Category: Events

Suria Helang Lui: 7 years later Part 3: From produce to products

When I first started the farm, I was more focussed on producing produce: fruits, vegetables and fish.  I felt and even more strongly belief now, for the continued sustainability and economic well-being of the farm, it was essential to not only have “raw” produce but to also have a range of products based on the farm outputs.  All our products have to live up to our principle of being affordable to the masses.

I began to experiment and delve into the world of producing healthy food in the firm belief that the underlying basis for good health is good food.  Personally, I am not into processed supplements so my concept it merely to facilitate the consumption of good food.  From the herbals, fruits, leaves and flowers, I began experimenting in producing drinks that could be consumed as part of my daily beverage intake.  I had to belief in the benefits as well as it had to taste good.  So, I am always the first guinea pig.  I wanted to be able to produce health supporting drinks, that are preventive as well as curative.  So, many of the plants at the farm serve a multi purpose.

The top of my list are the Bentong ginger and turmeric combination, Misai Kucing leaves and flower, Soursop Leaves,  Mangosteen and Roselle.  I did research on the nutritional value, the health properties as well as the use in traditional and alternative therapy.  All the source is planted at the farm and grown organically.  Some of our drinks are seasonal whilst others are available year round.  In line with trying to produce healthy products, we do not use any colourings, preservations or flavourings – it is all natural.  Some of our drinks are sweetened and we use brown sugar; no white sugar is used.  At this stage we only do direct selling to the customer as I do not feel that we are prepared to go beyond that yet as our produce is not mass-produced.
I do not want to outsource production of the ingredients as it then goes out of my control and I may wonder if short-cuts are taken.  The basic principle in our products is “If I do not consume it, then I will not sell it” – the same that applies to our fresh produce.  With the production of these drinks – in concentrate or ready-to-drink – it has allowed us to add-value to our produce.  At the moment, the packaging is simple as I focus more on what is inside the bottle than the appearance.  However, I know that in the future the packaging will evolve but the key consideration is still affordability to the masses.

Over the years, I have developed our own liquid fertiliser concentrate and there are 3 types:

1. Enzyme fertiliser with pest control targeted for flowering and fruiting plants
2. Enzyme fertiliser with pest control targeted for foliage
3. Fish amino acid fertiliser

These concentrates are made from produce from the farm with limited addition from outside such as molasses and sea salt.  The ingredients from the fish for our Fish Amino Acids (FAA) are also from the farm as we do rear fresh water fish.  In this way, I am able to ensure that there is negligible introduction of toxic matter into the fertilisers.  My 3-year old son “helps” me out at the farm and one of the things that he loves to do is to spray the plants.  I do not want to have to worry that he may be negatively affected.  These are all used at the farm and we now sell it.  It is a concentrate and is non-toxic making it easy to use and affordable.

I also do seasonal products like tempoyak from quality kampung durian so we have these when durians are in season and until our stock for that season finish.  We do not add any preservatives or colouring to it and it is done naturally.

Sometimes, when we have a bit of time, we will also do fermented green papaya which is a good source of probiotics and the enzyme papain.  I enjoy eating this either as a salad or turning it into a topping for fish similar to the Thai mango topping for fish.

We rear fresh fish, namely catfish (keli), red tilapia and lampam in our fish ponds.  We pipe our own water from the source specifically for the fish ponds ensuring a 24×7 flow of fresh water through over 3000m of polypipe.    This is a separate supply line from the pipeline for the rest of the farm use. Although the actual distance to the source is less than 3km, due to the route we have to take, it takes that length of polypipe.

This is one of the most worthwhile investments that I made on the farm as it results in us having a clean fish pond that requires no artificial aeration and brings with it additional food for our fish in the form of the small river fish and shrimps.  An aesthetic value added to the fish pond is our fountain which doesn’t require any pumps to function, merely the application of the law of Physics.  (Note: Took me years to see firsthand the application of what I learnt in Physics in secondary school).  The water comes in on one end and exits the pond into Sg. Lui on the other end.

