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11 Dec 2014

0 Comments By admin Edible Landscape, Well-being Landscape

Edible or Therapeutic Flowering Landscape Part 1

The basic rule that we have for plants at the farm is that it must be either edible or have therapeutic values and is our botanical heritage. I love flowers so I find flowering plants that meets the criteria and work on growing and propagating them as well as trying the understand what makes them grow well. These are all relatively low maintenance so you might want to try to add them to your landscape, if you don’t already have it.


Bunga Kantan (Ginger Torch)	Ruku (Holy Basil)

Lengkuas Kecil (Galanggang)	Selasih Putih (White Basil)

Misai Kucing (Cat’s Whiskers)	Tujuh Bilah

Kunyit (Tumeric)	Kari (Curry)

As I manage to photograph more plants, part 2 will follow. I look forward to furthering my quest whilst land space permits J

26 Nov 2014

0 Comments By admin Banana, Eating Well

Bananas: What can I do with it?

In my banana plant quest, to date we have 17 varieties at the farm and I am still looking for a few more. There are many ways that they can be consumed and as listed in the table below, although this is not an exhaustive list as it only covers what we grow at the farm:

Banana Variety	State of Fruit	Ways of consuming
Abu Bunga	Unripen	Cooked in savoury dishes like curry
	Ripe	Boiled, Banana fritter, Steamed with glutinous rice, cooked in sweetened oconut milk
Awak (seedless)	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana fritter, Cooked with sweetened coconut milk.
Berangan	Ripe	Eaten raw
Emas	Ripe	Eaten raw
	Over-ripe	Banana pancake, Cakes and muffins
Embun Dingin	Ripe	Eaten raw
Embun Wangi	Ripe	Eaten raw
Kapas	Unripen	Cooked in savoury dishes like curries
	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana pancakes, Mashed banana fritter balls (cucur kodok)
Lemak Manis	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana pancakes
Lidi	Unripen	Cooked in savoury dishes like curries
	Ripe	Eaten raw
Nangka	Unripen	Banana chips
	Ripe	Banana fritters
Nipah (Abu Batu)	Unripen	Cooked in savoury dishes like curries
	Ripe	Boiled, Banana fritter, Steamed with glutinous rice
Raja	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana fritters, Steamed with glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves
Rastali	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana pancakes, Cakes and Muffins
Ruai	Unripen	Cooked in savoury dishes like curries
	Ripe	Eaten raw
Tanduk	Unripen	Banana chips
	Ripe	Banana fritters, Cooked with sweetened coconut milk
Telor	Ripe	Eaten raw
	Over-ripe	Banana pancake, Cakes and muffins
Udang	Ripe	Eaten raw, Banana pancakes

For the inflorescence or jantung, for non-bitter tasting, you can try the ones from Pisang Abu Bunga, Kapas, Nipah and Raja.
For those who have asked, we do sell our plants periodically so feel free to contact us.

19 Oct 2014

0 Comments By admin Eating Well, SHL Products, SHL Project

Journey through teas

In doing my research of each of the individual types of leaves that can be turned into teas, most of the therapeutic benefits tend to be listed as anecdotal and very few have had extensive research done. I can understand why this is so: research costs money and if something cannot be patented that it is of no interest to the pharmaceutical companies. I remember the attempt by a major company within the last year to try and patent Habatus Sauda which to me was absurdity to the maximum. This spice has been used for centuries by many cultures and now that this giant company see that money can be made out of it, tried to patent it to prevent others from selling it. Studies have been done by universities on soursop leaves and lemon grass that focussed mainly of the nutrition aspects of it as well as the chemical composition as well as the cancer preventive and curative aspects of it. Since no major profits can be expected, this is not well publicised and therapeutic properties is still mainly anecdotal.

Misai Kucing

Serai

As such, I began my own journey on the herbal teas based on plants and trees that are grown in Malaysia and grows well here in our tropical climate. I spoke and discussed with several traditional medicine practitioners, people who have taken or tried them, as well as reading up on any study that I can find on them. The choices plants are plentiful so I decided to focus on misai kucing (cat’s whiskers), durian belanda (soursop), ruku (holy basil), kemangi (lemon basil) and serai (lemon grass). The reason is due to its therapeutic values for diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory system and cancer as well as serving as a detoxification agent.

Kemangi

Ruku

With these five basic herbs and leaves, there are many options for blending depending on the therapeutic values being sought. From a personal perspective, I wanted to have teas that provide me with therapeutic values whilst not tasting like “medicine” or unpleasant such as bitter. I also wanted prevention options as well as curative without the many side effects as often found in pharmaceutical medication. Being able to consume it as part of my normal drinks list was critical so that I can continue to drink them without feeling like I am taking medication.

