Category: SHL Journal

Of family and friends

As I do the chores on the farm, my mind is always filled with all kinds of thoughts.  I began thinking that often we do not salute the people that have made an impact and been there in our lives.  When I first started out in farming, my parents were surprised and felt that I would be not be fulfilling my potential.  My dad’s favorite line was “Belajar tinggi-tinggi sampai Amerika dan sekarang jadi petani”.  However, they have always supported me in whatever I wanted to do so they did not prevent me from pursuing this area.  That is the greatness of the love they have for me – they are there for me and support me to explore and get new experiences.  Since then, my dad has often given me clippings of articles related to agriculture, given me suggestions of what can be produced at the farm as well as providing feedback on my produce.  My mother has also provided feedback on my produce and even given me seedling to start my herbal garden.  My husband, Giancarlo, is not into farming but since it is something I would love to do, he gives me the freedom to pursue this.  To me, in spite of their concern of all the hard work and money that I will have to put in, they give me their blessings.  SubhanAllah.  Alhamdulillah.

In the beginning of the adventure, a very good friend, Huzir Mahmud, was my comrade-in-arms in doing the manual land clearing and also with the inital planting of plants and trees.  He was my sounding board and never stingy in sharing his knowledge and spending hours working the land with me.  He truly contributed blood, sweat and tears as I began the farm.  Often, he would fo the the land to work on it when I was busy with my corporate life.  For that, I will always appreciate his friendship.  To me, he is like family.

Amongst the first friends that provided me with invaluable information and moral support was and is Kamarulzaman Bachik or as we friends refer as Man Bachik.  Although I had not spoken much to him over the years but when I first contacted him over 3 years ago to ask some questions after not talking to him for many more years than I can remember, he was as nice and helpful as when we were in MRSM KB.  He introduced me to organic fertilizers, shared his experience as well as gave me lots of information – never being stingy to share.  To me, Man Bachik is not a friend but a “sahabat”.

My other sahabat is Daud Abu Hanipah, who also is like a mentor to me.  He has been involved in agriculture and aquaculture for many years and he provided me with real-life suggestions and advise.  He is also one who is generous in sharing his knowledge.  I enjoy sharing ideas and discussing with him as he is involved in aquaculture.  I first got to know him during my Unisys days and over the years, he has been a great friend.  Whenever I had a major activity that needed extra hands, he would always appear and help out, always with a cheerful persona.

One of the area of interest that I have is in our traditional herbs. I feel that the Malay traditional herbal knowledge and practice has lost ground and there is not much documentation on it. It would be a waste to lose it. In my quest to increase my knowledge in this area, I met Hj. Hassan Awang Din over three years ago. From the first time that I met him, he has always treated me warmly and been generous in sharing his knowledge. A humble and knowledgeable man in the cultivation and usage of traditional Malay herbs and spices, I have learnt much. Many of the herbal plants that I used to start my herbal garden came from him. Over the years, we have become like family and whenever I am in Kedah, I will pay him a visit at this home in Sik.

One of the people who give me motivational inspiration is Sharifah Sofianny Syed Hussein or more known as Sherry – here is a lady who during our MRSM days was not considered as a star student, often receiving comments to that effect from teachers and students.  Coming from a well-connected family, she could have opted out to be a leech in adulthood but instead has worked very hard to acquire knowledge and skills and is now a major player in the finance world.  Through it all, she has always remained down to earth and true to herself.  The passion she has for what she does shines through.  To me, she is a shining example of how you can achieve what you want by working hard, dedication, being disciplined and have a passion for what you are doing.

When bringing produce to market, I often experiment with how the produce can be transformed to form increased value item.  To this end, I have a straight-talking taste-tester, Sheila.  I first got to know Sheila during my time at TimeDotCom.  With her great personality and kind heart, we hit it off from the start and a great friendship was formed.  Her feedback is invaluable as she calls it like it is.  She has also assisted in marketing SHL products, all without being asked, and this to me marks true support of a friend.  Her continued support, both as a taster, marketer and as a customer is very much appreciated.