The fish pond also serves as our flooding prevention measure as this area can flood when there is a lotof rain for a period of time. Our fish also feed on the banana pseudostems, tapioca leaves and kangkong so it also enables us to have another use for our produce “wastes”.  The banana pseudostem also have the added function of cleaning the water in the fish pond.  From time to time, I also feed it with the black soldier larvae, which is a by-product in the production of the enzyme fertiliser.  We do also feed them fish pellets but with all the other food that the fish feed on as well as the clean water, the fish produced does not have a “muddy” smell or taste.  Whilst we do sell fresh fish, we also will do smoked fish (ikan salai) which we first  marinate with our own farm produced and blended herbs.   It is a time consuming process but well worth it in producing a quality fish product thereby adding value to the raw produce.  No artificial additives or “smoke” flavouring used and alhamdulillah, whenever I bring them to market, it is always sold out.

Because we produce organic produce, I am currently experimenting with producing more probiotics food products.  This will be a new chapter in the farm development with an eye for the future.

The last and final part of 7 years later is : Behind the scenes which will cover the infrastructure as well as human resources.

Tomatoes, oh Tomatoes: You love TLC

I love vine-ripe tomatoes that are grown organically.  If you find them in supermarkets, they are expensive.  So I grow my own.  To those of you who have tried growing them, you know how trying it is.  First, they are susceptible to pest especially aphids and white flies.  These pests basically suck the life out of the plant.  If the pest is not controlled, you end up with a dead plant which leads to a major disappointment especially if you started with a healthy seedling.  Over the years, I have had many plants died on me so I continually experiment with the mixture for pest control.  After many iterations, I have finally come up with one that I can live with.

You can produce it yourself by creating an enzyme solution from organic wastes (such as fruit peels, vegetable discards, etc.) with citronella, indian borage and ginger fermented with a sugar source (molasses, gula nipah, gula melaka, etc.) and unchlorinated water for at least one month. though I tend to ferment for 3 months.  What will be produced is a liquid filled with beneficial enzymes and microorganisms as well as nutrients with pest control properties.  This is a concentrate which you then dilute at the rate of 10ml or 2 tablespoons of concentrate to 1 litre of water,  Just spray the plant including the underside of the leaves twice a week.

Tomato plants love water but cannot abide soggy soil so the soil mixture had to be able to retain water but not drown the roots.  Water had to be accessible to the roots so by having a richly organic soil, the soil remained moist throughout the heat of the day, keeping the plant “fresh”.  The plants love the sunshine and does best in full sun in the day but if there is a lack in moisture, the plant can wilt and may not recover.

Now that I got the pest under control, and the soil mixture with drainage done, the next step is to encourage flowering and fruiting.  Most organic fertilisers are general purpose and doesn’t provide the full support for flowering and fruiting.  I conducted some experiments and found that liquid fish amino acids (FAA) with sea salts and liquid calcium concentrate worked best for me to encourage flowering and fruiting.

I produce the liquid FAA by fermenting 500g of fish wastes, 100 ml of probiotic liquid (such as from probiotic drinks or yogurt drinks), 100 ml of liquid molasses or 100gm of molasses with 1 later of unchlorinated water.  The mixture is fermented for at least 1 month.  I use fish wastes from the farm fish as I can ensure that it has not had any contaminants introduced such as chemical preservatives that are often applied to fish from the market.  Fish wastes include the innards of the fish, the gills and the bones.  Instead of molasses, I have also tried using gula melaka.  

I also produce the liquid calcium from eggshells from the farm eggs (which are from free-range organic chicken) fermented with vinegar for at least 1 month.  For the sea salt, I will dissolve 500g of sea salt in 1 litre of unchlorinated water and leave it overnight before making my FAA concentrate.  The difference before and after the application of this combination is tremendous.  Now I am even more motivated to plant more varieties of tomatoes 🙂

Before application, 1-2 fruits per bunch

Before application, few flowers

After application, average of 5 per bunch

After application, increase in flowers

Suria Helang Lui: 7 years later Part 2: Vegetable and herbs

The farm is designed with the concept of every thing grown at the farm is either edible and/or have therapeutic values or in support of the farm produce.  Hence vegetables and herbs are integral.  Most leafy vegetables require more care and with the farm size of 2.5 acres and the multitude of content, I needed to have a way of growing it with the least amount of time and effort required and lowest cost possible.  The objective is to produce quality vegetables for the family and to support our market stall, making it affordable to many.  This is where the producing our own fertiliser and pest control helps as well as having the greenhouse.

