Seeds oh Seeds. Which one shall I choose?

Recently I received quite a few question about seeds so I am sharing what I know in the hopes that it will be useful to people interested in it.  The selection of seeds for planting is very important.  Selecting the wrong seeds can lead you to disappointment, especially after you put in so much effort. So let's start with the kinds of seeds.  There are basically 3 types of seeds.
F1 Hybrid Seeds
These are the most often type of seeds you find in the market.  It is essentially produced by selective cross pollinating 2 parent plants to produce the "first children" so to speak.  Quality F1 seeds can produce quality plants as the dominant qualities from each parent is present in the F1 seeds.  Through this selective cross-pollination or hybridisation, the resulting seeds can be engineered to have specific qualities such as in the taste and size.  However, if you obtain seeds from F1 plants, you may find that when you sow the seeds. they do not germinate.  You may have followed advise from your friends to germinate them and still find that it didn't germinate.  You did nothing wrong as most seeds that result from F1 plants through genetic engineering are sterile or do not produce plants true to their parents. So, even if you manage to germinate some, you will find the results may not be satisfying.  This is how the seed companies stay in business.
Heirloom seeds
Unlike F1 seeds that are produces through selective cross-pollination, heirloom seeds are generated from plants from open pollination and possess most of the characteristics of their parent plant.  Subsequent plants from these heirloom seeds will continue to have most of the characteristics of their parent plant.  If you planted using heirloom seeds, then you can select the best seeds to future planting.  Obtaining heirloom seeds is getting to be more difficult and harder to come by.  Why?  The seed companies can lose business hence why nowadays you find F1 seeds but rarely heirloom seeds.  For seed banks, it is best to use heirloom seeds.  At the farm, when I have heirloom plants, these are the seeds that I will retain.
GMO Seeds
These seeds are different from the above two types of seeds and are done in laboratories using gene splicing technology.  At this stage certain elements can be added into the genes, modifying it genetically from its original stage.  Certain chemicals to make the seeds resistant to pests and other types of chemicals used in herbicides and pesticides can also be added.  Inherently GMO seeds contains pesticides that does not wash away or disappear magically so eating produce from GMO seed plants means you are consuming pesticides intentionally.  So, even if you use GMO seeds and follow organic planting practices, your produce cannot be considered organic.
My Conclusion
Where possible, go for heirloom seeds.  When not possible, you will just have to continue purchasing F1 seeds and keep the seed companies like Cargill and the like in business.  At all cost, if you are for your health, say no to GMO and keep pesticide out of your daily food intake.

SHL Development: Planning for 2018 and the future

After almost 8 years of developing the farm, both from the physical development to the product development, and after numerous experiments and tests from produce and products to marketing them, 2018 will bring some major changes to how we do things.  It is the fine-tuning of what we have been doing and also changes to how I want to spend my time.  One of the aspects that I love of what I do now is being able to produce nutrients-rich products.  The idea of enjoying tasty drinks that delivers nutrients that my body needs so that it becomes a natural part of my life is something that I want to promote to everyone.  Consuming natural food as opposed to processed and chemical enhanced food is something that I advocate.  Consuming natural food also doesn't mean that you need a lot of time to prepare for the food nor does it mean expensive - often people forget to add the cost of medical services, supplements to their diet, etc.

In streamlining our end-products from the farm would be, we will have basically four types:

1. SHL natural drink concentrates and teas
2. Fruits and selected vegetables
3. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (EVCO)  
4. Fish

SHL Natural drink concentrates and teas
Over the last two years, we have market tested several varieties of drinks and teas based on what we grow at the farm.  Based on our finding as well as on what I love due to its taste and benefits, the selection was made.  The underlying principle is that it has to be organically-grown and provides nutrients and therapeutic benefits.  All our concentrate drinks are unsweetened and the choice to sweeten or not is left to the consumer.  The concentrates that we will produce are:

1. Bentong Ginger and Turmeric
2. Roselle concentrate
3. Roselle probiotics concentrate
4. Cold-pressed calamansi juice
5. Cold-pressed calamansi juice with lemongrass
6. Cold-pressed calamansi juice with blue sweet pea flower extract

The dried teas that we will produce are:

1. Misai Kuching Tea
2. Soursop Leaves Tea
3. Roselle Leaves Tea

We will also produce other products in this category based on special bulk request.