Durian Beland

From the farm production perspective, we are able to produce pure teas as well as blended teas and now custom-blended teas. I have always enjoyed providing personal touches so the custom-blended teas enabled me to tailor the teas in accordance to customers needs. My philosophy to is have the tea produced in smaller batches and often, with no preservative and maximum therapeutic benefits. As such, we do not keep stock of more than 1 month and the teas can last for several months stored in a cool and dry area. From my own testing, it can last for over 6 months with no impact to taste or condition of the tea. I am happy that at the moment, I am not able to keep stock as the teas run out within a couple of weeks after production.

To me it is key that no chemical pesticides or herbicides are used so as not to introduce contaminants. As such, they are all grown organically using organic fertilisers and organic pesticide control. It doesn’t make sense to produce something for its therapeutic values and yet using growing methods that introduces contaminants which often are toxic or carcinogenic.

At the moment, the farm produces for local consumption only and in order not to impact quality and our principles, we do not cater for the mass market. At the end of the day, this project allows me to pursue one of my passions and is infinitely satisfying.

28 Sep 2014

2 Comments By admin Banana, Eating Well, Edible Landscape, Healthy Options

Bananas – Pisang Tanduk

It took me quite some time to find baby plants of the pisang tanduk. This plant is getting to be rare and the bananas are difficult to find at the markets. It turns out that my uncle had some and he gave me 10 baby plants. And so my study of the pisang tanduk begins.

The plant grow to about 6m tall, shorter to many of the other smaller size banana plants. We planted it in a high organic content soil area. The banana has a unique shape and is easily the largest banana amongst the many varieties of this plant. The uniqueness of this banana plant is that it doesn’t have an inflorescence or jantung like the other banana plants. It is a big size banana and at the farm, one fruit can weigh 500gm. It took slightly more than 1 year before we had our first harvest.

This banana has lots of vitamins and minerals so it is an added bonus to the great taste. Naturally ripened, it has a very sweet with a touch of sourness taste hence is a favorite for banana fritters and a sweet coconut based dessert: pengat pisang amongst banana connoisseurs. If the fruit was not left to properly mature and ripen, it will not have the sweetness but more of a sour creamy taste and you may be disappointed.

It can also be steamed and eaten with or without a sweet syrup. However, not many people know of this banana nowadays due to its scarcity. Mature but unripened bananas are also a favourite for making banana chips or kerepek pisang. It can also be peeled and sliced and used in savoury dishes like curry. In short, it can be fried, grilled, steamed or boiled – so many options.

I am happy that we have this banana plant species at the farm as it is getting harder and harder to find it at the market. So, should you ever find good quality pisang tanduk, I hope you will try it and enjoy the tasteful experience.

11 Aug 2014

0 Comments By admin Development

In search of seeds and seedlings

I am always on a lookout for good seeds and seedlings and today I finally made it to two places that I have been meaning to go to for years but never got around to it. About a couple of months ago, a good sahabat gave me some seed packets that he got for me from there and it worked out well.

The first stop was Pusat Jualan Benih MARDI in Serdang which is located near MAEPS next to UPM in Serdang. To get there, you enter through the main gate of MAEPS and at the first Y junction, keep to your right. Just follow the road as it winds through the grounds and you will see a lake on your right hand side. About 100m from there you will see Pusat Benih on your left. The sales counter is on the back on the building. They sell vegetable seeds such as chillies, bird’s eye chillies, aubergines (purple round and long varieties), french beans, long green beans, tomatoes, okra (bendi), angle bean (petola), kacang botor, and sweet corn. Needless to say, I got them all. They were priced at RM 2 per packet and the sweet corn was RM 5/100gm which is considerably lower than the packets that I normally buy from Pusat Peladang Bt. 14, Hulu Langat. They also have information brochures for each of type that they sold. nThey did have some plants for sale too but unfortunately not what I was looking for.

My next stop was Pusat Jualan Pokok of UPM, which is located near Pusat Golf UPM. Follow the road that takes you to Lembah Silikon and you will find Pintu 14 that has a guardhouse. Just tell them you are going to the Pusat Jualan Pokok. After you enter the gate, about a few hundred meters you will come to a roundabout and take the left or 9 o’clock. Follow the road and just after you pass under a bridge, you will see it on your right hand side. I was happy that I made the trip as I found the plants that I was looking for – kafir lime (lima purut), soursop (durian belanda), delima, tenggek burung, pulasan, and keladi mawar also known as keladi hitam. They also had different varieties of cempedak, rambutan, turmeric (kunyit) and jackfruit (nangka). With these plant purchases to add to the number of plants and trees that I already have, I am done with my list of trees for now and the farm will have all the trees and with the quantity that I want and the tree planting areas will be maxed out. The prices were also reasonable.

