NEWS BULLETIN June ~ Dec 2011 Happenings June

11th [Saturday]
US J Family Day 2011 CETDEM participated in the USJ Family Day 2011. The M PSJ Sport Complex at USJ5, Subang Jaya, turned into a carnival, with stands selling food and trinkets, as well as bouncy castles, face painting and hot air balloon rides. There were also live music and dance performances by residents for the public to enjoy. This event, which traditionally focuses on bringing the community closer, had a distinct green message this year. The theme of the day was Loving Our Community; Caring for Our Environment. CETDEM was in the Go-Green Zone, together with some of our OF Project members Wellness Concept, Legenda M adu, Cottage Farm and A.Clouet & CO (KL) and we were all there to do our part. The USJ Family Day was an opportunity for CETDEM to get in touch with a new community to raise awareness about sound environmental practices, especially organic farming and household waste composting. Sadly the response was not so good.

Wellness Conce pt (R) and Cottage Farm (L) promoting their products.

Our voluntee rs manning the stall.

17th [Friday]
EcoOils Sdn. Bhd,
Pasir Gudang, Johor EcoOils S/B, a Palm Oil Recycling and Recovery Plant, engaged CETDEM to study the possibility of recycling their canteen food waste which generated about 50kg daily into compost at their premises. The OF Coordinator was assigned to undertake the task and visited the site on 17th.

25th [Saturday]
7th Hari Organik
Tesco Kepong, KL CETDEM s trademark event is now on the road! The 7th Hari Organik was for the first time held outside of Petaling Jaya. This event was hosted at the Tesco Village M all in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, and was sponsored by Tesco. The successful formula of the Hari Organik remained the same; namely, it was a platform where organic retailers, farmers, producers and consumers exchanged views and experiences on sustainable living through organic food. There were more than 30 exhibitors displaying and selling everything from organic fruits and vegetables to organic household and skincare products. The event was launched by YBhg Datin Nafesah Raja Nong Chik Abidin, wife of YB Senator Dato Raja Nong Chik bin Datuk Raja Zainal Abidin, M inister of Federal Territories and Urban Well-being. She spoke about her personal experience with organic food to improve her health.

Datin Nafesah tours the booths

As this was the first time HO was held in Kepong and we also believe that poor publicity might have resulted in the poor response compared with the past Hari Organiks. Nevertheless, it was a consolation to notice the crowds were of new faces and this has fulfilled CETDEM s objective of increasing more people to be aware of what organic is all about! As usual, our appreciation to all CETDEM members /volunteers for their time, energy and effort as well as those who donated generously for the lucky draws and children activity. Last but not least, TESSCO for sponsoring the event and Datin Nafesah for the launch.

JULY
20th ~ 21st [Wed ~ Thur]
Phillips Lumileds Lighting Co., Penang At the invitation of Phillips Lumileds Lighting Company in Penang, CETDEM participated in their annual Environment Health Safety Campaign on 20st and 21st. In this event CETDEM also roped in Wellness Concept to partake. Aside from the usual set up CETDEM invited M r and M rs Lee, an expert in making his unique Penang Curry M ee, and the response was good. The price of the curry noodle was made affordable (RM 5/) to the factory workers /staffs so as to provide an opportunity to taste organic food. It was also a very interesting experience for many of them to eat ulam with different condiments instead of with the usual sambal belachan.

Mr & Mrs Lee with their unique curry laksa

Best vegeta rian pau from Wellness Concept?!

SEPTEMBER
16th [Fri]
Vegetarian Food Carnival, Briedfields, KL CETDEM was invited to participate in the Vegetarian Food Carnival held in Kuala Lumpur organized by the Yoga Society. M axlife was invited by CETDEM to also take part in the event. Thanks to Lim Teow M eng, a regular KGG member who was there to help man the store.

