Hello my name is Rafael and I am volunteering at a organisation called Ability Fair Trade Village (AFTV) in Siem Reap city, Cambodia. I am from Hartlepool in the U.K. My Mum and I, immigrated from Poland to the UK when I was 5 years old. I started volunteering with AFTV for their Siem Reap Food Bank (SRFB) project in March this year (2022).
I helped to prepare a small plot of land to create a community garden for the food bank. I built a composting area using pallets to create two bays for throwing in left over organic produce and weeds from the garden. I turned the soil, divided the garden into plots and planted vegetables in rows.
Raf & composting Bins 
Raf turning the soil 
Vegetables planted in rows
Compost bays were put together using screws and bracket joints. Green and brown layers of compost were added to encourage decomposition and the right moisture. A bucket was filled with kitchen produce and left to ferment over a few weeks then the juices were poured over the compost pile.
Coconut compost and coconut husks were mulched over the lanes in between the plots. The soil in the garden had a lot of clay and sand mix so the idea behind the coconut husks was to introduce more pores into the soil along with a humus layer that in time would build up organic composition.
Cow manure tea was made by adding a couple handfuls of manure into a bucket stirred everyday and left to ferment over a week.
Coconut compost & husks 
Coconut compost mulched in the lanes between the vegetable plots 
Cow manure tea
Khmer Herbs we planted included: Water mimosa (កញ្ឆែត), sweet leaf (ងប់), rice paddy herb (ម្អម/ម្អមក្ដាម), laksa/Cambodian Mint (ក្រសាំងទំហំ) leaves, moringa (ម្រុម) , culantro (ជីរបន្លា) leaves, Morning glory/watercress (ត្រកួន) and kaffir (ការ) leaves.
A picture guide to Cambodian vegetables with Khmer/English by Hello Angkor.