To go to these locations, I suggest that you go in the morning before 12 noon to avoid the lunch break as well as the hot afternoons.

So, you can guess what I will be doing tomorrow – transplanting the plants in the location that I want and if I have more time, to sow some seeds in the greenhouse.

22 Jul 2014

0 Comments By admin Events

Tea for life

Malaysia is a country rich with natural herbs and spices that we have used for generations to flavour our dishes and drank as tea which has been passed down with anecdotes with not much
documentation. We also, until relatively recently, didn’t do much research on it. This has now become my hobby, documenting the “folklore” and meeting with Malay traditional herbalist, many of whom do not have PhDs, but have been practising what has been passed down to them. I have also made myself a guinea pig to test out these recipes. The beauty of it all is by using the right combinations, it serves as a preventive as well as a cure, of course often without the fast response of pharmaceutical drugs but it doesn’t being with it the many negative side effects. What I am placing in this blog is based on my experience along with the information that I have gathered from many sources and serves as information. I am not a medical professional but merely someone who has a high interest in living holistic life with minimal pharmaceutical drugs.

To start with, I have a farm where I grow all the plants and trees that I use for my teas, my way of controlling the input and ensuring minimal contaminants. Our farm practices natural farming, using organic and natural fertilisers and pesticides and no chemical fertilisers or pesticides. To me, it doesn’t make sense to add these poisons into something that I want to consume to promote and care my health.

The teas that I produce for my own consumption and for limited sales are:

My balancing tea – Misai Kucing and Kemangi mix. This tea has natural properties as a blood cleansing tea as well as a blood-sugar regulator. This is my go-to tea when I eat rich, high sugar or high carbohydrate foods such as cakes and durians.
My preventive cancer tea – Durian Belanda and Serai mix. Based on research done by universities and health organisations, this two ingredients have the capability to neutralise cancer cells so I drink this tea couple of times a week for prevention and often in the evening as our body tends to do its “cleansing” and “rebuilding” at night.
My breathing easy tea – Ruku and Kemangi mix. Ruku has properties that help the respiratory system and in combination with the Kemangi that has an overall cleansing effect, I drink this every so often, more often when we have the haze.
My cooling tea – Serai and Misai Kucing mix. After a work out at the farm, I like to enjoy this tea to cleanse the acids produced from the workout and cooling my body. I tend to drink this one cold, especially on hot days.

Whilst some of these teas can be produced from fresh ingredients, I opted to air-dry them to enable ease of storage and access as well as portability. I can take them with me anywhere. All these teas have a pleasant, non-bitter taste. I drink them without any form of sweetener such as sugar or honey to eliminate the risk of the sweetener causing the teas to lose its homeopathic properties thus reducing the effectiveness of the tea.

These teas can be prepared in a few ways:

By placing them in a glass jar and placing them in direct sunlight for a few hours.
By placing them in a tea pot filled with just-boiled water and allowing them to seep for about 20 minutes
By bringing water to a boil in a pot and placing the tea and allowing it to simmer at low heat for five minutes.

By using method 3, you can also prepare a concentrate which can then be stored in the refrigerator. When I want to drink it, I either add hot or cold water, depending if I want to have a hot or cold drink.

So, if you are considering drinking teas, try these combinations instead of regular tea and if you can get the additional benefits. Happy trying :).

17 Jul 2014

0 Comments By admin Eating Well

Joys of Hulu Langat Durian Season

It is that time of the year again – the Durian Season of Hulu Langat. I am very partial to these “original durians”, those that have not been genetically modified or subjected to hormones and such. To me, part of the joy of eating these durians is the discovery of what the fruit is like and the great
taste. No matter how much we tamper with nature, I feel that what nature produces surpasses our intervention. I do not get bored eating them.

We have brought the durians to market at the Sg. Penchala Pasar Ramadhan this season and I am happy that we have a good response to our fruits. One of the questions that I was asked that I thought was interesting was: “Do you pick them from the tree when they are mature?”. We do not pick them from the tree, we wait for them to fall off the tree. The best time to eat them is the day after it fell off the tree. We do not inject the trees to encourage fruiting either. I find it interesting that some people shake the durian in order to select the durian – apparently this is done when buying GM durians to see if the fruit have lots of flesh or more empty space. Original durians tend to be packed int he fruit so they do not move around in their “cocoon”. The Hulu Langat durian season last for about 1 month and the best fruits are obtained from the second week, somehow the tree gets rid of the “not so good” fruits in the first few days.

