Category: SHL Journal

SHL Journal – Celebrating our eating tradition

Ever wondered why our ancestors appeared to have a healthier life despite not having the modern medical facilities within easy access?  In my opinion, it starts with their food and lifestyle.  I remember my great grandmother, Tok Nek, eating simply, always with “ulam” included for lunch or dinner.  She walked everywhere, miles daily, and not at a creeping pace at that.  I was always amazed at her energy.
Our Malay traditional cuisine is rich with natural vegetables and fresh ingredients which as the years go by has been over-run by processed foods and decline in freshness.  Take our curry, more and more, people are using processed coconut milk, processed spices, days or weeks old fish or chicken or beef and for some, they love adding food-flavor enhancers.  Sometimes, due to our lifestyles, it cannot be avoided but I always read the labels.  I try to avoid ingredients that contains items that have numbers and difficult to pronounce content.  More often than not, our reason for going for these expedient ingredients is lack of time.  However, if we plan our meals, having fresh, less processed food does not take any longer than the current alternative.


Selection of ulam

 Our “ulam” culture have also fallen by the wayside with many preferring to opt for salads, which in my opinion is not as rich and nutritious as using our many ulam  to create a salad.  Maybe it is because more information is available on western salads and also the “glamour” associated with it.  But have you noticed how expensive these salads are which contains mainly lettuce and tomato?  An alternative which is much cheaper and nutritious is doing your own salad which contains fresh leaf baby spinach, ulam raja, kemangi, ruku, selasih, daun salam, bunga kantan and seasoned with limau kasturi and salt and pepper to taste.  You get all the great stuff – vitamins A, Bs, C and K, and protein, beta-carotene, calcium, and iron to name a few – all at a fraction of the cost.  These leaves also contain other benefits such as sources of traditional treatments for diabetes, cholesterol, heart diseases, tension and stress – all the illness that is prevalent in today’s modern society.  Celebrate all the greens that we have!!!!


2.4 kg Keli

 As the years go by, I tend to eat more and more fish as opposed to chicken or beef.  Somehow, the idea of chicken that has been given antibiotics does not seem to appeal to me as much.  The same goes for eggs that come from this “processed” chickens.  I am blessed to have alternatives – I have a healthier egg source which comes from the chickens that I rear that eat all those natural food from the farm supplemented by corn.  I also have a fish source – the fish from my pond which is constantly getting fresh, clean water from the hills and fed with shrimps (that is in the river naturally), other small river fish, keladi leaves, banana plant stem center and supplemented by fish pellets, albeit not that much as they have so much food naturally.  A big no-no is carcasses or animal innards.  It makes a huge differences to the quality and taste of the fish and there is no need to wash the fish “to death” to remove the smell.  Prior to having my own fish pond, I had tried fresh water fish like keli and tilapia and I found them to have a smell and also a “muddy” taste.  It left a marked impression on me and I always avoided fresh water fish thereafter.  Now, I realize the importance of fresh flowing water and feed for quality and tasty fish – many of the fresh water fish producers have stagnant water ponds and some feed them carcasses as a cheap alternative fish feed. Yuck!!!!!  Our ancestors ate fresh water fish that ate natural food so why do we lower our standards?  For cheap food?  Remember, we are what we eat so while it may be cheap in the beginning, it may turn out to result in expensive medical bills :).


Misai kucing flower

 For drinks, I enjoy drinks such as limau kasturi juice, teh misai kucing, teh kemangi and teh serai, which you may find served as a speciality drink at some restaurants at a rather high cost such as RM 10 per glass for teh serai.  So, I create my own at a fraction of the cost.  I was amazed to see how much a box of 10 sachets of teh misai kucing costs so I make my own using only the flowers and its flower stem, and the leaves – none of the leaf stems – which results in a nice golden brown tea that has its own sweetness and rich taste.  These drinks also have a nutritional value as well as being traditionally used in the treatment of diseases – it can also help prevent these diseases.  The axiom “Prevention is better than cure” holds true.  Celebrate our traditional drinks!!!!