Fruits and selected vegetables
Over the years, we have planted many types - over 40 types - and I have learnt a lot from it.  We will streamline this down to the following:

1. Cabbage
2. Kailan
3. Choy sum (sawi)
4. Spinach
5. Long green beans
6. French beans
7. Tomatoes
8. Pumpkin
9. Mini cucumbers
10. Corn

This will provide for a selection from leafy, to crunchy to fleshy and my favourites.  The area that we will use for planting them will also be streamlined.  We will also plant other vegetables but this will be in smaller quantity and mainly additional types of vegetables for my family.

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
For me, this is oil of choice from its numerous benefits to it creamy, nutty taste.  The coconut trees that we have planted years ago started to fruit last year and as it matures will provide us with the base ingredients although it will not be like the large, plantations.  We plan to start adding coconut trees, selecting the variety so that we can have good harvests of coconut in the years ahead.  We use permaculture cold-pressed method which is time-consuming but produces the purest form of the coconut oil.  The production of EVCO has some down-time so it works well in scheduling our task and activities.

For 2018, we are targeting producing 50 bottles a month.  By commercial standards, this is not much but we aim at ensuring quality production and become the regular supplier to our existing customers and gain new customers due to the quality and taste of our EVCO.  On the personal side, this is something that I can see myself doing as I age as it doesn't involve much physical activity but more on patience and attention to detail.

Fish
This year, our fish pond is undergoing a major renovation, to allow us to better manage our fish operations as well as providing for better environment for our fish.  We are building walls all along the pond which is shaped like a flowing river as well as sectioning it.  Experts has indicated that we can have at least 500,000 fishes at any one time but I highly doubt that is what we will do in 2018.  However, it does leave us with substantial growth capacity.  What is important for me is that we produce quality, "sweet" tasting fish without the nasty door often associated with fresh water fish. Over the years we have experimented with different feed, water conditions, pond maintenance and fish rearing practice and we have learnt a lot.  To date, we have received no complaints on our fish and many are surprised at the taste.  We do not introduce any waste products such as carcasses and chicken innards as feed to the fish and we will continue this policy.  I eat my fish and I certainly do not like muddy-taste, smelly fish.  I also like to choose the method of cooking from steaming to frying to roasting so the taste of fish is important.
By middle of this year, we will re-start our fish operations which means the earliest harvest will be in 2018.  The farm dogs play a role in our fish operations as they catch the monitor lizard (biawak) and the river otters (mermerang) which can cause substantial loss of the fish population.  The investment put in to build a wall around the property has also helped to reduce the invasion of the river otters.  We are working on minimising external dependence on feed.  Keeping the water flow optimum is important as with the in-flow of water, comes natural food in the form of small river fish and shrimps, which would provide the proteins.  At the same time, we feed them "greens".  Our choice of feed and constant water flow has definitely made an impact on the quality and taste of the fishes.

MyOrganic Certification
We are currently undergoing certification and hope to have the certification by 2018.  This will definitely be an achievement for us as well as a validation of our practice.

Fertilisers and Pest Control
We will continue to produce our fertilisers and pest control products which we use at the farm.  It will be made available for sale on request.  For me, it is important that I continue to have truly organic fertilisers that have not had the source materials be contaminated by chemical pesticides or herbicides.  It also serves as a way for me to recycle my organic wastes and I look forward to the addition of goat manure as an ingredient in my fertilisers.

Sales and marketing
I have always believed in selling directly to my customers but the toll of doing market every Sunday whilst still producing is getting harder.  As such, we will probably cease to do Sunday morning market in 2018 but focus more on "order selling".  I know it will probably be tough in the beginning as I build a customer list but the plan is to provide delivery to the customer door-step and delivery charges will be subject to minimum order and area of delivery.  We will set-up 2 days where we will do the delivery

Events
I love hosting events and having people visit the farm so this is one area that we will still continue to do.  In shaa Allah, we will have an Open Farm Day focussing on selected plants and products in support of having your own garden as well as our fresh farm produce, and also Durian Fest where you can come and buy "original" durians and eat at the farm or bring it home and whatever other fruits and vegetables we have available for sale at that time.  A new event that I am thinking of doing a "Restaurant Pop-Up Day" to coincide with our fish harvest featuring our fish and vegetables and fruits, and drinks from the farm with a limited number of seats.    I love challenges and I think this "Restaurant Pop-Up" event will be one.

