats come from, her answer was that it comes from the supermarket. How sad. I mean it's true, i'm not sure about you but i constantly think about my food..not just about the way it's prepared, presentation etc, i deeply appreciate the whole process and cycle each item has undergone before it is finally placed before me.

Brings me back to my first day lesson at CUGE (Centre of Urban Greenery) when we were confronted by this truth: We (Human Beings) will not be here and would cease to exist if not for plants. Think about this- Potato, Rice, Wheat, Maize- the world's 4 largest food crops that have kept all of us alive through the entire civilization of mankind are all plants. Grass which feed our cattle friends who become our meat source are plants. Trees which supply us of oxygen and by their own capacity are the only beings on earth which produce their own food through photosynthesis-can exist without us selfish pricks. And what about the great Coffee bean, the Cacao bean, Tea leaves, Tobacco, all the exotic spices and herbs in this part of our world that makes our food delicious. What about Oil Palms and Coconut Palms? We live in their world. They were all here before we did. It is only by our imagination and intelligence that we are able to dominate the eco system, and by the very same prowess upset the balance, and destroy it.

I don't understand my fellow Singaporeans who seems bent on wanting to see trees in their residential neighborhood pruned to death or ruthless chainsaw their branches. And then they blame it on the birds..on their droppings and the sounds they make.

Farmers deserve RESPECT. Urbanites are just full of shit.