Mrs Neo & Teow Meng busy attending to the crowd

Max life [Rt] promoting its product

October
1st Oct. [Sat] Wellness Concept (M) S/B
Congratulations to Wellness Concept for the recent grand opening of its new office & Caf in PJ

Opening Ceremony

Slow Food
2 ~ 3 Oct. [Sun~Mon] Slow Food Klang Valley Convivium hosted the visit of 2 officials from Slow Food International based in Bra who were here on their mission to Sarawak as well as meeting up members of Slow Food Klang Valley. Thanks to Wellness Concept, EcoGreen & Woods M acrobiotics for their hospitality.
Press Conference

15th [Sat]
8th Hari Organik Jln SS 2/63, PJ Hari Organik [once again in SS2] certainly kicked off with a bang this time! Ms Tan and a team of volunteers painstakingly set up the tables the day before in preparation for the big day, only to see a raging thunderstorm come along and blow down almost all of the canopies a few hours later! Never one to be fazed, the team including Hari Organik committee members Charles, Li Yoon and Teow M eng - worked into the night to ensure that we were able to get everything setup in time for the kick off in the morning. And so despite initial hiccups, the day ran as smoothly as ever: not only did we provide a space where organic farmers, goods producers, and retailers could interact directly with cooks and consumers, we also provided a platform for people to share their experiences in all areas of sustainable living. There were talks on dyeing your hair in a natural way, composting and enzyme making demonstrations, and most exciting of all, a Slow Food tent selling traditional recipes with a creative and delicious twist. There was ulam with nuts, plum jam and seeds, a variety of soya and mixed grain drinks, as well as Chee Cheong Fun made by M r & Mrs Lee, two very talented chefs from foodie heaven Penang. There were 10 canopies in total, with almost 50 exhibitors our largest number yet - showcasing a multitude of products to an eager crowd, and the usual lucky draw, as well as childrens activities to keep the little ones amused throughout the day! The emphasis more and more has been on encouraging local and sustainable products, and we feel that with each Hari Organik CETDEM is encouraging people to make wiser buying choices to support particularly the local organic businesses. Our warmest thanks to the volunteers that helped on the day, without whom we would not be able to run the event! Also thanks to M r Tan Yew Leong for sponsoring the delicious lunch as well as to all he speakers and the exhibitors who gave prizes for the children activities as well as lucky draws

29th and 30th [Sat & Sun]

4th Eco-Film Festival, University Malaya CETDEM was once again invited to this Eco-Film festival, now in its 4th year, organized by EcoKnights whose aim is to support sustainable living both on a national and international level. We were there representing our activities and showcasing our publications, as well promoting Slow Food with our original take on Ulam (as premiered by M rs Neo at the 8th Hari Organik).

Although there were not as many visitors as we had hoped for, nevertheless it was heartening to see the younger generation fired up and full of enthusiasm for sustainable living and care for the environment! We were also glad to see that these youngsters were keen to try the ulam and we hope that many of them go onto make healthy greens a significant part of their diets. Thanks to Lali from UK and our never get tired Lim Teow M eng and Lee Chuy Fong for helping out in the two days event!

Good to see young people waiting patiently to try the ulam ulam

November
6th ~ 8th [S at ~ Mon] International Health Fair, PWTC, KL CETDEM participated in the 3 days International Health Fair sponsored by the Life M agazines, a subsidiary company of Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd. Though it was a 4 days event, however CETDEM was there only for 3 days. With the consent from the organizers, CETDEM invited Legenda M adu [Sat & Sun] Biococo M arketing and M axlife [M on & Tues] to also take part at the event. M rs Neo and Lim Teow M eng were there to entertain the crowd with the wonder of eating ulam in an unique way. The crowds were fascinated and came back with friends to ask for more. Unfortunately we did not serve the ulam on M onday!