The vegetables selected are based on what I like – after all, what is the point of growing things that you don’t like?  My favourites are tomatoes, cabbages, kale, kailan, choy sum, spinach, french beans, long green beans and broccoli.  I also like other vegetables so we have an assortment of them planted.  Some are planted in the greenhouse – those that require more care like tomatoes and cabbages – and others are planted outdoors – especially the ones that require a trellis or climbing support like the beans and cucumbers.  We rely on organic methods for fertilisation and pest control and I am continuously experimenting on formulas to improve the quality and yield as well as to protect my vegetables from the damage done by pests.

Another aspect that I continue to experiment is growing vegetables in polybags.  As more and more people tend to live in apartments and condominiums whereby they do not have the land to grow their plants, container gardening is the only option.  As the greenhouse has a size limit, I can simulate growing vegetables in a small space – the soil composition, water and drainage, fertilisation, pest control and light requirement.

The seeds we selected are all non-GMO and some are organic.  In the last year we have started to produce our own seeds to support our continued planting cycles.  This will help reduce our seed costs as well as reducing our dependence on commercial seed suppliers.  We have started to sell some of our seeds but this is not a focussed activity.

Part of the learning process is understanding the soil composition for the various vegetables, pests that love it and how to control it as well as water and fertilisation.  A key component is to keep the soil healthy and alive by regularly introducing beneficial microorganisms and enzymes as well as encouraging the earthworm population.  For me, one of the best decisions I made was not to bulldoze the land hence I retained the top soil that took years to build.  All the vegetation wastes are recycled back into the soil which further adds to the quality of the soil over time.

Going organic has also made it more of a challenge in controlling pests but ultimately, it is worthwhile for the quality of vegetables produced.  Having access to quality water free from contaminants also makes a difference.  Chlorine kills microorganism hence their use in the water purification process.  This in turn may also affect the beneficial microorganisms in your soil.  In promoting the natural health of the soil, this can adversely affect our efforts hence our reliance on natural river water that we have piped down from the source.  Whenever someone asks me what to look for when buying a piece of land, I always says it is important to have a good natural water source.

One of my interest is the role of food as a source of promoting good health and prevention of diseases.  So apart from having nutritious vegetables, I also love to plant herbs and spices.  Over the years, I have been building and studying the herbal plants that we plant at the farm.  I focus more on our native plants and gather information from practicing traditional herbalist.  The various herbs can be used in cooking as well as in drinks.  Amongst the plants we planted are turmeric, Bentong ginger, small galangal, ginger torch, lemon grass, citronella, and misai kucing.  I began this collection about 5 years ago and continue to build it as I study our traditional therapies.  I focus on what is found in Malaysia as I hope to build a heritage collection at the farm.  Some of the produce is sold in its raw form and some are used in the production of our drinks and concentrates which is designed to make it easy for people to add to their diet and consume as part of their normal diet.  In order to ensure perpetuity, we also work on propagating the plants.

Apart from human consumption, my herbals also serve as source materials for my pest control formula.  There are many herbals that can serve as pest control such as citronella, Indian borage and ginger.  So, these types of herbs serve a dual purpose at the farm: for humans and for pest control.  By growing them at the farm, I can be assured that they are free from chemical pesticides thus it prevents the introduction of toxic chemicals into my farm system.

Apart from herbals, we also plant honey bamboo (rebung madu) and it also have multiple purpose – provide for rebung madu (honey bamboo shoots), the bamboo to use in create supporting stakes for the plants , bamboo rod to harvest fruits and source material for creating a trellis.  At the same time, it can also provide me with an impromptu fishing rod.

