Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014.

2013 was an eventful year.

Universal Studio, Singapore.

Koh Samui, Thailand.

Krabi, Thailand.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.

Had a couple of very memorable vacations with my love ones. Singapore, Koh Samui and Krabi, in Thailand and Sandakan.

 Night view of KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.

Took 4 months off and spent it with my loving wife. Strengthening our relationship, learn and care more about each other. One very important lesson learned is to always seek second medical opinion. Our deepest gratitude to Dr. Azis Yayha and Dr. Loh Chit Sin. This event made use closer and I find that I'm falling in love, all over again with my wife Alice. Thank you for loving me.

Read and started to practice some self improvement. Improving mostly my mental well being in a holistic approach. Adapting to our different life style as am passing 50 hence need to do things in a certain way. Came on a couple of very great books.

My bike.

Bought a per-owned motorcycle, had been wanting to for a long time. Event though it's not my wish bike, it's still a bike I like and I can use this in our farm (with some mod).

Double Rainbow over my little farm.

Finally, the time had come to say goodbye to my little farm. Decided not to resist the involuntary take over. Arrangement had been made for my helper. Am grateful and happy for him as through our discussion I learn that he is moving up to a higher plane. Wishing him good success.

Looking back, set up this farm back in February 2011 and was a tourist farmer then. Had to take over on October 2011 due to some turns of event. I was a newbie with no farming experience and this was when my Farming Quest started. It was a big challenge with 3 helpers and all of us no good farming experience. My little farm had taught us lots of valuable experiences in a relatively short time of 2 years. It took me from growing very short term vegetables to caring for long term fruit trees. Had also learn about weed & soil management, pest & disease control, germination & grafting. My little farm also gave me some valuable data on care of fruit trees like Avocado, Breadfruits, Jackfruit and Soursop. Most of these, I do not know until I came in contact with them. Thank you, thank you and thank you to my little farm.

My little farm had also gave me positive confidence to concentrate on my present fruit tree project of supplementing our rubber trees with Avocado, Jackfruit, and Soursop. This shall be my main quest for the time being. Very grateful to my little farm, it had given me a clearer vision of my wish farm.

Thank you 2013 for the progress that I've made, things that I've learned and our well being, on all my love ones.


Hello Mini Nursery.
I'm sure this parting from my little farm is part of my evolution, to move me on to a greater heights. This shall free me and let me concentrate on the longer term projects of our rubber and fruit trees. I also find more happiness and joy moving from the "competitive plane to a creative plane". Had been reading about this on a book by Rhonda Bryne- Secret but just couldn't grasp it, until now. Also shall prepare to start tapping of our rubber trees in stages beginning most probably June. I am already producing planting material for Avocado, Jackfruits, Soursop and Rubber trees. Successfully done micro-propagating of Banana. On going germination of Pomegranate (trial), grafting Rubber trees, Limes and Mango. All these, learned through My Little Farm. Thank you.Shall be operating our mini nursery at the little farm until end of the year (2014).

Had added more varieties of clones for Jackfuit and Avocado. Hope to create higher quality planting materials with these. On Jackfruit, am already producing grafts on clones J29 & J31. Targeting for clone J33 now (managed 1 at the moment). The newer clone for Jackfruit & Avocados shall have to wait, (until I can harvest scions). For the first six months of 2014, am targeting 50 grafted plants per month.

Practicing whip & tongue graft.

I shall need to improve more my grafting skill, which shall help me quickly develop our fruit / rubber trees project. Once I improve my skill, I shall be able to produce more planting materials for our farm. Working on finer points of grafting like sanitizing grafting tools and sealing off cuts on scions.

Land cleared for planting fruit trees.

Had cleared some vacant land at Parcel 1 and had already started planting. Once we fill up parcel 1 to the max, 2nd phase shall be Parcel 3, which we had identify some land in the inter terrace. Unfortunately about 40 grafted Avocado seedlings had be "lost" due to road maintenance. Shall replant with Jackfruits or Soursop as these can be pruned to a smaller canopy and not to cover up the road. Anticipating Parcel 3 to take us a while as we may clear some land to set up our new nursery too.

Looking forward to 2014, so excited to put our plan into action. It's gonna be our biggest challenge, to finish off planting for Parcel 1. Targeting to start tapping our rubber trees in June (stages). With 2 coming vacation with my love ones, Bangkok & Turkey, Life is great and full of excitement.

Reinforcing my vision of my wish farm. A very big farm with vast acreage, rows and rows of my favorite fruit trees, Durian, Jackfruits, Avocados, Soursop, Banana, Papaya and Rubber trees. Greenhouses to plant high value fruits, vegetables & herbs. A small river running across the land, supplying water for irrigation, aquaculture and running of a micro generator. A vast number of farm livestock, roaming freely. A small retirement / vacation home, perched on a small hill, with a small garden, swimming pool, a small open kitchen, a number of quest rooms, run by solar / wind power. Linked by both land lines and wireless communication. Dreaming on.