So, all in all, although 2018 is many months away, I am sure that time will seem to fly by.  However, having devised a plan and direction, it will help in us working our way through the rest of 2017.  Being agriculture-based, things need time to grow and produce many things need to be planned months or even years ahead :)

Open Farm Day 14 Apr 2017 - Post Mortem

At the end of every event we have, I will always hold a team meeting where we discuss the feedback from visitors and how the event went.  There were a few differences that we had this year compared with last year's event, most of it due to feedback from our visitors last year.  I find getting feedback is very important and our team meetings are useful to help us in improving.

Our first visitors for the day, also a regular customer at
our Sunday morning market stall

Our visitors visiting the farm.  At one of the sections.

Our food sales area.

Feedback 1 2016: Too bad you didn't have any food for sale
This year, we had a small menu consisting of chicken or fish with rice and a kerabu, durian ice cream, roselle and jambu madu ice cream, a section of drinks all based on our produce from our farm - soursop leaf tea, roselle juice drink, lemongrass and calamansi drink, roselle tea, calamansi and blue pea flower drink, and our only unsweetened drink - missy kucing tea.  We do not use white sugar in our drinks.  We also had 2 types of jellies: roselle jelly and jambu madu and blue pea flower jelly.

Our produce and products sales area

Feedback 2 2016: Difficult to see plants for sale and need to be labelled with variety and price clearly.
This year, we placed the plants for sale on racks and floor in one section, all clearly labelled with plant name and price.  Although we still had a couple of people wanting to take plants from my greenhouse especially the plants that I was doing my research on :).

Feedback 3 2016: Difficult to find the place as there wasn't any signages
We placed a sign indicating the farm name at the junction on the main road as well as at the farm gate.  I had also updated the "Pictorial Guide to Suria Helang Lui Farm" with the latest photos and posted on the event page which many found useful this year.

Feedback 1 2017: "How come the chicken wasn't soft?".
We had one person that complained "How come the chicken wasn't soft?".  As we had indicated prior to the event, the chicken was from our farm, organically reared "kampung" chicken which meant that it was organically reared, free from GMO feed, hormones and antibiotics, and free range.  These chickens are not like your hormone-chicken which are reared to be soft and fluffy.  The meat will be firm.  Judging by how the rest of the visitors that had it ate, it was not an issue that we will worry about.

One of the groups that I took around the
farm for a tour.  Really enjoyed the discussion

Feedback 2 2017: This farm is small.  How come you invite so many people?"
This to me is an interesting feedback from one person.  I have always indicated that I have a small farm of 2.5acres or slightly more than 1 hectare.  This is an event when I open to public for those interested in seeing what we do.  At any one point in time, there was around 50 people at the farm, which is not that many.  Visitors came and went throughout the whole morning and early afternoon.

Feedback 3 2017: The drink is sour, I don't like it.  I want a different one.
The same person who complained about the chicken complained about the soursop tea.  Maybe she didn't realise but soursop has a slightly sour taste - just the name should give an indication.  She just returned the half-consumed drink and took another one without paying for the second.  That's ok, we know we will encounter should people.  Maybe she thought that she was coming to farm that she can treat us farmers with this arrogant attitude which she wouldn't at an eatery in KL.

Feedback 4 2017: How come you don't have proper sitting areas for people to eat?

Enjoyed seeing this family enjoy the day out at the farm
with their children,  They found a spot they liked.

Again, this is a complaint from the same person.  We had indicated that what we prepared was packed lunch and people can choose to picnic anywhere on the farm.  We had a few tables situated in different areas where people can sit as well chair for people to sit.  She and her group finally sat in one area near the barbecue pit and pond to eat. Our other visitors had no problem and found places to enjoy their meal.

Feedback 5 2017: Why is your food ready so late?
I got this feedback at 9.45am.  We were preparing packed lunch so I wasn't expected a visitor to be irritated that it wasn't ready this early.  We had the food out at 10.15am so I guess we could call this a brunch.  Next time we have it, I will have to decide whether we will do brunch or lunch and repeat the announcement of the food a few times.

Feedback 6 2017: "I come so far, so you must get me what I want"
Not sure how we have to respond to this.  I had announced what we have for sale and available.