Over the past two years, my main assistant is Azis, someone who works with me and views the growing and development of the farm as more than a job, but as a way of life.  The passion and care that he has for the farm is something that I appreciate and one that I can depend on to take charge when I am not at the farm.  He does not count the hours that he works nor quibble over minor issues. The farm is surrounded by hilly forest hence quite often in the pre-dawn hours, all sorts of animals would come and “visit” the farm such as wild pigs, river otters and fox.  The dogs and the geese would create a commotion, and without fail, Azis will get up and check it out and ensure that all is well before he gets more rest and at times, foregoing sleep as it is already daylight and time to start the day.  This commitment that he has to the safety of the farm is something that money cannot buy and I feel blessed to have someone like him at the farm. As we have worked alongside, he has become family, a younger brother.

In life, one does not walk alone, so I am thankful to have a great family and wonderful friends – Nur Suraya, Foong Lee, Anis, Nas and many more.  To all my friends who have attended and supported my various events as well as being my customers, thank you very much.  Allahuakbar.

Ramadhan at Suria Helang Lui

Ramadhan is the season where we strive to be better people and hope that we continue to do so throughout the rest of our lives.  It is a time where we reflect and perform our daily routines to the best of our abilities and adjust to include other special activities.  Before we can encourage others, it has to start at home and with ourselves.  So at the farm, we made changes for this wonderful month.  To start with, we adjusted the time and types of activities that we do during the work time.  We start early, after Suboh and take a break during the heat of the day from 11am – 3pm and continue after that until about an hour before Maghrib.  Alhamdulillah, we have the flexibility of managing our time and activities accordingly.
I appreciate the bounty which I am blessed with so I strive to avoid wastes and minimize the damage to the land that I have some control over.  To start with, we pay attention to recycling from organic to inorganic wastes. Skins, used grated coconut, unused vegetable portions and the like are turned into animal food for the chickens and geese.  Leftovers that we do not want to consume are mixed with the dog food for our protectors.  Any un-recycled to feed organic matter are placed into the compost pile to be recycled into the soil and improve the organic content of the soil.  I try to maximize any opportunities to recycle organic materials.

Being out in the country, there is no set waste disposal mechanism so you have to create one for yourself.  To this end, we separate our waste, what can be put into our garbage “hole” and what we can and have to send to recycling centers.  This is done to mimize damage to the environment that we have been blessed with.  To me, this is one of the ways of how we demonstrate our gratitude for the lovely environment that we have been provided for by Allah s.w.t.

How we do our farming is also very important.  To minimize damage to the land, we do not use pesticides or herbicides to control the weeds.  Yes, we do spend a lot of time in weeding and cutting weeds and grass but it will all return to the soil, improving the quality of the land.  Weeding also gives me the opportunity to berzikir and find peace and tranquility improving my mental health.  This natural farming approach helps ensure that we minimize  pollution and endangerment of health and lives on the farms – human and otherwise.  Hence I do not have to worry about poisoning the fish nor any of the other animals or of adding poisons to our food, albeit minute amounts at a time.  It would be an oxymoron to do otherwise considering we have good water quality and food feed.

It is the principle at the farm, that the produce we sell must be at the level that we want for ourselves.  If we do not want to eat it, we do not produce or sell it.  To us, this is the best way of earning rezeki that we hope will receive Allah s.w.t. blessings.  During this fasting month, we have an abundance of produce and what better use than to split the produce into what to sell and what to share.  After all, isn’t this the best time to share food with other people?

Mangosteen conserve

This period has also given me the opportunity to experiment with different ways of preserving the produce to prolong the length that it can be edible either by pickling, conserving or drying.  It has enabled me to try out various recipes and ways of preparing my meals and given me an appreciation to enjoying quality local food.

