Farm Visitor Number 1 Is Back

Visitor number 1 came back for a short visit and this time he came with his son and another friend. Day one, we had a short city tour in Kota Kinabalu in a rented Proton Saga. Place visited are Signal Hill, Atkinson Clock Tower, Jesselton Wharf and etc.




Day 2 was spent at the farm, to see our progress. A year ago, we were planting aimlessly. Now we already have a planting plan and in the process of understanding and developing further experience on selected plants. Had a walking tour across our little farm. Exchanging ideas, discussion and deliberating on plants and methods. Time just flies by.

Day 3, morning, went visiting to our local weekly market. Lots of stuffs sold by the locals where available. Our friend brought a big root of Tongkat Ali for just $25.00 He seems to be sure about the root and it's usage. We continued to Mahua Waterfall. This is hidden inside the Crocker Range. Spent some time having a mini picnic. We then proceed to Poring Hot Spring. A walk across the Rainforest Canopy Walk, followed by a hot dip at the hot pool. It was getting dark and have to leave.




Day 4 we went around to Kinabalu Park, making lots of stops for for fruits shopping. Spent some time at Kundasang, a high land town with lots of farming. Visited the War Memorial. Spend the rest of the day at Kinabalu park itself.
Had a seafood feast at Kudat, as the seafood there is so fresh.

Day 5, we made a visit to the Tip Of Borneo. The wind was particularly strong today. We can't even stand properly. The waves were constantly hitting at the rocks. This area is having lots of development, chalets, shops, restaurants and others.

We made a stop at the Runggus Long House.

Day 6, we went on an eating trip, tasting the local fare. After filling up to the top, we went for a walk at Gaya Street, the weekly Sunday Market. As my friends' flight is close to midnight, I have to excuse myself and make my way back to Keningau. After saying our good byes, made my way to take the 1.00 pm. Kimanis Express bus to Keningau.

Mother Nature, The Bad Weather Continue with 4X4 Off Road

The Weather must be playing a joke on us. It continued to rain, heavily. The rain had soften up the soil. Experiencing lots of topple over of plants in our Rubber plantation, Parcel 1, 2, 3 and 6. The rain also cause pressure on over access roads within our plantation. Soil erosion, water running off the road, causing heavy erosion. 
After doing our weed management for Parcel 1, 2 & 3, were doing our round on 14th July, this was a very memorial day. Our adventure started early in the morning. Our plan was brought forward (from 16th July as the weather forecast was favorable for 16th) to today as our helpers had ran out of food supplies. Our chore was simple, send in food supplies to our helper in Parcel 1, collect our equipment, spraying pumps and bush cutters, proceed to Parcel 6 and clear some weeds along the terrace.

The Slope taken on a sunny day.

Access to Parcel 1 is pretty straight forward  as road are in the process of being upgraded. The bad section is about the last few kilometers to our plantation. Our helper had locked up the store and went off to work in Parcel 3. Our Hilux got stuck at the middle of the up hill slope. The steep gradient at the lower right of the picture. We couldn't make a u turn and had to reverse all the way down the muddy & slippery slope. Jamming the brake is of no use as the tires are slipping like if you were on butter. Note we are already using knobby off road tires. Slide in to the side drain, on the hill side to control our decent. Finally made it to the bottom.
After collecting our equipment, we travel though the back road to Parcel 6. These roads are connecting road, between Palm Oil estate, ex logging track and some not too bad tracks public tracks. We had to transverse very slowly as it had been a while since I've used this road. Again we slide to the side, hitting the banks of the slope during a couple of descend. This time it's not too bad as there are banks on both sides. We managed to reach Parcel 6 in the early afternoon. Parked the truck by the road side and proceed with our work. By mid day as we were working deeper into our plantation, drove the Hilux down to our shed as the ground had dried up. Continued with our work.
Then came a sudden down pour at about 2.30 pm. We didn't have time to drive our Hilux back to the main track, which is just about 500 meters. We got stuck at the slope with high incline. We made lots of tries under the heavy rain. Then we heard some lorry noise and ran out to the main road, seeking help. They 5 ton lorry carrying palm seed is also stuck and had slip to the bank, blocking half the road. Found out from the driver that another 4X4 5 ton truck is on the way. Unfortunately, it also got stuck next to the 1st truck, making it impassable. They called for help and a heavily modified Hilux was send. Manage to pull out the 4x4 5 ton truck but not the 1st truck. They then decided to form a train, the 4x4 tuck, pulling the Hilux, then pulling the 1st 5 ton truck. Managed to free the 1st truck after many tries. The 2 truck left as they were heavily loaded and wouldn't want to go risk going down the slope again. With the power heavily modified Hilux equipped with huge knobby mud tires & winch, all of us figured that it should be an easy job as our truck was just lightly loaded.