Christmas In Sandakan

Swiss-Inn Waterfront, now Sandakan Waterfront.

Took a short trip to Sandakan on Christmas. Started off early morning on Christmas eve, 7 am express bus to the city. Stop at Tanjung Aru town and had breakfast. Walk down to Terminal 2 and wait fro our flight via Air Asia. Managed to book our flight at $ 28.00 one way.

Arrived at Sandakan airport about 2.30 pm. As we had not been to Sandakan for ages, decided to take a cab to town. Cab fare is $30.00. The Taxi driver as us to walk into the hotel as  vehicle can not enter. Hr stopped at a intersection lane and ask us to walk through it. We couldn't locate our pre-booked hotel, Swiss-Inn Waterfront. We only manage to find a Sandakan Watefront. Went in to inquire and was told it's the new name.

Syn Ming Hing Cafe & Cake, Sandakan.

Syn Ming Hing Cafe & Cake.
Checked in and left our luggage then went for late lunch as were very hungry. While on the cab, I saw a small cake cafe by the main road. It caught my attention as I saw quite a heavy crowd, including westerners. We walk and search for it. Finally manage to locate it. As it's about 4 pm, most of the pastries had sold out. Ordered a fried sea food noodle, dry. Decide to try a bread, but only butter bread was available and it's the last piece. The noodle is very tasty. The bread, filling is tasty but the bread is already stiff. At night, I only notice that this cafe is highlighted at Go Sabah. Simple yet tasty cafe.

A Modern sculpture at Waterfront, guess what it is.

Went back to the hotel for a rest and make arrangement for a hire car. Being Christmas most cars were fully booked. Manage to locate a Viva for $120 a day. This shall do as there just the 2 of us. Shall collect tomorrow 8 am. When we went out for dinner, most of the shops were already closed, Christmas eve. Had McDonalds for dinner.

Orangutan having breakfast.

Had an early start as were to collect the car and head off to Sepilok. Arrived at Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary at 9 am. Just in time. Bought our entrance ticket and head for the video show. Made our way to the feeding platform and feeding time is at 10 am. Today only 4 orangutan came for food. Had a short break at the cafeteria, charges were economy, food were okay.
Special thanks to Orangutan Appeal UK and their volunteers to had put in numerous good work to support the Orangutan. These Orangutans are such wonderful creatures and very human like.

Gelison & Chikita on the ropes.

 (Click to watch Video)

Off to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. It was quite a distance and us being not too sure of the way, drove slowly. We arrived past the feeding time, 11.30 am. Should had sip the break and proceeded here. We didn't enter as we felt there isn't much to see after feeding time. Made our way back to Sandakan.

Puu Jih Shih Buddisht Temple, Sandakan.

Visted Puu Jih Shih Buddisht Temple. It's the most well know temple in Sandakan. It is located on top of a hill, overlooking Sandakan harbor and town. The road is very curvy leading to the temple.  

As all shops are closed for Christmas, manage to find a small worn down shop. The owner sells drinks & grilled fish. There is a satay stall at front. The grilled fish is tasty. The satay is also tasty, but the gravy was too light for my liking. Saw other customer ordering extra bread to dip into the gravy sauce.

Drove to a view point, over Sandakan, next to it is the English Tea House and Restaurant in Sandakan. There were quite a large crowd there, cars & tourist vans filled the carpark. We didn't dine there as we just had grilled fish & satay, further more going for seafood dinner.

Just next to the English Tea House is the Agnes Keith Museum. Unfortunately it was closed for the day.

Sim Sim 88.

Later in the night we went to Sim Sim Buli fisherman's village. The houses here are built over the water. Connection is by bridge. Sim Sim 88 Seafood Restaurant is located on bridge 8. Walk to the end of bridge 8, turn right. There is another restaurant Sim Sim Seafood (without 88) on the left. I wonder why the crowd is with 88. It has a relaxing atmosphere, dinning at the seaside. Do expect to spent some time there as you'll need to wait to be seated and also for the food. Food is fresh and marvelous. We ordered Steamed Pomfret, Hard shell clams in ginger sauce, Butter prawns, Baby Kai Lan, fresh young coconut. Had our tummy totally filled.

Decide to leave on the 26th as we had finished our main itenary. We had check on the bus schedule to be 6.30 am and the last bus leave at 10 am. Takes about 6.5 hours to KK. We arrived at the terminal at about 7.40 am. Was about to take the express bus until I notice there is a minivan parked there with the marking Sandakan - Keningau. It cost $65 one way and takes about 6.5 hours. It cost the same but we save on time as do not need to detour to KK. The minivan takes the route Sandakan - Ranau - Tambunan - Keningau. We arrive back at Keningau 2.30 pm.