All in all, I consider the event went well as we had many positive responses from our visitors and they enjoyed the morning out at the farm, discussing issues they had with their gardens, seeing the animals and enjoying the food and drinks as well as the opportunity to buy farm-fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables as well as organic products.  Many also liked that they were able to see for themselves where the produce and products came from.

To the many that asked what is the next event?  The next one, inshaaAllah, will be the Durian Fest which will be organised around July 2017, in a different way from previous years based from the feedback and lessons we learnt from the previous years.

Is it really organic versus Organic instead of Chemicals?

A question put forth to me:" I am skeptical that it is organic.  Is it really organic? Or it is organic when compared to chemical?".  Due to this confusion and/or skepticism, that is why I do not really like the term organic but instead prefer natural.  At the farm, I focus more on natural farming.  What is the difference you may ask?  Here's my determining factor:

1. If you use organic sources such as kelapa saw it, coco peat and rice husks, this may be considered organic but to me, I will avoid using it.  Why?  Simple really, all these items are laden with chemicals during the growing stage from chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers.  So while it is organic, I do not consider it as organic.
2. If something is grown using hormones, whilst it may be considered organic, it is not something that is my preference because the hormones could be synthetic hormones.  Plus. it is not natural and something that is done more from a commercial perspective.

It is getting more difficult to obtain clean sources because of the widespread use of chemical herbicides and herbicides, not to mention fertilisers.  In order to obtain SOM (Sijil Organik Malaysia), the land needs to be free of chemical pesticides and heavy metal apart from other conditions.  I don't remember seeing any mention of chemical herbicides.  Regardless, at the farm we do not use chemical pesticides or herbicides.  I believe that we can always work with nature and obtain natural sources.

In the production of our enzyme and fish amino acids, 90% of the ingredients used is farm based, when I can be confident of it being free from chemical contamination.   Our water source is clean, natural water taken from the source, running through 3000 m of polypipe.  We have 2 lines: 1 strictly for the fish and the other for other farm and farmhouse use.

When someone asks me  how can I claim that my FAA is organic.  Simple.
First: the fish source ingredient is from the farm.  The fishes' main diet is the small river fish, shrimps, algae, certain leaves and banana pseudo stem from the farm.  We do not use fish from the markets where you can almost be certain that it has been contaminated with chemicals to make it look fresh, smell fresh.
Second: The water used is uncontaminated, clean natural water.
Third: The only external ingredient is the probiotics bacteria and sea salt.  The remaining ingredients are all farm based.
The FAA concentrate is diluted at the rate of 1-2 capfuls per litre of water and watered at the base of the plant.

Why do I say my enzyme concentrate is organic?
First:  All the ingredients used are from the farm including the sugar source for the fermentation (we plant black sugar cane which is the source for the sugar).
Second: The water used is from our clean, natural uncontaminated source.
Third: All the pest control ingredients are also plant-based which is grown at the farm.
This enzyme concentrate is then diluted at the rate of 1-2 capfuls per litre water and either sprayed or watered at the base of the plant.

These two items are the main components in our fertilisation of the plants and trees.  In our fertilisers, we also use calcium, magnesium and potassium as well as other trace elements.  All are from our farm produce.  For example, our calcium source is also from the farm: our farm chicken eggs and certain fruits high in calcium.  Our chicken are not corn-fed to reduce introduction of contaminants.  90% of their food is from the farm.  Potassium from banana pseudo stem and bananas.

Soil conditions are important so soil improvers are also an essential part of the practice at the farm so that we can continue to grow good vegetables and fruits.   I mix the soil improvers into the soil in subsequent plantings in the same soil to ensure the soil remains healthy and fertile.  I also use it to cover non-liquid fertilisers applies to promote the decomposition of the fertiliser as well as in soil used to increase the soil level.

The base of the soil improver is the mulch where the source ingredients are also from the farm.  Again, I can be sure that it has not been sprayed with toxic chemicals.  Hence, I do not use any organic material from kelapa sawit, rice husks or coco peat as although it is considered organic, it is not for my farm.