Pisang lemak manis

 Traditionally, we have also eaten our local fruits as snacks and as desserts after a main meal.  Bananas, papayas, watermelon are some examples.  Where bananas are concerned, there are so many varieties to suit many different taste such as pisang lemak manis, rastali, udang, embun, berangan, emas, telor, raja, awak and abu, to name a few.  They are what I call the orinal variety that have not undergone genetic modification.  I am a traditionalist in this aspect, I feel we shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature where it is not necessary and to leverage on natural forms of fertilization such as composting as well as regularly turning the soil so that all the organic material returns to the soil to further improve the quality of the soil.  Bananas and papayas are great at breakfast as they help with our digestion system much better than taking laxatives.  Celebrate our fruits!!!!
Chemical pesticides and fertilizers were also not widely used then and today, this is the easiest way for many vegetable producers to ensure plentiful produce.  While we may wash the vegetables carefully, to my mind, it will always be present within the vegetable so although we may consume minute amounts, over time, this can be quite substantial.  At the same time, this will pollute the land.  Since I enjoy “grazing” as I walk on the farm, these are banned items which drives the guy that works for me crazy as it makes it more work to control the weeds which thrives on the rich soil.  It is a never-ending battle but at the end of the day, I think the effort is worth it.  So, let us all celebrate our eating tradition 🙂

SHL Journal – Countdown to Durian Fest Part 2

The Durian Fest will be a “house-warming” of sorts – the second anniversary since I started the development of the farm and marking the completion of the house – a time to celebrate with my family and friends.

Entrance to the solat area in my bedroom

Two weeks seems to have flown.  The construction job is still underway and substantial progress have been made, albeit sometimes it seems to take a bit longer as I add some “beautifying” elements to it.  I am looking forward to the completion of my bedroom as then I can move out of the solat room to a proper bedroom.  It will be divided into 4 areas – ruang solat, sleeping area, bathroom and closet/dressing room.  There will also be a door leading to a patio area when I can just imagine myself enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning at sunrise.  
The walls are up and the base for the roof is being constructed before the roof tiles can be laid along with the “sun roof” so that during the daytime, there will not be any need to turn on the lights.  After all we are living in the tropics where natural light is available almost 12 hours of the day – save energy.  Two other rooms will also be added – one for Aziz and Seri, my great assistants who live on the farm all the time and the other, a guest room along with another bathroom.

From the main front gate

In front of the house

The road leading from the front gate to the front door has also been completed.  So for those who came last year and were worried if their car can be driven on the property, you will not have to worry anymore.  The portion in front of the house has also been widened to about 20ft so that should provide for some parking spaces.  All in all, a major improvement for vehicle access.  Now all that is left to do for this part is the beautification process and to build additional porch so my dear van can be protected from rain and sun.  In the plan, is to do the road on the outside leading to the “smaller” gate but I do not know if there will be sufficient time to get this done as there are many more things to be done before the event.

Rezeki Timur area

The front “garden” also known as Rezeki Timur, has also undergone its major cleanup – now I need to maintain and fertilize to keep it nice with healthy plants.  The main plants there are the herbs, bananas, cassava and limau.  I hope they will grow steadily and I will have a lovely garden for all the guests to wander in.  As requested by many who have visited the farm, I am working on creating the “tags” for the plants so that you will know what it is.  I hope from this, people will have a first-hand view of how these plants can be incorporated into their own gardens.  At the same time, they can also know what precaution to take with some of the plants like jeruju and bintang tujuh which have thorns.
The Durian trees in the area are in full bloom, although none in mine as they are still young, so insyAllah, there will be plenty of durians without alphabets for all of friends and family to enjoy.  It is only 3 months away and there is still a lot to do.

SHL Journal – Countdown to SHL Durian Fest

The first Durian Fest was held last year on July 31, 2010 with the main idea of having my family and friends over at the farm.  Last year’s fest was a success with over 100 guests who consumed over 300 durians, 60kg of mangosteens (manggis) and 20 kg of duku langsat and of course the home-made lemang made from 20kg of glutinous rice (beras pulut).  It started at 3pm and the last guest left at 10pm.  I had a great time and from the feedback, my guest enjoyed themselves too.  I decided then, Allah willing, it will be an annual event.  So, here I am, about 3.5 months away from this year’s event, with still a ton of stuff to get done for the farm to be ready for the guests.

In the last 9 months, the farm has undergone further transformation, focussing on agriculture and aquaculture.  At the same time, construction has also been underway to build a house, albeit leggo-style.  The last phase is underway now, with the addition of 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  This will complete my “farmhouse”.  It will take another month for it to be completed, insyAllah.
On the aquaculture front, the fish pond is being beautified.  At four locations, steps to the waterline has been constructed to allow easier access as well as creating places where one can sit by the water and enjoy the peace and tranquility, watching the fish or fishing.  A word of caution, it is quite difficult to land a fish although there are a few thousand in there.  The vegetation surrounding the pond is also being “processed” and getting rid of those plants and vegetation that I consider as weeds or pests.  This job is not that simple as I thought as when I begin to identify them, many have some value to them, either as a food or traditional medicine source.  Thus, what I thought would be an almost simple weeding turned out to be a painstaking effort as well as time consuming.  I hope to get it into a decent enough state so that all my guests can enjoy the beauty of it.