It was a great trip. Hope to do it again.

Avocado, Persea americana, Buah Lemak, 牛油果, Aquiring More Varieties.

 A Quest On Project Avocado.

Planted in poly bags in my mini nursery.

Made some new friends from my blog, Project Avocado. Sharing a common passion of Avocado, we combine all effort and manage to track down a Super Avocado variety. Not much details were available. It's describe as " This one-kilo Avocado is now being propagated by Teresa Orchard and Nursery in Teresa, Rizal. Fine-textured mealy flesh. Tree is very fruitful. Grafted seedlings available in November 2011 in limited numbers". Another posting on November 2012 "Grafted Super Avocado Now Available". Several inquiries were made, some no replies and some limited replies.

Edward, managed to contact a friend in Manila, Philippines to help out. Micheal help us to buy, on our behalf. Arrangements were made and as soon as we get a confirmation, I flew into Manila to collect. I offered to collect the #Avocado as I think it's much easier and nearer to fly in from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, also I had transported my Jackfruit before. We ordered 10 plants, as a group purchase. Am taking 4, the remaining six shall be distribute between other members, arranged by Edward.

As I had never been to Manila, so I book a 5 days return trip via Cebu Pacific Airways. Reserving 1 day for collection, in Teresa and the remaining 4 days to tour in Manila. 

Went to the Sarian Farm at Teresa Rizal. Micheal was kind enough and arranged for the transport and ordering from Sarian. We had an early start at 6.30 am and being a Sunday (early), the traffic was relatively light. Unfortunately we ran a flat. The driver took care of that in a jiffy and we were on our way. Reached Sarian farm at about 8.30 am. We took care of our business and had a tour of the farm. They have many varieties of fruit trees. As we were touring, I took the opportunity of adding a Israeli Pomegranate. The lady was saying that it's a big fruit variety, 2 ~ 3 fruit a kilo. 

Variegated Orange.

 

Japanese Orange.

We then make our way back to Micheal's place. The traffic now has increased and were rather slow. The driver then suggested we detour to the highway. That save us some time. Traveling in Manila traffic is really slow.

 Clearing the plants of the soil was a breeze and much simpler that I anticipated. As it was raining previously and it was recently re-potted to a bigger poly-bag filled with rice husk. Also facilities at Micheal's place made it easy. Most of the leaves were cut off to reduce dehydration. The plants were keep in a plastic bag and taken back to my hotel room.

Initially I had to leave them on the shower compartment. Then I went off to buy a bucket. Plants were put into the bucket and starting the aeration. Jit Sin our packing consultant highlighted the water level was too high. Had it reduced. Then it occurred to me that it may be better to cover up the opening with a plastic bag, with the aerator running, it should create a high humidity zone for the roots kind of similar to aeroponics. 

Caring for the plants for the next few days as I am leaving on the 18th Dec. Water were changed 3 time a day, and with a little shower to wet the leafs & stems each time. The plants were kept in the washroom, no air condition, this is a much better environment for the plant. As the room was equipped with an automatic power shut off whenever I leave the room the power gets shut off. Manage to locate the power point that doesn't do that, that's the fridge's power point. With this I manage to get the air pump running even when I'm out.

Box made to house the plants.

Source for styrofoam and made 2 boxes for the transport, calculate and made some purchases for materials. Spent 1 night forming the box. Finally am satisfied that the box should be strong enough. I feel that styrofoam box has advantages over cardboard boxes as the temperature is more constant and would not stain event with some water / moisture leakage. Most importantly very light weight.

I waited till the last minute to pack the plants into the boxes. It was quite fast as I've got everything ready and that I had done this before.

Traveling / transit time total to 12 hours. This is when I got check into a hotel again. Took all the plants out and aerated them again until morning, with a water change & shower in between.

In the morning, half of the "loot" were delivered, and I took my 1/2 back to my little farm. Had all of them planted into a poly bag filled with composted soil. About 5.5 kg of soil per bag for per plant. Had 1 bag of soil as spare to top up later, due to the settling. I bag up the plant with a used plastic bag to prevent dehydration even though it's under a 90% shaded netting. Old news print were put to cover the soil, to prevent moisture lost and rain droplets. Shall wean them off over the next week.

Stay tune for the aftercare.

Special Thanks to
Edward; Project Initiator.
Michael; Local Co-ordinator.
Jit Sin; Packing / Caring Consultant.
Me; System integrator.
And all the other members of this group purchase for the success of this project. This really shows that we can do more as a group. Thank you. I also learned some new things, while working with the group and am sure to learn more in days to come. Thank you.

