Going beyond mushrooms, learn and discover life on a farm in Pahang, Malaysia

Details

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  Description

  My name’s David, I was active in workaway as a host since 2013, however in 2019 I was seconded for a project in Papua New Guinea where I was helping a developer building a sustainable township. 5 years later now in 2024 I came back to Malaysia to take care of my mum and cut short my contract.
  Since coming back, I was offered an awesome opportunity to be involved in a mushroom farm biz which I have always wanted to do for a long time. As such we invested in and will work with them closely.
  A little about the current farm. It is situated in Bentong, Pahang a place well known for durian, ginger, soya sauce and soya bean puff. The farm is 7 acres in size and merely utilize approximate 3 acres with 4 acres empty land to explore further. We grow oyster mushrooms with 5 houses that can house 100k bags of mushroom. We have 6 foreign workers at this point in time. my wife has a passion for baking as well as general cooking. When she was with me in Papua New Guinea she was very hands on with creating recipes from the produce of the farm, in line with my farm to table concept. she also cooks for the management team 2x a week. Now in this new venture she will explore more on mushroom products and look forward to any volunteers who like to explore the world of mushrooms.
  
  Now that I am in, I have much bigger plans for this place. I gained much experience in the 5 years in Papua New Guinea. Over there I had pigs/chickens (both meat n eggs)/ducks/fish(aquaponics)/moringa/dragon fruit/vege etc. I was also in charge of the mass kitchen providing lunch to 220 of our staff where i was doing sourcing, utilizing waste eg used cooking oil turned into soap, kitchen waste to be fed to the animals. With the 5000 moringa trees I was using the leaves to make powder and extracted oil from the seeds, just a gist of my work over there.
  Moving forward, my Vision for this place is to diversify and going beyond just producing fresh oyster mushroom and to turn this place into a natural sustainable integrated farm and will be applying for organic status in due time.
  • Farm to table experience where we concoct recipes from the produce of the farm
  • Utilizing the mushroom waste i.e the legs to go downstream into value-add food products like powder/sauces and part of the feed ingredient for poultry.
  • The spent bags which is abundant will be used for vermicomposting where we will breed ANC (African Night Crawlers) for their vermicompost and vermicast. Will also be used to make compost using EM1 technology
  • We have mountain water nearby with a small fishpond. My plan is to set up a chicken coop on top the fishpond and using the nutrients from the water to grow food for the fishes and poultry. Will also look into a aquaponic system using the pond water to grow vegetables
  • Growing fresh produce for starters papaya and passion fruit and food for own consumption
  • Creating a herb garden for our culinary use
  • Grow rice and napier grass for research and development purposes, to use the rice straw and the napier grass as a replacement of saw dust as substrate to grow mushroom
  • Expand the variety of mushroom to include lion mane mushroom
  • To bring in ruminants starting with one cow and a pair of pygmy goats.
  • Will look into setting up a compost toilet using banana circle concept
  
  We have 2 container rooms to house volunteers. We have very good mobile speed and phone coverage for CelcomDigi/Maxis - please obtain this simcard before coming into the farm. The farm is very convenient as its very near to amenities. It's situated in a residential area and a mere 5 min walk to shops. There is a bus from Kuala Lumpur bus terminal Pekeliling to bentong town, the farm is approx. 10km from bentong town.
  
  • We have a vision to be a fully self-sustainable farm and an education hub on natural farming methods using EM1/Electroculture and Agnihotra (Homa Farming)
  We had an affiliation with a local University (University Putra Malaysia) and hosted international internship programs from France and Finland on agriculture, environmental, engineering and natural construction in the other farms that I managed.
  
  For now, we are looking for skill volunteers who have experience in construction/mechanical/farming and culinary. We are looking for volunteers who can stay for a min of 1 month or more.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  This is the place for volunteers who would like to contribute and hone their skills, learn & experiment various aspects of natural & sustainable farming, a/vaquaponics, animal husbandry, setting up a farm-to-table, making natural fertilizer/natural pest control using microbes (EM1), food preservation, natural construction and more. You will learn how to harness the natural resources around you to live in a sustainable manner.

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  Help

  This is a working FARM with workers doing menial/laborious work and we need help within the same areas while we impart natural farming skills and knowledge to those who are willing to learn. Based on UNDP's 17 SDG, we are championing #1, #2 #3 #4 #12. We seek young and vibrant volunteers who love working in the outdoors, manual labour as a form of exercise, waking up early and healthy living. You must be an enthusiastic learner, self-starter, strong and able-bodied and like manual work and nature (which includes being out in the sun and rain). There is no hand-feeding and you will be given projects to complete and you will learn through the act of working.
  
  If you think you fit the bill, you can drop us a message. Please present us with your values, skill-set and interest, we will decide whether we will host you WITHOUT CHARGE , including boarding and food. The desired long-term volunteering period would be 3 months.
  
  Examples of daily tasks at the farm:
  
  1) Bulding and planting edible landscape including trellises & raised beds
  2) Harvesting , Pruning, shredding and compost-making
  3) Aquaponics system design and implementation
  4) Composting such as Bokashi, Vermicomposting and Black Soldier Fly
  5) Natural feed for animals/fish
  6) Homestay housekeeping and general farm upkeep/cleanliness and cooking
  7) Experience making downstream products with ingredients found in the farm - fermentation, canning, preservation, dehydration
  8) Construction of animal enclosure and refurbishment

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Malay: Fluent
  Chinese (Mandarin): Fluent
  Chinese (Cantonese): Fluent

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  Accommodation

  - 2 container rooms that can accommodate 2 persons in each room
  - fans, running water
  - this is a vegetarian farm, all meals for volunteers are vegetarian with inclusion of eggs. However, volunteers can buy and prepare meat for their own consumption
  - volunteers cook their meals and clean up on rotation
  - volunteers are responsible for the upkeep of the living quarters and toilets
  - Volunteers are advised to bring their own toiletries, long sleeved shirts and pants and good pair of shoes. (You can get "Kampung adidas" for less than RM20 at any sundry shop and they can last very long but you need socks to go along)
  We are an organic farm, and insects are aplenty - PLEASE BE PREPARED.

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  What else ...

  there are many touristic places like waterfalls, hiking trails, eating places to try out

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  preferably to help with branding, promoting more on social media create website, maintain the site

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  max 6 hours, 5 days a week

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  This host charges a fee

  read more

  Why does workaway.info allow listings of hosts who charge money?

  In developing countries (Where most hosts are involved in charity work or community development) some of our hosts may ask for a small donation to help the host family or charity (often less then 5 dollars per day) Workaway will allow this listing when the donation goes directly to the family or charity and is just to cover the cost of the volunteer‘s stay.  (This will be clearly marked on the host listing).
  We will strictly not allow listings posted by agents, “middle men” or projects who we feel are looking to profit from a volunteers stay.
   

   

   

  15 RM (about $4 USD) to cover food costs

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