We at the farm take this opportunity to wish all of our Muslim family Selamat Menunaikan Ibadah di Bulan Ramadhan and Selamat Menyambut Aidil Fitri, Maaf dzahir dan bathin.

SHL Aqua Project: Jannah Part 5

Three and a half month after start of the renovation of the ponds, fresh, clean river water began flowing from near the source.  I love hearing the water gushing into the pond and before the fishes were placed in the pond, I did my own initiation of the pond – sitting under the water pipe.  The force of the water is powerful and I had to plant my feet into the base of the pond to prevent from toppling over.  The water felt almost cold and definitely clean.  I had a back water massage and it felt heavenly.  I am currently figuring out a plan to make this water inflow an aesthetically pleasing feature – maybe a waterfall or a series of fountains – I have time to work on this.
Once the water had filled to a steady level and began to flow out to the river, I deemed it ready to begin its function as my fish “river” pond.  After much contemplation, the decision was made to focus on two types of fish for this first round: red tilapia and catfish (keli).  The pond is divided into 2 parts with the area for the tilapia measuring approximately 10000 sq. ft and the area for the catfish measuring 3000 sq ft.  The tilapia pond is shaped like a river as I had retained the original shape which was based on the natural contour of the land.  Over the months of renovation, vegetation had begun to grow in this section of the pond.  Even my pair of geese, Emir and Siti, enjoy swimming in it.  I enjoy watching them, expecially in the later part of the afternoon as the sun is setting – it is so relaxing.

I introduced the first batch of 3,000 baby red tilapia on June 1 and it was a joy to watch them swimming in the pond.  Over the next few days, I observed its condition and also to ascertain the capacity of the pond.  A week later, I added another 7,000 baby red tilapia and now I can see that the pond is populated.  They play hide-and-seek between the vegetation as well as nibble on them. 

The pond for the catfish is has a concrete base as well as walls hence making it much easier to harvest.  If I had retained an “earth-based” pond floor, it would have made harvesting a challenge since they tend to burrow in the ground when the water level is at floor level.  The 5,000 baby catfish was introduced into their new home on June 8 and it looks like the pond can support another 5,000.  The plan is to add them this Friday.
I feed them 42-44% protein fish pellets – the smallest size. They are fed twice a day. I have noticed their growth which I attribute to both the feed, the availability of natural food as well as the water.  I love feeding times, watching them rush to the surface to gobble up the food, although the tilapia doesn’t have a feeding frenzy like the catfish and this I attribute to the fact that the tilapia has the natural vegetation to nibble on.  I also feed the fish occasionally other plant-based food and this will remain as my secret feed ingredient.  For me, it is important to keep the water as clean as possible hence you will not find carcasses of chickens or goats thrown in nor will the sewer waste be piped into the ponds.  All these factors will ensure that I will have great tasting fish, without the muddy or “funny” taste and this I have learnt from my proof-of-concept phase.  I also want to ensure that the ponds do not emit any foul odors so that I can enjoy the environment of the farm to the maximum.
InsyAllah, the first harvest of the catfish will occur in late August or early September 2012 whilst the red tilapia in October or November 2012.

Farming is….

I often get a good laugh at the shocked faces or surprised comments at my Sunday market when the market-goers hear me speak English.  To some of them, it is unheard of to hear a produce-seller being able to speak proper English – if you speak with the “lahs” and “lor” and without proper grammar, this is fine.  The sellers are also supposed to be uneducated or lowly-educated and the fine, clever customers should be able to look down on them.  At times, these fine, educated customers speak rudely and patronize you.  They are the ultimate practitioners of stereotyping.  I enjoy jolting them out of their preconceived notions and watching their jaws drop when I revert to my business English.  I view this as my social responsibility to cultivate sensitivity and awareness that all humans are to be treated with respect and civility – you never know the background of the other person – and not to judge a person on appearances – personal or otherwise.

