Hello everyone
How are you today ? May we always be given health, also happiness in living this life. I also want to say hello to all members of the Homesteading Community, this post is my first contribution to this community. I ask for his guidance and advice for the development of myself and this community in the future.
I tried to understand a little about the concept of "homesteading" and I came to the conclusion, if homesteading is a concept and a choice of life by utilizing the available resources around the place of residence and the environment consistently and can meet their own needs as much as possible. I thought, at least I've done that.
I live in Medan City – North Sumatra, Indonesia. I live and grow up in a tropical island country where the soil is very fertile, the climate is very good, and the people are very friendly. The city where I live is an industrial city and the 3rd busiest city in Indonesia, therefore urban urban life has become a natural thing. However, since a few years ago and until now, I have tried a simple food security system in my home by making the concept of urban farming at home.
For the past six years, I have implemented a hydroponic farming system in my yard. Initially I started with just 5 Styrofoam boxes with 12 planting holes, meaning I only had 60 pots. I grow vegetables such as kangkong, pakchoy, or lettuce. This hydroponic gardening moment was very fun for me, at first it was just a hobby to fill spare time and boredom but got great benefits in his life.
Growing vegetables for food security at home
Happy moments when harvesting, our family does not need to buy vegetables and some of the harvest I share with my neighbors, all happy and happy. I continue to add to my hydroponic Styrofoam box and also make two hydroponic pipe installations, so far I have about 1800 planting holes. In addition, I also take advantage of all my land by growing plants or vegetables that can be consumed or sold commercially.
Our family, very rarely buy vegetables in the market or the modern fresh market. We are almost self-sufficient in vegetables from our hydroponic farms. If we want to eat vegetables, we just take the vegetables that will be harvested. Sometimes, if too much vegetable stock. We will sell them our vegetables. Our neighbors also often buy vegetables from us, at first we didn't sell them and just gave them away for free. However, these neighbors felt bad and said better, we just pay because it means we can buy whatever we want without waiting for it to be given. From that moment, I learned one thing not everyone likes free stuff. People prefer to pay but get bigger portions.
This week, I also sold some of the vegetables I harvested at my house. First, I harvested about 6 kilograms of kangkong from my hydroponic medium. Of course, after I picked up and kept a few oz of kangkong as our stock. We sell it because within a week, we will also harvest the kangkong that we plant, so so that the stock doesn't overflow, I sell some of it.
Besides harvesting kangkong, I also harvest lettuce. This morning, my neighbor came to my house and bought lettuce. My neighbor has a culinary business of fried rice in the school canteen, he needs about 250 grams of lettuce, and I sell it for IDR 5k (0.33 USD). My neighbors get fresh lettuce from me, and I earn money and happiness for it.
One of the plants that make the most money for me is mint. I grow mint leaves in a PVC pipe hydroponic installation. I sell mint leaves per pack for IDR 5K (0.33 USD). I don't open a shop, I only sell it in market places like Tokopedia, Shopee, or Facebook. This activity is very practical. Just imagine, I can do some activities, then the order enters the application on my smartphone. Then, I harvest mint leaves according to order, so that buyers will always get fresh mint leaves.
In addition to hydroponic gardening, I also use the rest of my yard for conventional farming. I plant dozens of pots of celery leaves in my house. Initially, I grew it for my own consumption but without realizing it, I grew one pot and one pot each day. I consume celery leaves to make omelettes or soups, I like to use these leaves to make it more delicious. However, when there are more, of course we can use it to make a profit.
Every week, I always harvest this celery leaf. I not only harvest but also clean the leaves. The price of this celery leaf is indeed not too expensive, for just one kilogram it is only IDR 15 K (or 1 USD) but, it always grows if cared for and cared for. Just like today, I clean and harvest the overgrown celery leaves. Just harvest a little of each and clean the yellowing leaves. I can already get this many celery leaves. Very practical, right?
Okay, maybe this is my first post in this community. Hopefully it will be a good introduction, and hopefully I can continue to contribute in the future.
Call me Isdarmady, because I have a full name that is very long, namely Isdarmady Syahputra Ritonga. I am a head of the family who work as Farmers Vegetables Hydroponic and Consultant Hydroponics, sometimes I also sell coffee from various regions in Indonesia.
I have expertise dispensing coffee with a variety of techniques and tools brewing, because I have the desire to make a coffee shop with hydroponics as centerpieces. Help me realize that dream.
Thanks for read, vote, re-blog and support me in Hive. Maybe god will reward the kindness, let’s success together.