I should have done this a long time ago. Three years ago since January 2006 after I retire from Government service. God knows why I didn't do it. I guess surfing the net and blogging got the bette of me that I didn't do it. Anyway it is always better late than never.
Actually it was Pak Mat, my similarly jobless neighbour that started it. Though looking frail and malnourished with just skin and bones, he started clearing that piece of land infront of my house belonging to a few Chinese owners who inherited the land from his father. Since they are residing elsewhere, the plot of land is idle and turning into unkempt land harbouring a myriad of pests. Some said they have seen a phyton gorging down a chicken among the thick grasses and brushes. Anyway after seeing Pak Mat clearing section of the area, I felt brave enough to clear the one area directly in front of my house.
Now look at the transformed area.
Pak Mat started clearing and planting with sawi another adjacent patch next to mine.
The first clearing job was tough.
Ooops! I was guilty of open burning too. The smoke in the above too pictures came from Pak Mat's plot. I wont incriminate myself with a picture of my open burning. I can become anothe Eli Wong if I am not careful.
It gets bigger. I started tilling the soil. Breaking the soil into smaller size particle was made easier by a pretty heavy rain after a long dry spell.
Building the planting bed. It should have been a standard 4 ft x 25 ft but I only maintained the width and just make do with any length.
The kangkong has germinated. So does the amaranthes at the end of the bed.
Taking loving care of my plants.This is not a commercial venture but just doing it for excercise. I will just share the produce with my neighbours.
So what do I get from all these activities? I sweat it out everyday. Sweating is the best method to detox your body. All the sweat pores will be functioning. At the end of the task, a wet shirt is a normal happening.
My next project is to clean up my wife's dusun somewhere near her mothers home. Hopefully I will get to taste all the dukus, rambai, manggis and bachang from the next seasons crop which has been wasted all these while. Remember I should have done this some three years ago.
26 comments:
You garden, and you blog! What beats that? :D
Good thing you garden lah. Can cut some of the 'barang dapur' expenses already.
But, please wear glove and other protective measure. (man, i think learning medical entomology and parasitology turns me into a freak hahaha). Oh well, I'm sure you know what I am talking about :)
Well Zawi,
Looking at the third picture, I was about to comment on your good fortune to have what seemed like the cool refreshing mist I have sometimes seen in the hills in Malaysia refreshing you as you toiled in your garden, when I read that it was smoke from outdoor burning! Are you contributing to our Global warming, lah :) ?
The return of buku hijau!!!
Well,sayur sekarang mahal from Rm1.00 satu ikat naik jadi Rm2.00 satu ikat.Apa dah jadi kita ni ???
Akmal,
My hands will be callussed soon and I wont need any glove. The soil are not dirty. I prefer to use bare hands to touch and feel the earth that we often trample on but gives us life. The earth can open up to give us water for drinking if you dig deep enough.
Cuba la nanam sekali Kemal.
Louis,
I told you I was a guilty party towards global warming hehehehe. Just doing it the way my grandfather and his fathers had been doing a long time ago. Anyway the smokes came from the neighbours fire, not mine.
Awang,
Hard times are here. It is the best time to return to buku hijau. Our Deputy PM cum Finance Minister forgot about that as a mean of overcoming global recession in his RM60 billion mini budget because helping the small time poor farmers does't help him because there will definitely no kickback from it. Mega projects will help him more.
Zawi, I do envy you for having that space to do gardening. It was a hobby of mine from school day. It is I believe one of the best hobby and it would give you that well earn excise for your body as well.
How I wished that I got such piece of land near my home. I would have venture just like you. For now my gardening is in pots and the small patches behind my house.
Have a nice day and happy gardening.
Salam, Abang Zawi!
The vegetable patch looks great! Well done Pak Mat and Abang Zawi! Soon you will be able to reap the fruits of your harvest.
It's a lot of work maintaining a veggie patch though, which is why I can't do it while working fulltime. I need to pull out the weeds, remove the snails, etc etc. I ended up growing chillies, lime and veggies in flower pots for convenience sake.
Instead of open burning, you can just dump the plant waste in a pile in a corner for it to decompose naturally.
Looking forward to a post showing your first harvest.