From my experience in the US, a visit to the Farmers’ market is always a learning experience.  Interesting produce and products direct from the farm is always of good quality and the sellers are always knowledgeable of their products.  Quality and freshness is the standard.  Consumers expect it.  Conversely, here, often, consumers expect cheap, low quality products.  SHL aims to produce quality and fresh produce and products at competitive pricing.  If the customers expect to pay cheaper than chain-store prices for a better quality, then they are sadly mistaken.  Vegetables are produced without chemical herbicide or pesticides and harvested the day prior to market.  At a recent visit to a T-store, I found 3 stems of pucuk paku, all wilted, sold at RM 2.99.  I sell a bunch of them at RM 1 and I have had comments from the well-dressed affluent customers who say that it is expensive.  What a joke!!  They ignorantly comment that since this should be easy to obtain in the “kampung”, it should be sold at 50 cents a bunch.  I would love to see these people try to do it.  I just smile and suggest politely that they buy from alternative sellers.  Little do they know, that a few of the sellers there buy from us to resell :).  It is funny to see them circle the market and return later only to find that it has sold out.  We all have choices so I leave it to them to make theirs.
I have many regular customers that I enjoy to visit with – often we will chat on the nutrition of the produce that I sell as well as share recipes.  They warm my heart with their appreciation of my products and motivate me to improve.

From week to week, some of the products varies as it depends on what is ready.  The varieties of bananas also vary and I will only know what I will have 2-3 days before market day, the time when I tour the farm and select what bananas will be ready to consumption by Sunday or 1-2 days later.  At times, it is a battle between me and the birds.  The same goes for papayas.  Nothing beats the taste naturally ripened fruits as opposed to fruits that are chemically-induced.  One of the things that love watching is the change of the color of pisang lemak manis or emas from yellowish-green to bright yellow. 
Depending on the variety, the bananas are sold at RM 2.50 or RM 3.00 per kilogram.  I have some ignorant opportunist that say I should sell at RM 1.00 or RM 1.50 per kg as it is direct from the farm so all I need to do is wait for them to grow – no need to do anything.  Anyone with any sense knows that to produce quality produce, you have to take care of the plant, clear the weeds, ensure enough fertilizers before you can harvest them.  From a plant, depending on variety, it would yield about 5-10 kg.  Average time to harvest is 8 months.  So from one plant, you may get a maximim of RM 25 (the RM 3/kg is for pisang emas and lemak manis which only produce about 5kg per plant).  Do the math – how many of these consumers would wait 8 months to earn RM 25 per plant.  If you have 100 pants, then you make RM 2500 for 8 months or RM 312.50 per month before costs.  so, be reasonable consumers 🙂
All in all, I am getting to be quite spoilt and selective of my fruits and vegetable.  I feel blessed that I have this choice.  SubhanAllah.