15th [Sat] Coffee Lovers

18 coffee lovers got-together on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy a cuppa of different varieties of organic coffee! It was supposed start at 2.30pm and end at 4pm, however people only started to leave at 5pm! It was fun as we all were making fun of one another. Charles, Loh and M rs Neo brought in their coffee makers and showed off their expertise at coffee making! Wow, we got to taste the civet coffee, thanks to Stella as well as Li Yoon & Charles for the yam kuih/curry puffs and Sherene & M r Wong for carrot cakes and not to forget the organic rambutans from Josephines garden

Charles & Loh

December th th

10 ~ 11 [S at & Sun] Fun Trip to Muar, Johor 5 of us finally made it to M uar after it had been postponed several times. It was supposed to be a fun trip easy and relaxing.and a lot of makan M uars speciality! We arrived at about 9.30am After breakfast, our tour guide my sister-in-law, guided us to to visit the C&C M ushroom Cultivation Farm, (SOM certified) in Gerisek, supposedly the biggest mushroom farm in M uar with 8.7 ha located in 4 different lots. We were supposed to vist another SOM certified fruit orchard in Segamat. Unfortunately the orchard was inaccessible due to the reconstruction (since our vehicle was not a 4 wheel drive) of the road leading to the farm which was damaged during last years flood. The following day, after a hearty breakfast (though havent digested last nights sumptuous dinner) we visited the home garden in the heart of M uar town, we were impressed with the effort the owner has put in. After having M uars famous curry fish lunch, we proceeded to the Nasuha Species Farm, also SOM certified in Pagoh, M uar. Kam and her husband finally got their wish fulfilled.relaxing in the sauna before leaving for KL! Thanks to M r & M rs Tan and M adam Tan (M rs Chew) for their hospitality during our 2 days stay in M uar. Home gardening 7

22nd [Thur] Presentation of S ALM & SOM 2011 Certificates Dept of Agriculture [DOA] The Organic Farming Project Coordinator, among other invitees, witnessed the presentation of SALM & SOM 2 011 Certificates to the farmers from the M inistry of Agriculture (M OA). This year saw 70 farms obtaining Salm/GAP (Good Agriculture Practices) and 29 organic farms for SOM (Standard Organic M alaysia). Whats up at the OFCC Garden?
Sweet corn intercropped with bayam Cabbage intercropped with wasahbi Papaya

When the papaya tree was still small, the leaves were constantly infested with suspected wooly bugs. After giving the leaves a good bath with the eco-enzyme as well as spraying the wooly bugs off the leaves with water several times the tree survived. When it started to fruit (see picture) the stems of the fruits were also attacked by the wooly bugs and fungus colletotricum gleosporides on the fruits. I used the same method applied to the leaves and they all recovered except that the yield was low. Papaya trees

Wasahbi seedlings

Eggplants & Cabbage seedlings

Note: Various types of vegetable seeds / herbs & vegetables seedlings are available for sale. 8

2012 Calendar Events - Highlights March Saturday 24th Hari Organik April Sunday 8th Hari GAP June Saturday 23rd Hari Organik July Sunday 8th Hari GAP September Saturday 22nd Hari Organik October Sunday 7th Hari GAP December Sunday 9th Terra M adre celebrations

GAP = Good Agricultural Practices

Note: Details of planned activities will be circulated in January, and will also be posted on our website: www.cetdem.org.my

Merry Christmas & Have a Fruitful & Meaningful New Year!

Appreciation
CETDEM would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals/companies for the donations made to COFP: Jess Chong RM 50; KL Lee RM 200, Biosurge Asia S/B RM 100; Josephine Ng RM 50; Ecoland Enterprise RM 30; Eliza Loo RM 5;Bendahan Negeri Selangor RM 10,000;Biococo M arketing RM 100; Kedai Wing Hing Leong RM 50; Organic 4 U RM 30. Wellness Concept for sponsoring the job advertisement and last but not least M BPJ for continuing supporting the Hari Organik. Donation in kind: M atahari S/B, Radiant Code S/B, Health Paradise S/B, Charles Tan ,Elegant Green Trading, Legenda M adu S/B, Alive Development S/B. Apologies to those whose names may have been missed in the above list.