The basic underlying tenet is still to do no harm to the ecosystem and continue to retain the balance.  It is a holistic approach with care and thought given to all at the farm.  Hence our tagline: “Maximizing nature’s bounty”.

Part 3: Our products for continued sustainability of the farm.

SHL Recipe: Bentong ginger & turmeric marinated salmon trout fillet with left-over mash potatoes balls

This is a simple and quick to do dish, especially when my toddler says he is hungry and wants to eat.
I tend to keep marinated items in my fridge ready-to-cook for such “emergencies”.    The potato balls are quick and easy to make and a good way to use left-over mash potatoes.  I use our farm-produced Bentong ginger and turmeric concentrates in many ways and this is an easy way to add nutritional value to a meal allowing you to focus on taste and not be burdened with thinking about how healthy it is.

Ingredients:
Fillet of salmon trout approximately 300g
2 tablespoon of Bentong ginger and turmeric concentrate
1 tablespoon organic coconut oil.
Salt to season.

Method:
Marinate the salmon fillet in the ginger&turmeric concentrate with a pinch of salt for at least 30 minutes.  This can be prepared ahead of time, ready-to-cook at a moment’s notice.
Heat a skillet with 1 tablespoon coconut oil on medium-high heat.
Place the salmon fillet skin-side down.  To get a crispy skin, do not touch the side on the skillet until you see it “loosen” from the skillet.  It is then ready to be turned over to cook on the other side.    When it has “loosened” from the skillet, it is done.

Potato balls.
Ingredients:
Left-over mash potatoes or freshly made mash potatoes.
1 organic free-range organic egg ( or whatever egg you have on hand)
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Method:
Mix the egg into the mashed potatoes.
Heat skillet with the coconut oil.
Drop small scoops of potato mixture and allow it to brown before turning it over.

Thought behind the meal
Something that is quick and easy to do yet nutritious.
The salmon trout provides for lots of good fatty acids as well as minerals.
Cooking in organic coconut oil lends a nice, rich taste to the salmon while at the same time providing those great health benefits.
A binding agent was needed in order to create the mash potato balls and this was achieved with the addition of the egg, further adding nutrition.  Apart from the nutrition, the golden yellow egg yolk provides a nice color to the potato balls.

SHL Banana Cake Recipe

This is the recipe I use to make my banana cake or cupcakes with pisang embun wangi.  This variety of banana lends an added touch of fragrance apart from tasting great in a banana cake.  The recipe is simple and it takes about 1 hour to prepare the cake and another 15-30 minutes for the icing.

Ingredients:
2 cups of brown sugar
2 cups of all purpose flower
1/2 block of butter (1 block 227gm)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of cinnamon (I prefer freshly grated)
2 eggs
8 pisang eibun wangi (you can use other bananas if you want like rastali, tapas, emas or lemak manis)

Method for making the cake:
Peel and mash the bananas.
Cream the brown sugar and butter with an electric mixer (you can use your own muscle power though it takes longer and you get more tired ).
Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture and mix at medium speed till the mixture is fluffy or meringue-like.
Mix the mashed bananas, vanilla extract, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda into the mixture.
Add the flour about half a cup at a time and fold it in.

Bake at 190 Celsius for about 30-35 minutes.  The cake is done when you insert a skewer or toothpick and it comes out clean.  For cupcakes, it takes about 20 minutes to bake.

Cool the cake.

Ingredients for cream cheese icing:
1 cup of icing sugar
60g (1/4 block) of cream cheese (I like Philadelphia cream cheese)
60g (1/4 block) of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Method for cream cheese icing:
Soften the cream cheese and butter.  Using an electric mixer at medium speed, mix the butter , vanilla extract and cream cheese and add in the icing sugar a bit at a time (or you will have it flying all over you).
It is done when it has a light texture.
Spread over your cake and lightly dust with freshly grated cinnamon.  You can further decorate your cake with fruit slices like strawberries.