The fishes have also had a “good” time, as since the last event (my Aidil Fitri open house), they have been left to live in peace.  A few thousand new babies – some becoming food source in the natural eco-cycle and some growing.  There are a few species in the fish pond, some I introduced and some naturally introduced with the flow from the water source.  Among them are Kelah Merah, Tengas (Kelah Daun), Bujuk, Ikan Putih, Lampam Jawa and Kerai, Keli, Haruan, Telapia Merah and Bunga, Jelawat, Puyu, Tongsan, to name a few.  I also feel blessed that fresh water shrimps have also found their way to the pond and thus serve as a natural food source for the fish.  The plan is to let them live in peace for another year before making it available for market.
With a land size of 2.5 acres, and Sg. Lui, splitting the land, a natural division of the farm was created.  On the land across the river, the focus is on vegetable farming with baby cucumbers, spinach, chilies, squash pumpkin, pucuk manis, long beans, green beans, varieties of brinjals, kemangi (lemon basil) and tumeric (kunyit) to name a few.  There is a sprinkling of papaya trees – some bearing fruits and some for the flowers and new shoots, as well as banana trees and cassava (ubi kayu).  The cassava planted here is strictly for the shoots which are a favorite at the market.  Corn is also planted on rotation here.  In preparation for the event, the fence will need to repaired due to damage from wild boars and also from “wild” man.  I hope my guests will enjoy a walk in this area.
On the front portion, of course work on the house is still to be completed as well as the work to be done on the herb garden, the home vegetable garden, as well as all the clearing and fertilizing of all the various plants and trees which include hundreds of banana plants, various fruit trees, cassava, ubi keledek, corn, and many others, all in all on almost 2 acres.
There is also the tea production to be done – teh misai kucing, teh serai and teh kemangi – which will be served to my guests.  Considering what we will be eating, these three teas are probably the best to have to balance the meal.  In previous events, big kettles of tea were brewed and it was consumed with relish.
On top of that, I have had requests for purchase of some of the plants so it is time to propagate them into polybags.  The plants available will be of the herbal variety.
So, I guess, we will be busy at the farm until the event.

SHL Journal – The Corn and The Tapioca, The Beginning

Once upon a time, there was a land section of 30ft by 20ft, that was covered by healthy weeds.  Seeing as it was such a rich and fertile soil, it seemed a waste to have weeds enjoying its life.  Thus began the back-breaking job of removing the weeds manually, without weed-killers, and turning over the soil as well as adding more compost material to it.  After 3 days of sweat, and 1 day of heavy rain, the ground was ready to welcome the tapioca (Cassava) stem cuttings.  Rows of 6-inch-depth holes, two feet apart were dug, preparing the new home for the tapioca stems.
It is important to know which way to lay the stems or else it will not grow properly as to my knowledge, the tapioca tubers can only grow in soil and not come out like fruits.  Each stem is place, right side up with its “eyes” facing upward, and at an angle and lightly covered with soil and left to begin its new life.

Tapioca shoots

For good quality tapioca, rich soil with good drainage and sufficient water is a necessity,  As the soil factor was covered, this meant that a sprinkler system needed to be implemented to supplement the natural, rain watering.  The source of water for this system is from the upstream source thus it is non-polluted water.  A few days later, lovely green shoots appear on the stems indicating that it has begun its new life cycle.  So now, these new babies are ready to be “more covered” with soil.  The roots have now started to grow but its hold in the soil is still week thus tilling the soil around it and topping the stem with more soil needs to be done carefully so as not to dislodge the roots.

Tapioca trees, 3 weeks after planting

About two weeks later, it has grown to about 1 ft tall and the weeds have started to make an appearance.  Once again, it is “cangkul” action time, turn over the soil, adding some organic fertilizer as well as compost to it.  Rows of tapioca trees were created and it appeared to me that this tapioca patch would be able to support some rows of corn.
It takes about 4-5 months before the tapioca roots can be harvested, making selecting corn to be planted in between it, as the best choice.  The corn should be ready for harvest within 3-4 months.  Just nice timing.  First harvest the corn, which would not disrupt the soil.  Then harvest the tapioca a month later, which will result in major soil disruption, but since the corn has been harvested, it doesn’t matter.

Corn shoots

The ground was prepared for planting, once again being turned over, to remove the weeds.  Corn kernels, from my previous harvest, was sowed in about 1 inch of soil, between the rows of tapioca.  With lovely rain watering them on a daily basis, and the rich soil, 3 days later, they sprouted with the shoots appearing in verticl rolls above the ground.  Now the experiment of the Corn and the Tapioca is in full swing.  The next time that the soil will be worked on will be when the corn is about 6 inches tall. The soil water content will also need to be monitored to ensure that both varieties get the water is needs.