Best regards,
CO78
Salam, sdr Zawi. Wow! Clearing the bushes & preparing the planting beds (pakai cangkulkah?) have certainly taken a lot of your time & energy. But definitely its worth it. Nothing is better than eating your own hasil tangan, fresh & free. Kalau dekat di situ saya tak akan segan silu minta tumpang tanah, usaha sebatas dua. I love planting vegetables, but have only a 8x3 ft plot beside my house. Selamat berkebun.
Pak Zawi.
Salam.
Amboi..berkebun pulak dah. Good! Good! Ingat dulu masa zaman kanak2...lepas jer benih padi dicabut dan ditanam kat sawah, tapak semaian ditanam plak dengan kacang hijau and jagung manis...
balik nanti seronok la budak2...tgk ade kebun depan umah...
salam Pak Zawi,
Apa khabar?
Lama tak berhubung melalui blog.
anyway, my wife Noor had given birth to a beautiful and lovely baby girl about two weeks ago. We named her Ilysa Zuleika.
smsed Lokman few days ago to tell him about the news. Now back again in Labuan, missing the family again...
anyway, kalu Pak Zawi datang KL, please drop by in Sg. Kantan, Kajang, my parents-in-law's house, have a chat with them, Noor should be eager seeing you again.
Pak Zawi,you're turning GREEN!
Best Regards,
Hafizi
UMS Labuan
Oh yes, gardening is definitely a good hobby.... it's part of my "exercise kampung" that I've been doing for a few years already. Every morning sebelum pergi kerja, kalau tak hujan, mesti keluarkan peluh dulu kat luar. Menyangkul, menanam, menebang, menebas, mesin rumput, meracun lalang - all those part of my daily routine now.
Pak Idrus,
My parents were farmers. I have been working the land since I was small. It is only right that I do it again since I have the opportunity.
Above all I get to sweat it out and keep me away from being too long on the internet day in and day out which is really bad for my health. Now I am feeling much better due to the workout.
CO'78,
Now I am feeling so guilty about the open burning since I know how to make compost from the vegetative matter and I know how useful composts are to a farmer. I promise you there won't be anymore open burning from me.
It is definitely tough work but it is really enjoyable. I am showing my neighbours that it is a good way to overcome hard times. The Kelantanese are now too dependent on vegetables from Thailand even for the simplest of vegetrables like the kangkong and bayam which I am planting.
Azura,
Bila nak bawa mereka balik?
Mdhafizi,
Wassalam.
Congratulations. I am now in KL for the MATTA travel fair at PWTC.Let me see if I can squeeze sometime in my busy sched to visit your wife Noor.Lokman and Azini will be back on the 15th March 2009.
Pi,
It is good to hear that you are into gardening. It is the best form of excercise. I get great feeling of satisfaction when I battered the overturned earth with my changkol. It is a way of releasing my anger by imagining that it is the head of someone I hate that I am battering. See how ganas I can be sometimes. Its the darker side of me.
Temuk,
All I need is a cangkul, a rake and a parang to do all that. It was just a small plot so using even a mini tiller will be unnecessary. Furthermore I need the excercise. It wont be long before I can taste my own vegetables.
Sherry,
Ni makna nya you ni orang kampong macam Pak Zawi juga. Alangkah indahnya kenangan masa silam ya.
Kini Sherry excercise dengan bola bowling. Alangkah indahnya jika tenaga tu diguna untuk bercucuk tanam ya.
Pak,
Gardening is a pleasure in life. Would love to plant some like you but real estate price in KL makes it impossible to. May be I should try planting cabbage in a pot. What a pathetic idea.
test222
Elviza,
There are other means of gardeining which doesn't use soil and requires only a small space, it is called hydrophonics. Water is used in place of soil and you can plant all sort of vegetables using it. Of course you won't be able to sweat it out as in normal gardening.
aslmkm...
satu usaha yg baik dr pak zawi.
sy pn ado buat gardening jgk tepi umh...
tp buke tane sayur tp tane ubi kayu dlm limo pohon.utk make musim bnjir thn ni...ado tnh skit lg ingat nk tane sayur mace pak zawi..brbudi pado tanah...
Gayong,
Cuba tanam sayur sikit. Ia amat memberi kepuasan sebab masa untuk merasa hasil peluh kita adalahsingkat. Tak perlu tanam banyak, asalkan cukup untuk sekali masak. Saya bercucuk tanam kerana perlukan excercise bab tu saya tanam luas sikit. Hasilnya nanti saya akan sedekah kepada jiran-jiran.
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