Being a farmer – Challenges and Joys

After commenting on Facebook on a comment about a nation’s ability to produce enough food for its people, I realized how dear at heart this topic is to me.  A few years ago, I made the commitment to develop a farm.  I faced many challenges – among them, battling people’s perception of my abilities and commitment as well as some viewing that my venturing into farming is a waste of my skills.  Since I was small, I have always had a dream of one day owning my own farm – producing great quality food produce.  Albeit, growing up, farming was considered something that was done by people who do not have the ability or opportunity to further their education hence the perception that farmers are low-educated people, I still nurtured the dream of one day having my farm and being hands-on – not a “gentleman farmer”.
I have learnt many lessons and gained an immense amount of knowledge and experience in developing my farm.  To the faint-hearted, this adventure is not for you.  It tests your patience, your endurance and your faith.  I approach the development as I would with any project – using project management techniques including having a project plan with resources and deliverables defined.
To start with, finding the right piece of land is key.  Many were surprised at the piece of land that I chose and considered that I paid too much for it but in the end, people began to understand.  I chose a land that was the last remaining jungle around other “kebun”.  This land has a land grant dating to 1908 but in the last over 40 years, had not been worked.  It was last a paddy field but all traces of this was gone when I got it.  Tarzan would have a wonderful time on the land :).  Key things that I looked at which in the end made the land cheaper overall was the fact that it already had a tarred road access, electricity and ability to obtain clean, fresh water.  Sometimes when people buy a piece of land because it is cheap, they forget these 3 items.  The cost of having a road access to your land can run in the hundreds of thousands of ringgit, and sometime, it is just to have it built with gravel stones – no tar.  Hence a land bought at RM 40K per acre can in a blink of an eye become RM 140K per acre and you still do not have the electricity and water!  When some people realized this, they began to see that I am not stupid for paying more than RM 40K per acre for land that was a jungle because at the end of the day, it not only costs less but also speeded up the time of development.
What does someone from IT and Telco background know about farming?  Very little but that did not stop me.  Life is a continuous learning exercise so I started to learn.  I didn’t go to a university or take any formal training.  What I did was to visit and learn from practitioners from all over the country.  There is a lot of knowledge that is not in books – they are a good reference but in reality, there are so many factors that can impact that is learnt through experience and not found in books.  I have to admit that I do have a collection of books covering a wide range of related topics.  They are mainly localized since after all, I am living in Malaysia and not England or U.S.A. or Australia.
Nothing beats taking the theory and knowledge and putting it into practice.  It is a never-ending discovery process.  What may work on another farm may not work on mine due to various reasons.  It is a continuous refinement process – making adjustments as I go along.  When things do not go as I expect, when my patience is tried, I take a deep breathe and refocus and deal with the challenge.  I do not view it as a failure but as an opportunity to learn and improve.  Farming is for the positive-minded, open to challenge people.
Being a Muslim, farming is also an opportunity to be a better Muslim.  Everyday I am amazed by Allah s.w.t. creations and power.  It makes me feel blessed that Allah s.w.t has given me this opportunity.  I am given the opportunity to produce affordable quality, pesticide-free, halal food, for myself, family, friends and customers.  It makes me appreciate life more and gives me an opportunity to serve my fellow Muslims.  Although I am not there yet, insyAllah, it will provide me with good income as well as activity as I grow older till the day that I die.
Farming requires passion.  You have to love farming as it has its ups and downs.  Farming requires commitment.  You have to be committed as it is not an 8-hour in-out job.  Farming requires faith.  You have to have faith as there will always be challenges.  Farming requires principles.  You have to have principles or you will not be able to do it right.  Farming requires brains.  You must use your brains to plan, address issues, learn and a whole other multitude of activities.  Thus, never under-estimate the farmer.
I studied the layout of the land, trying to preserve its good quality top soil, any plants or trees that are beneficial to humans and utilizing the natural stream-bed contour to create a fish pond.

My target for the farm was to be able to produce a complete meal with the exception of condiments such as salt and sugar.  In a way, should there ever be a need, the farm will be able to feed its people from what is produced.  No rice is planted so in dire circumstances, this will have to be replaced with cassava or tapioca (ubi kayu), just like during the Japanese Occupation.  Other than that, cooking oil can be produced from coconuts.  All the other elements are available – fish, vegetables and fruits.  As my approach is to go as natural as possible, should organic fertilizer not be available, I have my compost.  I practice crop rotation so as to to “kill” the soil.  The plants drink the rain water and when necessary fresh, clean, natural water. 

The fish are fed the fish pellets as supplement – there is tiny river shrimp, small fish and plants that they feast on so should the pellets become unavailable, the impact is very minimal.  My principle is to feed the fish what it would normally eat so chicken innards, human excrement and dead animals are a no-no.  The  other key element is clean water which I pipe from a natural, clean source.  These factors keep my pond from becoming a cess pool with a stinky odor.  Since I have the option to be selective, I only eat fresh water fish from my pond and it tastes great.  I refuse to eat store-bought fresh water fish as it tends to have a smell as well as a muddy taste.