I do use some vermicompost that I obtain from a source that I feel confident as well as chicken manure although minimal.  I am careful of what is introduced at the farm.  Why do I care so much?  I have a 3 year old son who I hope will grow up in good health without the new age, post GMO illnesses like psoriasis, eczema, respiratory problems, as well a host of allergies and other health issues.  At the same time, I enjoy planting and I do not want to have to worry about getting harmful chemicals on me :)  This is the least I can do to leave a good environmental legacy for my son.

The ability to do all this is because I have an integrated farm and do not practice monoculture so I have the diversity in source ingredients as well as availability.  Whilst it is difficult to determine chemical contamination from sources out of the farm, I try to limit the exposure.  Nature provides a lot of benefits hence our maxim of "Maximising Nature's Bounty" :)

Suria Helang Lui: 7 years later Part 4: Behind the scenes

Suria Helang Lui is a family farm, not a large corporation farm.  It took me 10 years to find the right piece of land for me.  As far as possible I wanted to get a piece of land that hadn't been developed or worked on for a while.  The main reason being that it meant the exposure to chemical pesticides and herbicides would be minimal.  Having the basic infrastructure is important.  The basics are access, water and electricity.  Another important factor is the distance from my home to the land had to be within commuting distance which also meant not far from K.L.

When I bought the land, it looked like a jungle so the first few months, I spent time with my parang

and weed cutter to check the lay of the land to figure out how I wanted to design the layout of the farm.  I already had road access and electricity was near so nothing major to be done in this area.  The water supply to this area was by Syabas and they used a 1 inch polypipe to supply the water to the area which meant that the water supply would be insufficient for what I wanted.  So, I decided to lay polypipe to bring water to the farm.  Three years later, I decided to lay a second water supply line strictly for the fish pond.

The farmhouse was built on a as-I-grow basis so it started out with a storage room/rest room and then I added a square structure of 24 fee by 24 feet and it was connected to the rest room via a walkway.  This has evolved to what I have now: a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 bookworm, 1 prayer room, living room, dining/work area (where the walkway used to be) and a large kitchen.  The kitchen area is an open concept kitchen with plenty of work areas and storage all to support the operations of the farm.  To date, I have still not completed the outer exterior - still have details but I hope someday I will get around to it as it is not high on my priority list.  I had started out with a design that allowed for growth and additions so the farmhouse took a few years to be the way it is now.  Each time we did an addition, we didn't have to knock down walls because I didn't want the headache of debris removal and I didn't want to waste money unnecessarily.

The development of the farm is self-funded hence I have the freedom to develop it any way I want and no reporting needed.  After all, I had done my share of reports in my previous life in the corporate world.  As such, every major development is properly planned to reduce wastage and unnecessary investment.  I would say I went to the University of Life as I develop the farm as my idea was different than what I had seen other do.  All the farms that I have seen are focussed on a produce be it vegetables, fruits, chicken, fish, etc. and followed what has normally been done.  Through it all, many have often remarked that what I was doing was wrong and that if I didn't focus, it would not be commercially viable.  All the produce we have now are from what we planted or started and it takes time for them to be productive.  I am happy to say that we are now moving into the black though I do not foresee being a millionaire from it in the near future but what I gain from it is ultimately worth a lot more.  I could have gone into the black earlier if I experimented less but I wouldn't have gained all the knowledge that I have now.  On top of that, I am my own employer, doing what I love and I do not have to worry about what I will do when I retire.  I continue to experiment, do research and learn.  This keeps my brain alive and I do not have time to be bored.  It is through all this that I have been able to move the farm from being a purely raw goods producer to multi types of produce and products.

I am not from an agricultural background but I have never let that stop me from experimenting and researching as well as learning from practitioners.  I cannot do it alone hence having a solid right-hand man who shares my vision for the farm is essential.  From time to time, I add helpers for specific projects - mainly when there is building to do or preparation of area for planting.  It is not a matter of throwing bodies but having the right people with the right mindset and attitude.  Currently there are 3 of us - Azis, Lia and I.  We each have our roles but help each other out as needed.  

Farming is not a 8-5, Monday to Friday job.  We are dealing with living things, nature and life.  When it rains, we have to work around it to get things done.  If the river otters or wild boars decide to invade the farm at night, we cannot just ignore them and let the dogs deal with them or we may end up with our plants destroyed or the fish gone.  It cannot be treated as a job but more as living.  Hence it has to be a full-time commitment.  It has to be a team sharing the same vision of making the farm succeed to be successful.  In every task we do, we have to do it to the best of our ability and not just say a task was done.  I do monitor that members of the team get enough rest so at times outsiders may find that I have people sleeping in the afternoon or resting.  It is not because they are lazy but more of the fact that they were taking care of the farm until dawn.