Our durians do not have names like D24, C101 or the like – these are from GM durian trees. Our durians have names like durian kunyit, tembaga, telor buaya and api. The size and shape of the fruits are not the same from the same tree. The fruit taste varies from tree to tree, from sweet and creamy to sweet with a bite to it, and the flesh colour from creamy white to orange-yellow. It is an adventure.

With the abundance with durians, what do you do with them apart from eating them fresh? There are many options. You can make lempok durian, lemang durian, kuah durian, dodol durian, durian ice cream and durian cream which you can use as a filling for crepes. These are the sweet dishes. For savoury dishes, you can make tempoyak, which essentially is “fermented” durian that is used in gulai tempoyak and also sambal tempoyak.

For making tempoyak, you can use durians that are a few days old and those that have naturally “split” open. Just remove the flesh from the seeds and place them in a container and place in the refrigerator for a few days before you start using them to make your savoury dishes. It can keep for a couple of months.

If you find a particular fruit that you love the flavour but just cannot eat them all, just remove the flesh with or without the seed and place them in the freezer. It can last for months and you can just remove it from the freezer and allow it to defrost before eating them. So, let us enjoy this wondrous fruit during this season 🙂

18 May 2014

2 Comments By admin Healthy Options, Herbal Therapy

SHL Herbs – Joys of Misai Kucing and Kemangi

Over the last several years, I have regularly consumed teas which we produce at the farm. Whilst I have the fresh produce readily available to make infusions, I needed a mechanism so that I can have it easily stored and readily available hence the move to produce teas. We have several plants and herbs that traditionally have been consumed as tea. Topping my list is the Misai Kucing tea or infusion. In alternative therapy, this tea has been used for diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, kidney, rheumatoid athritis and blood cleansing to name a few.

I love food, and have a sweet tooth so this means that I enjoy having rich desserts, Malaysian traditional kuih, and a good steak. As a preventive measure, I will have a mug of warm Misai Kucing tea as an after meal drink to help regulate my blood sugar and cleanse my system. On days, when I have had a hard day working out at the farm, I will cool off with a nice, cold glass of this tea to help my body get rid of all the acids produced. In short, I drink this tea as a normal course of my diet and not view it as a “medicine” which almost always brings a negative connotation to mind.

Being part of my normal drinks selection list, I will drink it at least 3 times a week for maintenance and have additional drinks depending on how rich my meal was. Being fortunate to be able to produce my own tea, I only use the leaves and the flowers with its soft stalks. All this enables me to produce a flowery tasting tea without the bitterness and I do not mix it with “fillers” but prefer to have the all-natural taste.

There are basically 2 ways to prepare the tea:

Steeping 1 flat teaspoon of tea mixture in just-boiled water for about 5 minutes. After straining the tea, more hot water can be added as long as the leaves can still produce the golden-brown tea.
After bringing the water to a boil, add the tea mixture and reduce the heat to allow a gentle simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool to chosen drinking temperature. I use this method to prepare a concentrate by simmering 10gm of the mixture in 1 litre of water. I will leave it to cool, strain it and store it in the refrigerator. This way, when I would like to have some, I will pour some of the concentrate into a mug and add hot water if I want a hot tea or add cold water with or without ice if I want to have it cold.

I most often prepare a concentrate as this enables me to have it handy whenever I want some. I normally store the concentrate for no more than 1 week.

I also bought a teapot with the strainer in it so that I can prepare the fresh, hot tea without hassle and then just keep adding hot water to it. I will store it overnight in the fridge and add more very hot water into the teapot the next morning. I call my Misai Kucing tea as my “Rebalancing Tea”.

I have also produce a “flavored” Misai Kucing tea by combining the Misai Kucing with Kemangi (Lemon Basil). This produces a tea with a hint of citrus. In traditional therapy, the Kemangi has minerals and elements that are beneficial for the heart as well as rich in nutrients so by adding this to the tea mixture, it boosts
the therapeutic value of the tea. I also find that Kemangi helps to alleviate bloating as well as water retention. The method I use for preparing the tea is the same as for the Misai Kucing tea. It can also be consumed either hot or cold. For me, this tea is my “Inner Cleansing Tea”.