SHL Journal – Benefits of Farming

With the food being great tasting, I either eat them raw of lightly cooked with minimal oil and shorter cooking time.  The result, my meals are lower in calories and richer in vitamins – without me having to resort to counting calories and worrying about what I eat.  I am constantly amazed at all the edible vegetation available in Malaysia and how much information on it is unknown.  We are more aware of fast-foods and convenience foods.  It is shame if we lose the knowledge.

Being very hands-on and being a “laborer” on the farm, I get a very good regular workout without having to go to a specific place and wearing special clothing.  What works best is old, comfortable, loose clothing so how is that for low-cost workout.  At the same time, I get to enjoy fresh air, beautiful surrounding and I do not get bored.  There is a variety of activities that I can choose from that can be classified as aerobic or anaerobic, strength training, cross-training and all those wonderful terms you hear at gyms.  Because I am doing something that I enjoy, each “workout” can last for hours without me checking the time to see if I have worked-out sufficiently.  I continue to be motivated to “work-out” as I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor and also have enjoyed over 10kg in weight loss and toned-up my body, feeling better every day.
While I get physical benefits, I also get mental benefits.  I am continuously learning – from engineering to construction to agriculture to business to health.  I get to exercise the creative side of me with various designs from how the farm should be developed, the house, furniture, and business.  I acquire knowledge on safety including on handling tools and machinery.  There is an enormous opportunity for increasing knowledge so boredom is the last thing on the list.  I enjoy being able to continue learning and my brain gets the exercise it needs.  My home library now consists on books covering all these various topics.  I guess I should figure where these books can be donated someday.
By taking the produce direct from farm and selling it directly, I get the opportunity to interact with people from all social levels.  This provides me with the opportunity to socialize and share information while being able to indulge in my love for studying people and culture.  I learn a lot from these encounters, from how I should communicate to the negatives of stereotyping. I also gain more knowledge on “real people, real lives”.
On top of all these, it has also provided me with the opportunity to embark on a spiritual journey, marvelling at all of Allah’s creations and his bounty.  I feel blessed.  SubhanAllah.

SHL Journal – Producing Tasty Fresh Water Fish

From my research, I concluded a few factors.  The first factor is the quality of the water which is dependent on the water source as well as the type and size of the fish pond.  In creating my fish pond, I decided make the pond as natural as possible.  After studying the contour and history of the land, I found that there used to be streams on this property so I decided to use the “stream tracks” as the basis and deepen them to about 1.5-2m depth, creating different depths in different areas of the pond thus having different water height levels.  After all, when you think about it, the river beds are not all one level but have “hills and valleys”.  As the pond was dug out, it hit the water table level so thus ensuring (to a certain point) that the pond will not go dry and in a certain way, enable constant supply of ground water to the pond.  The result is a fish pond that resembled a river flowing through the land – definitely not a rectangular or square shape, which is the home to several types of fish – kelah, tilapia merah and bunga, jelawat, ketutu, keli, tongsan, lampam jawa and kerai, puyu, tengas daun and other types of river fish.

Next was to ensure good, clean, fresh water was constantly flowing into the pond and this was achieved by laying polypipe at the source of water up in the hills and piping them down, which coincidentally also supplies the house, with this quality water.  The pond then served as a dual purpose, one to raise fish and the second as a non-stop overflow to the water supply.  By creating the pond this way, I did not have a need for an oxygenation machine that you will find in stagnant water fish ponds.  Without cement base, this enabled the natural-growing plants and algae to flourish with earth-based “food” readily available for them, which also provided another food source to my fishes.  The fish pond would then provide not only a good home for the fishes but also add a beautiful landscape feature to the farm where one can sit by the pond and enjoy the mornings or evenings without that awful water smell of stagnant water (which at times, as with stagnant water, provide a good breeding ground for mosquitoes!).  I learnt from the Department of Natural Resource that they tested the quality of the water by placing kelah fish and if they survived, the water is good.  Ikan kelah  is a fish which will only live in good quality water.  I am happy to see that my kelah is flourishing.