Unfortunately our access road was too narrow, muddy, slippery and angled wrongly, slanting toward the cliff side. The Hilux gave up after 4 tries as it was slipping toward the cliff side and the driver feels it's too dangerous. He too has difficulty getting back to the main track as his truck keep slipping.

Had no choice but to abandon our truck. Trek out about 2 kilometers to the tared road to wait for our partner to take us home. While waiting, we chance upon another Toyota Land Cruiser (HZJ79), deems as the 4X4 work horse. It house a 4,200 cc diesel engine. Again we went in hoping to free our truck. The driver deem it to be too dangerous as it's still raining too muddy, slippery and angled towards the cliff. Suggested to wait till the ground dries up before attempting.

Abandoning out truck for the second time. We went home, totally wet, tired and feeling dejected. Our hope is to wait for the ground to dry up in a day or so. Then try again.

 Next day, which is a Sunday, manage to get a friend to help. A heavily modified Hilux, latest model, with a winch. The rain had stopped at dawn, ground had dried slightly, but still slippery. We waited till mid day. The Hilux manage to dislodge us from the slope with it's winch. Problem came when the Hilux was trying to reverse out. It nearly fell off the cliff side 3 times. Use our truck as an anchor to winch itself back onto the track as there were no large tree in the correct position. Each time, pulling us along as the track is still very slippery.

Agfer aligning the Hilux, we used spades and cangkor, to level slightly the track, hoping that it would not make the vehicle slip off the cliff side. We then chance upon another Toyota Hilux on the main track and requested his help to pull out the heavily modified Hilux. The Hilux made it out on it's own this time after leveling the track. It also used the bank side as a guide.

All of us made it out, back to the tared road. It is my first heavy duty 4X4 off road adventure. It was Man & Machine verses Nature & Weather. What a day! Experience gained in using winch and recovery of stranded vehicle. This is what real adventure is like, not like those planned trips with lots of backup vehicles and equipment.

The section where the 2 trucks were stuck.

The section where we were stuck.

We went back the next day to complete our work. As it was raining the whole night till dawn, we dare not risk driving down the incline even on the main track. This time we parked at the top and trek down the main track to Parcel 6. Had finished off trimming the weeds on Parcel 6. Shall need to drop by again next week to administer herbicide. Hopefully the weather shall improve by then.

The section where our rescuer almost fell off the track to the cliff side on the right.

Mother Nature, The Weather 2.

We had our "last" pump for irrigation on the 4th July. Our pond had fallen to too low a level for the pump to pump up, even after moving the pump to the lowest possible location.
The weather started to change abruptly. Rain started to break on the 5th July. It has been raining almost nightly. Now it even rained twice in a day.

Both our ponds is at the maximum level. Initially the secondary pool experienced an algae boom. Since the gravity pipe in water is back in service, decided to fill up the main pond, which then run off to this secondary pond. It cleared up after 2 days.

After raining almost nightly, our Parcel 5 is too wet and the ground id giving way. We already had a couple of fallen bananas, papayas and plenty spoiled seedlings of papaya and ginger.

Let's hope the weather shall stabilize, goes back to normal soon so that we can continue with our new planting.
We need to rectify the run off pipe for the main pond as we had set it too high. It shall be quite tedious as we need to dig it out again. Shall make time for this.

Free Range Kampung Chicken (Malay Village Chicken)

We are trying to restart our stalled Chicken Project @ Parcel 1. Used to have a couple of chickens at Parcel 1, but when we pull out our helpers from staying at Parcel 1, our project was stopped. Those chicken was given off to our ex-partner.

Building material was taken from the abandoned goat project. 

Our short term target is to start off and create a 50 strong colony.

Dismantled the half of the abandon goat pen that we had been using as our store house. As we are building a small chicken coop, these material shall be more than enough.

Our almost completed new chicken coop.

Our almost completed chicken coop. We still need to cover up the exposed sides to prevent strong wind, rain and let the chickens feel safe. Our chickens had starting laying eggs at the boxes that that were left for them. Would like to built some racks with cubicles so that more hens could lay and hatch eggs. Note the piece of zinc across the door. This is a special magic door devised by my partner, to keep out the dogs, yet letting the chicken free to move in & out.

Having 1 cock and 7 hens at the moment. They get to roam freely happily everyday. They are exploring their new home, in the farm and mostly like to rest between the banana trees to escape from the hot afternoon heat. Scratching the soil at the banana trees to catch insects. Happy chickens grow faster.

Some of the hens doing their sand bathing.

The chicken love to do sand bathing and is digging a shallow pen to do these, unfortunately they are doing it at our "five foot way" in front of our shed. We are feeding them with corn, pumpkins and long beans. Thinking of what else we could feed them. Let's hope we get plenty chicks in the next 2 months.