I am very much hands-on and am involved in every aspect hence I continually need to increase my knowledge from farm practices to marketing.  One of the most important tenet is that we only sell what we will eat or use.  Each week as we prepare for market, the question that I remind my team is "Will we eat it?  Will we use it?".  If the answer is no then we don't sell it.  I care about our brand: Suria Helang Lui.  It has taken us years to build our reputation and it is important that we maintain the trust and confidence from our customers.

While it may be hard work, it is infinitely satisfying and I know that what we produce are good and something that I would feed my family and friends.  Pursuing my passion has given me a lot of pleasure and sense of accomplishment and a future, in shaa Allah, until the day I die.

Suria Helang Lui: 7 years later Part 1.

Time has definitely flown by since I have started to focus on the piece of land that I bought in 2007, whilst I was still working on the corporate world.  At that time it was a jungle - you can play Tarzan and swing from tree to tree from the long vines that hung off the trees.  The first 3 years I spent the time developing the land with minimal soil disturbance, widened and deepened a dried-out stream to make my fish pond, studied what vegetation was there that I wanted to keep and what I wanted to remove and to figure out what I wanted to do.  Although many thought that I was doing things the hard way since I didn't just bulldoze the land, I feel that it is the right decision since we retained the topsoil that had taken decades to form.  This provided a good base for the soil condition for planting.

After 1 year of studying the contour of the land, I had a fish pond created that flowed from one side of the land out to Sg. Lui, which allowed for me to have an inflow and an outflow as well as a flood control measure.  We "pulled" our own polypipe (2 sets) : 1 for farm use and 1 for the fish pond.  This allowed for us to have a constant flow of water coming in one end of the pond thus making it more like a river than a fish pond.  The end result is our fish pond has constant fresh water incoming, no aeration needed for the fish and no smell as well as river fish and shellfish coming in which provided food for our fish.  We maximised what nature has and try to minimize impact to the river system.  The water fountain we have requires no pumps or mechanised units but just the application of physics.  All this enabled us in rearing fresh water fish that didn't have a "muddy" smell with a natural sweetness.  Subhanallah.  I tried rearing various species over the years but in the last year, we have narrowed it down to 3 species: Catfish (keli), Tilapia and Lampam.  We do have other species in there such as Kelah Daun, Seluang, Tilan and various other types of river fish that are the norm in the rivers in this area.  Over the years, we have made some modifications and adjustment, to suit with the water flow, fish production operations as well as to ensure we have sufficient protection, in shaa Allah,  from sudden rise in the river water levels.

My father used to say that my farm was like a village as I had all sorts of plants and trees.  I didn't focus on one or two types of plants like most commercial farms,  Being in the heart of the local fruit area - durian, mangosteen, cempedak, jackfruit and duku langsat - many thought I should focus on one or two of these fruits.  My concept is different: ultimately I wanted the farm to be able to provide for a complete food diet - fresh fruits, vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates hence the idea of a self-sufficient integrated farm.  It is definitely a different concept because I envisioned that some day, we would be able to do end-to-end and by choice, be independent of suppliers and to be able to produce not only raw goods but processed products - all done free from toxic chemicals and as naturally as possible.

I spent the first 3 years experimenting why grows best, how to grow it better, how to care for the land and how to strike  environmental balance.  Today, I have lost count of how many types of plants and trees we have although I do try from time to time to catalog what I have but I have to admit, it is not high on my to-do list.

Apart from the fish pond, we have a greenhouse.  Many have asked me: "Do we really need to have a greenhouse and why?".  I built the greenhouse for a few reasons:

1. To grow vegetables that require more care
2. To have an area for me to propagate plants especially in creating new seedlings
3. To have an area that I can still have an activity on those rainy days
4. To be able to experiment in a more controlled setting

Part of the joy of farming is to be able to experiment and find ways of doing things that are more attuned to nature and minimising damage to the environment.  I also call this my oxygenation room as when I work in the greenhouse during the day, the plants in there are actively producing oxygen as a by-product from photosynthesis (remember the biology class).