Bentong ginger and Turmeric: My miracle-like drink

I am into eating or drinking food without thinking of it as a supplement or medicine but merely as part of a natural diet.  For me, pre-emptive measures are always better than trying to treat a condition.  This is where the Bentong Ginger and Turmeric drink has become a regular on my diet.  I find the taste to my liking and it has been easy to maintain drinking it, more so by the benefits that I am reaping.

The drink comprises of Bentong ginger and turmeric, organically grown of course.  I sometimes drink it unsweetened or add organic brown sugar or honey or gala nipah.  I tend to make concentrates that I can store in the fridge and have it ready to drink at any time.  In the evenings, I like to have it warm.  Sometimes I have it as a cool drink, especially on hot afternoons.  It has a refreshing taste.  When I travel, I like to bring a bottle ready-to-drink, just in case I get motion sickness.  If I know that I will be travelling through winding roads, I like to drink it before I start the journey.

The Bentong ginger is different from the regular ginger in that it has a stronger taste.  It can be grown is the ground as well as in containers.With the right soil composition and fertilisation, can be harvested in 8 months.  In research, gingerol is found to be the main pharmacological agent.  Ginger’s main properties include:

1. anti-inflammatory
2. antioxidant
3. antiemetic

Amongst the benefits are:

1. improves digestion 
2. reduces inflammation
3. improves circulation
4. strengthens the immunity system
5. improves muscle and joint health
6. reduces pain from osteoarthritis 
7. improved carbohydrate and lipid metabolism
8. reduce nausea
9. Lowers cholesterol (LDL)

Due to its nausea reducing properties, it is also taken by people who undergo chemotherapy to reduce the nauseous side effect of the treatment.

Turmeric is easy to grow in our climate and can be grown in the ground and in containers.  With the right still composition and fertilisation, it can be harvested in 6 months.  In research, curcumin is thought to be the main pharmacological agent.  Turmeric’s main properties include:

1. anti-inflammatory
2. antiseptic
3. antioxidant

Amongst the benefits are:

1. improves healing of wounds
2. improves brain function and lowers risks of brain diseases
3. improves rheumatoid arthritis ( In Ayurvedic treatments, turmeric is one of the elements used)
4. improves digestive problems (In Germany, the German Commission E which approves what herbs can be used safely has approved the use of turmeric for digestive problems.)

Post-Mortem: Open Farm Day 2016

Our Open Farm Day held on Sunday, April 24, 2016 was one we consider a success.  We had lots of visitors and even though there were only 3 of us, I think we managed quite well.  In comparison to the one we held last year, we have come a long way and made adjustments based on the feedback from last year.  This year, we started preparing 2 months and we were running out of time.  Looks like next time around, we will have to start 6 months before the event so that we will be less stressed.

Over the months, I have received many questions on fertilising, pest control and soil composition so I did a short talk on this topic and was happy that there were questions.  I am not an agriculture expert so I only talk to what I know based on my experience and experiments – the practicing organic farmer.

This year, we had prepared over 1000 seedlings including:

1. 2 varieties of papaya, 
2. cili paid, 
3. red sweet bell pepper, 
4. yellow hungarian wax, 
5. ulam raja, 
6. indian borage, 
7. snake grass, 
8. bunga tasbih, 
9. small galangal, 
10. bentong ginger, 
11. turmeric, 
12. holy basil, 
13. white basil, 
14. purple eggplant, 
15. terung telunjuk,
16. roselle
17. cabbage
18. broccoli
19. red spinach
20. parsley
21. leek
22. serai Mwangi (citronella)
23. cekur
24. momotaro tomato
25. cherry tomato
26. orchid butan belalai
27. pagoda.

With this many varieties, our shortfall was in labelling each polybag – a comment that we received as a feedback.  We are taking note of this and will endeavour to improve in this area in the future.  There were also some request for fruiting trees so we will get started on the next month to allow for the plants to be strong and healthy for the next ever, which will most likely be next year.  I am toying with the idea of having an event during the fruit season so we will see how it goes :).

