The nursery garden is thriving with bananas, coconuts, papaya, squash, passionfruit, sunflowers, daisies and more

Thirty-hectare beachfront resort Alma has cultivated its own onsite farm to produce an array of fruits, vegetables, herbs and chicken eggs, affording organic zero-kilometre vegetables for guests’ meals and beverages. In a bid to make Alma more self-sufficient and sustainable, landscape manager Ngo Duc Thinh and his team of green thumbs have transformed parts of the family resort into a 1000sqm nursery garden, a 260sqm chicken farm and a 180sqm herb garden.

Situated on the northern end of Alma’s grounds, a short walk from the Active Youth Club for teenagers, the nursery garden is thriving with bananas, coconuts, papaya, squash, passionfruit, sunflowers, daisies and more. Adjacent to the nursery garden, the chicken farm is currently home to a growing brood of 17 hens, six roosters and 18 chicks. Situated just outside beachfront restaurant Atlantis, with panoramic views of Long Beach, the herb garden is brimming with mustard leaves, morning glory, red and green chili peppers, Vietnamese basil, lettuce, green onions, white radish, bok choy, tomatoes and more.

Currently all the farm’s produce is directed to the resort’s restaurants. Bananas, coconuts and eggs, for example, are served during breakfast at Alma Garden restaurant. Lettuce and mustard leaves are included in salads and coconuts are provided as drinks at Atlantis. Italian restaurant La Casa’s traditional caprese salad features tomatoes from the herb garden along with locally produced mozzarella cheese. Leftovers from the resort’s kitchens are used as compost and the farm is watered with recycled water. Complimentary garden tours are on offer for the whole family, with staff sharing fruitful tips on how to cultivate a veggie patch at home. Children also learn about how to care for chickens. Alma also plans to host cooking classes by the farm, where guests pick and clean their ingredients to cook their own healthy meals.

“We feel so proud to be putting our resort’s land to good use by creating our very own farm and embracing the ‘farm to table’ movement; it’s so rewarding for our team of gardeners to see how the kitchen staff love picking produce from the farm, and to see guests of all ages take tours of the farm with interest and curiosity,” said Thinh.  “There’s a lot of talk in the hospitality industry about going green but it’s really important to walk the talk and this is yet another initiative at Alma that helps create a more sustainable holiday for guests,” added Alma’s managing director Herbert Laubichler-Pichler.

The resort’s ‘hotel as farm’ efforts follow numerous initiatives including plans to implement Vietnam’s most ambitious solar power project for a hotel yet, and the appointment of a sustainability officer. In addition to engaging staff in sustainability initiatives across three staff committees focused on ‘green products’, ‘innovation and solutions’ and ‘people and partnerships’, Alma has other measures in place to reduce its carbon footprint including a water treatment plant, electric buggy station, recycling in its garbage room and the resort’s transition to paperless solutions due to Alma App.