From a fruit production perspective, I try to make it so that we are able to have fruits year-round hence we have seasonal fruits like mangosteen, jack fruit, cempedak, jam madu as well as non-seasonal fruits like papayas and bananas.  At the farm, at last count we have over 25 varieties of bananas - all non-GMO, hormone-free and local.  Hence week-to-week, the banana variety produced from the the farm varies.  I view our collection of banana plants as part of the preservation of our heritage.  Each variety has its unique qualities from the inflorescence, pseudo stem, leaves and fruit.

From the experiments and taste, we have narrowed our papayas to three varieties: the "orange" flesh exotica, red exotica and red "sekaki".  I chose these because they are the tastiest and sweetest for me and it seems that our customers enjoy them too.
In the beginning, we only had a few plants and weekly have a few fruits.  We also had to work on scheduling planting so that we will have fruits weekly as there comes a time when the papaya tree is no longer viable and will need to be replaced.  Hence, we now produce seedlings twice a year from our own seed collection.

This farm is chemical pesticide and fertiliser-free.  In the beginning, I depended fully on commercial organic pest control and fertiliser.  Over the years, I conducted my own farm-based research and experiments and now we are 70-30 on our own fertilisers to dependence on commercial products for our needs.  We now produce our own liquid concentrate for fertiliser as well as pest control and compost soil.  The ingredients used are farm-produced with the exception of raw sugar, molasses and sea salt.  Recently, we introduced them as our ORGME line of products.  These are the same fertilisers that we use at the farm in conjunction with 2 other types of commercial organic fertilisers.  The target is in the future, we can produce all our own fertilisers and making the farm in control of our fertilisers and independence from manufacturers.

In Part 2, we will relate our vegetables and herbals - the underlying produce of the farm - without compromising on our values and principles :)

My farm, my life for a better future.

Over the years, many people have asked, "Why did you make such a drastic change in your life and left your high-flying corporate life for farming?".  To many people, it was something crazy to do.  After all, leaving that life meant leaving those stable, good pay, monthly checks, fancy life-style, losing people's respect and admiration to name a few.  My formal educational background has nothing to do with agriculture coming from IT/Telco/Civil Security and Defense working life.  However, it is one of my best adventure yet and it continues.  I have the best of both worlds: city life 5-10 minutes of KLCC and country life 45 minutes away.

While you are in the employable age, life is good if you have a good job with a stable pay checks.  What happens when you retire?  What will you do?  Can you continue to have a good life in all aspects: home, health and life?  I decided to make a change early, starting something that I have a passion for and whilst being young enough to build to my retirement.  My choice led me to something that I can do until the day I die, in shaa Allah, better health, better lifestyle.  At the end of the day, things do not bring you happiness.  I am used to being active and what I am doing now keeps me busy and the activity is determined by me.  I do not have to sit for mindless meetings,  I can make a difference on personal levels and have more meaningful impact.  Nothing that I have learned in my corporate experience goes to waste: I project manage different projects at the farm, I do P&L, I do budgeting and planning for CAPEX and OPEX.  On top of that, I finally found practical use of what I learnt in high school Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  I found out the practicalness of knowing the Periodic Table in Chemistry, the importance of Nitrogen, Potassium as well as other elements in the periodic table.  The concepts of Force in Physics also came into play when I was designing our water supply structure without the need for using machinery.  As for Biology - farming is all about Biology.  I become more aware of the environment and the gift of it.  I am more appreciative of all the natural bounty that we tend to forget when living in an artificial world less connected with nature.

I would say that I have a more fancy life-style now.  I eat quality food - majority of my food are natural, organic and fresh - the kind that you pay from rm 10-30 per kg and you are still not 100% sure of it goodness and freshness or free from preservatives when it comes from a store.  I get to enjoy a scenic and serene environment without having to spend hundreds of ringgit per night.  I do

not need to pay for a gym to get a workout but instead get a good workout in a wonderful oxygen-rich environment with wonderful views.  I also get to spend all those precious moment with my now 3-year old son which are priceless.  These are moments that you can never recover: the first word, his first step, his joy and wonder at discovery.  I get to schedule my time according to what I want to do, what is important to me and not what is dictated to me.  Is it all roses?  Of course not.  I face challenges with the weather, the  natural pests, figuring out what is best for my son, watching what I spend, and need versus want, as well as the future.  Still, it beats my old life hands-down.

