Siem Reap, KH – Art teacher feeds family from vegetable garden – 7 Apr 2014

The LC family are a young couple who were married 3 year ago, and now have two children.   The father is an art teacher at one of the Peak Snaing village schools.  In general teachers are paid extremely low wages in Cambodia, which means that in order for him to meet the basic needs of his family he frequently works as a farmer during his holidays.

He has spent a lot of time thinking about how he can improve his family’s living conditions.  This caused him to start thinking about all the good things that are happening to the families who have started Food Always In The Home (FAITH) gardens.  After due consideration, he decided to try a family garden with the organic design that makes the garden productive.  He also encouraged his wife to get involved with looking after the garden as a way to save a little money by reducing food expenses, and earn a little extra income from selling vegetables.

LC owns a farm lot that is planted with a few mango and cashew trees.  LC and his wife came to the garden shop’s farm and asked for assistance with building a garden.  When the shop team saw his interest and positive attitude toward the garden, they approved his request for help building a family garden.  With the help of the shop team, and Better Lives support, they were able to build a garden. 

The family has adopted the FAITH garden concept and is using the compost and organic fertilizer that the shop supplied.  LC inter-cropped cash crops like eggplant, beans, morning glory, Chinese cabbage, sweet potato and cucumber.  After a few weeks of hard work, his sweat paid off. The couple were able to harvest fresh, healthy and better tasting vegetables from the garden plus they earned an extra dollar a week from selling surplus vegetables.  The young couple now understand how they can save money by using organic compost instead of chemical fertilizers.

Aside from the garden, the family also raises free-range chickens and has a plan for upgrading them for commercial purposes in the near future. Presently, LC is planning to expand the garden and raise pigs.  All these ventures were inspired when LC was so amazed to see how other families with gardens where able to enjoy the benefits from working in their garden.  We wish him and his family great success.