Collecting saga seeds a three-generation affair for this family

Deep in concentration, the Tang family picks up saga seeds scattered on a sloping grass patch next to Block 341 Hougang Avenue 7.

Led by Ms Yvonne Tang, the five family members spanning three generations, along with a family friend, split themselves, aged between eight and 68, into two teams to pick up the seeds last Monday.

Her nine-year-old nephew Tidus, said he enjoyed the challenge of racing to pick up the most seeds, while his sister Estee, eight, simply found the bright red seeds pretty.

The group collected more than 200 seeds and plan to use them for art and crafts or as decoration.

For example, they have filled a recycled plastic container with saga seeds as decoration and turned it into a mask holder.

The 48-year-old project manager said she initiated this saga-seed collecting activity on the first day of phase three of Singapore's reopening as they were able to gather in a larger group.

"As everybody would crowd the malls due to phase three, this activity is something away from the crowds where we can gather as a family and do things together in a healthy way," she said.

Saga seeds come from the Adenanthera pavonina tree, also known as the saga tree. According to the National Parks Board, the saga tree grows up to 20m in height and drops fruit pods carrying seeds every six to eight months.

The inedible seeds have a uniform weight (four seeds make up 1g), which made them an ideal tool to help measure silver and gold in ancient India.

Ms Tang began collecting saga seeds more than three decades ago when her family friend Pek Lay Pheng, 50, asked for her help to collect the seeds for a secondary school project.

Ms Tang's mother Heng Sai Keng, 68, had also collected the seeds as a child. "It is an easy form of exercise for the kids and my mother, though it can be quite strenuous because you have to bend over and squint your eyes as well," said Ms Tang, who rekindled her love for collecting the seeds when she moved to her flat in Hougang five years ago.

"So after 15 minutes, you will feel a light kind of strain that shows you have exercised. And because there's a slight slope, it trains up our leg muscles.

"It's especially fun when the whole family gets together and we form this healthy competition to race and motivate one another."