Had made great friends with this project. I feel that this Avocado shall be our bond for generation to come. May all of us receive happiness, joy and good health from our avocado trees. Thank you.

 “Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.”
― Gautama Buddha

Micro Propagating Banana, Pisang Berangan, Musa cv Berangan Part 2.

Continue from Micro Propagating Banana, Pisang Berangan, Musa cv Berangan. 

The biggest banana corm, only 1 small suckling.

Went back to my little farm on the 4th December, check out the banana as I was clearing a small plot next to it to germinate the Pomegranate seeds from Turkey. Removed the old banana leafs that I used to cover the propagating corm. Saw the corm turned black and only small growth.

This banana corm has a suckling growing from the middle.

Another smaller corm, I damaged the suckling while clearing the patch.

Wasn't that great, 2 weeks and so little. left them without the dried banana leafs. It's still under the shade netting.

Then I notice more suckling and faster growth. I guess covering them up is a mistake.

4 days apart, but much more growth.

Counted 5 sucklings. I was so excited. Thank you.

Micro-propagation of Banana. 5 suckling + 3 about to shoot.

Last check on the 13th December. Counted 5 sucklings and 3 about to shoot. Shall be away from my little farm for a couple of days. Expecting more when I return. I consider this trial to be successful. Giving up 1 corm, I produced 8 sucklings, thank you so much.

The next stage shall be to wait for the sucklings to reach a height of about 2 feet, then repeat the procedure again. If I don't have further needs, I may just stop at this or may reduce it to 1 corm. More reports later. 

Pomegranate, Punica granatum L., Buah Delima, 石榴.

Pomegranate, scientific name Punica granatum L. A fruit with ancient history. Pomegranate had been mention in various ancient holy text and some believed that this is the forbidden fruit that Adam took.

I got interested in Pomegranate after reading about it from a group of friends in FaceBook, a closed group Malaysia Gardeners. After doing some research and since it can grow & fruit in Malaysia, I decided to give it a try.

Went out to search for the biggest Pomegranate that I can find. The local ones are pretty small, followed by the Indians and Turkish. The biggest I found is from Egypt. Bought it at RM$ 14.00 for 2 pieces. As I had no experience on Pomegranate, I just took 2 that looks good (exterior) to me.

Egyptian Pomegranate.

 I should had chosen 2 that is ripe. Put them into the fridge for storage.

EGCT Pomegranate.

As I had never ate Pomegranate before, I search on YouTube how to eat a Pomegranate. There are 2 methods, 1 wet & 1 dry. It looks messy & difficult on the internet. My wife had ate this before but but was told she was served already cut. Tried out the dry method in the evening. It's not difficult to de-seed. I ended up just cutting the fruit into 2 halves and made some slides cutting on the side. Used my hands to gently rub out the seeds. It tasted good and sweet. I find it challenging to eat them as they are pretty small and with seeds. Lots of work, not much reward. My family finished off the fruit. I kept the Pomegranate seeds for planting

Ate the other fruit the next day. The more red one. This 1 was extremely sweet and good flavor. Must be due to the ripeness. My wife and me finished off the whole fruit. We then discussed on the benefits of pomegranate. It has high medicinal value, high in vitamin C & D, a strong antioxidant. One sites says it's more beneficial then drinking red wine. There are lots of recipes to make beverage from pomegranate juice. Must try it out one day. Pomegranate juice also has Viagra effect. Say this article

"Viagra and pomegranate together is too much of a good thing

Sildenafil, the active ingredient in the erection enhancer Viagra, is more effective when combined with pomegranate. But sometimes the combination works a little too well, say doctors at the Sri Gokulam Hospitals and Research Institute in Tamil Nadu, India. They describe in Urology Annals cases of three men for whom the combination of Viagra and pomegranate led to an almost permanent erection"

Soaking Pomegranate Seeds.

Kept the seeds. Soak them in a bowl of water overnight. I then started to clean off the membrane. It was challenging. Decided to clean them by washing in a rubbing action, like washing rice. Then using water to separate the membrane, pomegranate seeds sink, membrane float. These pomegranate seeds were then air dried. I think there could be a hundred seeds.

Air dried Pomegranate Seeds.

I am very excited about this trial and the 1st thing I did when I reached my little farm is to clear up a patch in my nursery to germinate these. Being a lazy farmer, I only clear the patch that I required.  Made trenches and spray out the seeds. This I find is the simplest method. On a trench, I don't nee to water too much as water accumulates on the lower trench. When I do transplant, it's easier to find as they are in a row.

Germinating Pomegranate Seeds.

Let's wait 45 ~ 60 days and see what happens. Till then.