Last year, another feedback was to provide signage and paths to areas.  We have improved it but we still have to improve this a bit more.  We will work on making a more level path to certain areas including to the greenhouse, which was the most visited area.

This year, we had drinks for sale, as a response to some requests last year.  We didn’t one to have regular commercial soft drinks so we prepared farm-based produce drinks.  The most popular drink was the bentong ginger & turmeric drink.  We are taking note of this so we will be planting a lot more of this ginger as well as turmeric.

We got mixed feedback on the pictorial and directions for getting here.  One of the problem was Googlemap and FB insisted that it is located elsewhere,  We are addressing this with the relevant parties.  The pictorial proved useful to many but some commented on maybe adding a couple more photos once the it is in the “kampung” road area.  As such, we will update the pictorial guide in the future.

My Maxis line went on a frits,  I couldn’t receive calls but could do everything else.  To address this, I had provided an alternate contact number which many used.  However, I still had a lot of “missed calls”.  My apologies to these people but there wasn’t much I could do with it.  I will be going to Maxis today to resolve this issue.

Our fresh produce was well received and luckily we were at the farm because we did have to harvest more during the day.  The most favourite was the papaya.  In shaa Allah, we will endeavour to get more harvest for the next event as we are adding more plants as well as replacing older ones.  With the greenhouse now ready to go, we hope to produce more vegetables next time around.

With it being very busy for us, we didn’t get a chance to take photos so I would appreciate it if anyone did, to please send it to me.  I got one photo which I appreciate very much.    In spite of feeling dead tired by the end of the day, we feel that the response we got from our visitors were well worth it.  Many asked if they can visit again any time.  Unfortunately, it would be difficult to accommodate it as the 3 of us take care of a farm of 2.5 acres and we do a weekly market to sell our produce.  We schedule almost everything and have a rolling activity plan extending to 18 months.

We hope all our visitors had a good visit and we appreciate you spending the day with us.  Thank you.

Durian Fest V – Post Mortem

This year’s Durian Fest taught me a lot.  This is the first time that I had an open invite and I must say it was a stressful experience for me albeit it has its highlights.  Preparation for the event was already stressful as I had some people upset with me when I declined some of their rsvps.  It was a necessary measure as the response was already large.  Many responded late and some didn’t confirm till the last minute so I really couldn’t accommodate them. All my previous durian tests was by invitation only so this is the first experience that I had in trying to nail down how many are coming.
The day arrived and true to my guess, quite a few people arrived early, some disrupting the preparations and some quite rude.  This created stress for my crew and I, something which I wanted to avoid.  The paying guests could be categorised into 3 – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Since I always like to know the worst first, let’s address the ugly.  The ugly are those that paid RM 10 and know that it is a “eat-at-site” function but yet choose to steal durians in plastic bags or other bags that they brought with them.  These are people that I noted on the registration sheets and will choose to no longer have anything to do with.  Then there are those “uglies” that came and eat without paying.  Again, I will choose to no longer have anything to do with them.  Since they didn’t register in, it is easy to avoid them in the future.
Next we have the bad.  These are those that think that since they paid RM 10, they can waste as many fruits as they like.  Over 100 fruits were wasted by these “Bads” who ate a couple “ulas” of the fruit and then left them lying around, and sometimes throwing the barely eaten on the ground.  Guess what, these “Bads” will no longer be welcomed.  There are also the “Bads” who refer to my crew as “kuli” and wanted to order them around.  Guess what, RM 10 doesn’t buy you a slave that you can be rude to and threaten to report to me.  The other type of “Bads” complaint about the durian and the lemang, all the while downing the food like there was no tomorrow.  These people also go into my “undesirables” list.
OK, enough of the negativity.  Let’s hilight the Good.  There were groups who used this opportunity to get together, laid their mats down, shared fruits and ate lemang and enjoyed the drinks provided, all the while having a good time.  It was a pleasure to see them enjoy themselves.  Then there were others that shared fruits, even though they didn’t know each other because they decided that they wanted to try other fruits.  Then, there were those that got there only to find that we had run out of fruits.  Durians are not something that you can simply pluck, and due to the Bad and the Ugly, we ran out of fruits faster than anticipated.  They were understanding about it and I will put them in my “Desirables” list.  Some of them came from as far away as Melaka and first time to the area.  Imagine how bad I felt :(.
My apologies goes to those who didn’t get any durians and I will add you to the list of invites for next year’s event.  This will be the first and last time that I will have an open event.  I will revert to previous format where we had a closed event by invitation only.  I want everyone to have a pleasant experience, both the guest and my crew, the same kind we had previous years.  A very important lesson was learnt this year: You can only control certain things but there are so many unknowns :).

