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.