We also produce pure Kemangi which is also prepare and consumed similar to the other tea mixture. With its purported heart therapeutic value, I call this my “Heart Love Tea”. With its anti-inflammatory properties, I drink this tea when I have over-worked my muscles and joints. This is my alternative preventive and natural healing for my muscles and joints.

The key principle for these teas is to produce teas that can be incorporated into my daily diet and be treated as normal drinks. My aim for my health measures is to prevent or to reduce the impact of my eating and life style on my overall health without feeling forced. I hope others will be inspired to review their approach and will have a new normal. 🙂

22 Jan 2014

0 Comments By admin Eating Well, Farm Recipes

Local Salad Mania

We are used to eating the normal “western” salad that comprises of lettuce, tomatoes, etc. However, locally, our ancestors have been consuming salads as part of their meal only we call them ulam. Their salad dressing was sambal belacan only theirs didn’t include pesticides or growth hormones. The argument would be whether minute amounts affects us and many would say, it is only a little bit. However, this little bit will accumulate. So, in my quest to have better quality meals without “having to pawn the house”, I began to look at what we have. Personally, I love salads and it is very suitable here, with our warm climate.
So, what to put in salads:

daun ulam raja – cosmos caudantus
pucuk tujuh bilah – pereskia sacarosa
kobis – cabbage
bayam – spinach
bunga kantan – ginger torch
kemangi – lemon basil
ruku – ocinum tenuiflorum

These are some ingredients for the salad which should be naturally grown without pesticides or growth hormones. Slice the cabbage and ginger torch and just tear the spinach. The combination of these based on traditional medicine is purported to provide therapeutic benefits for diabetes, high blood pressure, blood cleanser, cancer cells, stomach and colon, respiratory system – in short a whole bunch for the whole body.

Now, how about salad dressing. My version of the salad dressing with a twist it:

Blended mature daun durian belanda – soursop leaves.
Limau kasturi – calamansi juice
Natural honey (if you like a touch of sweetness)
Virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

What does the salad dressing bring to the table? Based on traditional or homeopathic remedies, it is packed with vitamins and minerals, anti-bacteria, heart benefits, cancer prevention – and so much more.

For this salad, all the ingredients are raw and with the exception of olive oil, are all local ingredients. To make it totally local, you can try virgin coconut oil instead of virgin olive oil. When you eat it, it is just another dish and much easier to consume than taking pills. Try making it as part of your regular meal dish and I hope you reap the benefits and have a healthier life. If you want to read more in detail about each of the salad ingredients, check out my plant specific blog. Happy 2014!

04 Dec 2013

0 Comments By admin Armchair journal, Eating Well, Vegetables

Growing vegetables: It’s all in the soil

I continually strive to improve the quality of the vegetables produced at the farm. The basic principle is “going organic”. What this means to me is that no chemical pesticides or fertilizers are used and the water source is free from “introduced chemicals”. From my experiments, it all starts with good quality seeds and importantly, good quality soil.

I experimented with different types of organic matter mixed with the soil. As long as it is organic, I am game to try with some exceptions. I have used goat manure, cow manure, decomposed vegetation as well as commercially produced organic soil mixture. To me, it is important what you add to the soil in order to have a good produce in the end.

The current round of vegetables that I am planting have at least 50% organic matter in the soil and I find that it works very well. It keeps the soil moist and not soggy and allows for good aeration as well as drainage. For leafy vegetables, I plant them in polybags and keep them in my greenhouse to help reduce attacks by pests. I will continue to add more organic matter and organic fertilizer as the plants grow with the frequency dependent on the type of vegetable. I also seed other types of vegetables like baby cucumber, French beans, long green beans, tomatoes and various others with this highly organic soil mixture. This helps produce healthy “baby plants” before they are transplanted outside with the exception of tomatoes which I keep in the greenhouse. The main reason why the tomatoes remain in the greenhouse is because the chickens love the ripe tomatoes and would fly up to the fruits and peck at them!

By electing to go organic, I spray my vegetables with serai wangi juice which serves as a deterrent but I do have to do some manual tasks like manually removing the slugs and caterpillars as well as spraying them with water to reduce the “white flies”.

I like to eat most of my vegetables raw so keeping it free from chemical pesticides removes the worry of ingesting harmful chemicals. To me, washing the vegetables may remove most of these chemicals but some will still remain within the vegetable itself as well as on the surface. The weirdest advise I have ever received was, in order to remove the chemical pesticides, to clean the vegetables with a mixture of water and Clorox!

After I harvest the vegetables, I will “process” the soil by mixing it with more organic matter before re-using it to plant more vegetables. I love it when I encounter earthworms as these are among soil’s natural best friends.

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