Round purple beauties: Aubergines

Another versatile vegetable fruit is the round purple aubergine.  This plant is a perennia and can be propagated from seeds.  I use dried seeds as this allows me to select the seeds that I feel will germinate and produce strong plants.  What is my criteria? Simple, they have to feel hard and have a nice yellow colour to them.  If the seeds feels “crispy”, then they will probably not germinate or produce strong plants.  I seed them in small polybags filled with organic soil mixture.  From my experience, it germinates between 7-10 days.  During this period before you see any leaves, it needs to be kept moist but not soggy wet.
Once it germinates, I will wait until 4 leaves have appeared before transplanting them to either a big poly bag – at least 12″ in diameter or into the ground.  Planting in polybags requires more care and attention to water and soil content than in the ground.  The leaves feel velvety and have very tiny hairs which can cause you to have an allergic reaction if you inhale it – to me sometimes I experience a sinus reaction to it so I prefer to plant them in outdoor open areas so I have less chances of inhaling them.

It takes about 2 months before they start to flower, producing lovely small purple flowers. At this point, the plant is about 18″ or 0.5m tall, so it is a nice small shrub-like plant.  By keeping it pruned, you can have a nice bushy shrub.  So, if you want to have an edible garden but yet want a flower garden, this plant may be an option.  Allow a diameter of 2′ or around 0.5-0.7m at the base of the plant clear of other vegetation. If you want to plant a row of them, space them about 1m or 3′ apart as this will allow the plant to bush out.
At the farm, we use a liquid mixture of fermented cow dung, organic matter and vermicompost to fertilise them and they seem to love it, producing lots of flowers.  We started fertilising them fortnightly starting from 1 week after transplanting.  It is important to have strong, sturdy plants as the fruits can be quite heavy, weighing 300-500gm.  As with many fruiting vegetables, pollination is important hence be sure to remove old, yellowed leaves to allow easy access for the pollinating insects.
I like to keep a clear ground area of about 2 feet or 20cm diameter clear around the base of the plant.  I will build a little circle dam around this,  By doing this, it allow me to do a few things: less area to keep weed free, allows for the plant to be the main consumer of the fertiliser and allows the water to be trapped in this circle giving time for the water to seep through the ground to the roots.  We water it once a day unless it rains, and depending on the rainfall, we may not water it for a couple of days.  This is a hardy plant and can be a prennial, lasting over a year with the right care and attention.

It is easy to know when it is time to harvest, it is when the fruit is a nice purple colour.   The fruit is prones to attacks by insects which lay eggs and the larvae then feeds on the aubergine, making holes in them.  I use an EM+ spray as an organic pesticide.   If it is heavy with fruit, you will need to provide support to the plant as the fruits can get to be heavy – 250-400 gm each – straining the branches.
 Now that you have the fruit, what can you do with it.  So many options: grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper, turned into a dip, cooked a curry with it, do an eggplant parmagiana (slices coated in breadcrums) and lots of other dishes.  I have never seen it eaten in sweet dishes though who knows, someone may one day create a sweet dish out of it.  Happy trying to plant this gorgeous plant 🙂

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:

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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:

1. By placing them in a glass jar and placing them in direct sunlight for a few hours.
2. By placing them in a tea pot filled with just-boiled water and allowing them to seep for about 20 minutes
3. 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 :).