Being a farmer, I am often looked-down upon by people I just met.  After all, most are still ignorant to the fact that farming requires knowledge, flexibility and resilience.  It is not something you do when you have no choice.  It is not something that you can do without capital investment and operating expense.  Generally, it is not something for the person who didn't finish their basic schooling.  Within the farm area, I have seen many start and fail, maybe some with the idea that they can make lots of money in a short time.    It is hard work but infinitely satisfying when you see your plants and animals thrive.

Sometimes people talk to me in a condescending manner when I am our market stall and it gives me a good take on people and their stereotyping tendencies.  I love doing the stall as it gives me an outlet for social interaction, an opportunity to encourage people to eat good food as well as to plant and garden.  At the same time, it is also a venue for exchanging ideas and knowledge in a relaxed setting.  Some of the comments that I have heard directed to me is : "Tengok tu, orang jual sayur boleh cakap orang puteh","Didn't think that she actually knows about what she is selling", "Ada duit, buat apa jual sayur?".  Basically degrading comments but it always gives me a good laugh.  Sometimes I am bad and would respond back in Spanish.  Hahahaha.... On the other hand, I have also had appreciative friends and customers who are happy to get my produce as well as sharing of knowledge.

The farm is strictly natural and organic.  No chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used.  We also do not use any antibiotics or hormones (either for plants or animals).  Through the years, I
have developed our own fertilisers and pest control for use at the farm.  95% of the source material for creating them are from the farm.  The remaining 5% are organic salts or molasses.  These liquid fertilisers have been designed for specific types or needs and done with the aim of keeping costs as low as possible whilst making it easy and non-harmful to use.  I am not worried if my toddler decides to run off and spray all over the plants with it nor am I worried that it gets on his body.  I get to do many practical experiments from seed production to producing quality produce.  It satisfies my curious nature and challenges my mind.  The whole farm is my experimental area with the greenhouse being the focus.  The more I discover, the more questions I have so I find I am living in a constant learning environment which helps in my brain activity.  A few people have commented that I am a non-conformist and maverick.  Well, I refuse to accept the status-quo of chemical pesticide and herbicide world and profit above all else mentality.

Starting the farm, Suria Helang Lui - the name coming from Suria relating to the rising of a new "day" or chapter in my life, Helang from the eagle that I saw flying over the sky the first time I visited the land, and Lui from the name of the river, Sungai Lui - is one that have brought me all that I can ask for - the good, the bad and the ugly - and through it all, gives me a full life.  I hope to leave a positive legacy to my son and also the choice of continuing this or pursuing what he loves, whatever it may be.  Alhamdulillah.

Good food is our right

Over the years, as I have gotten more and more into producing food, I have learnt a lot - from visiting sites, talking with practitioners and academicians, as well as experimenting on my own.   Along the way, I have grown to believe more and more that good food is one of our basic rights.  Most commercially driven food producers put profits above all else and why not, that is the purpose that they are in that business.  Whilst some have maintain some honesty and ethics, many have excuses for why they do what they do.
The most favourite excuse is: To keep cost down.

1. Usage of chemical pesticides and fertilisers to simplify the production of fruit and vegetables as well as to cut down on costs.  You do not require as many people in comparison to natural, organic farming.  You can also mechanise a major portion of your production by setting up "automatic" chemical fertilising and pesticide control.
2. Usage of unclean waste such as human wastes (which can contain all sorts of things including chemicals from medication, etc.)

Excuse #2: To increase production

1. Usage of chemical pesticides to prevent pests.  After all, many say, after 21 days the food is safe to eat.  If you worry about pesticides, you can further clean it with other chemicals to remove the pesticides.  The reasoning: only a small amount of toxic chemicals may remain so it is almost negligible so no effect.  Really?
2. Usage of chemical hormones.  The hormones are targeted mainly for two things: 1. to increase the size or quantity produced and 2. to force the tree or plant to produce enabling almost on-demand production.  

Excuse #3: To produce consistent quality produce

1. Genetically modifying plants and trees to produce consistent "grade", taste and size produce.  Amongst the favourites locally are bananas and durians.
2. Usage of chemical hormones to control growth.
3. Usage of chemical fertilisers as this can be applied more precise.

Over the years, we have seen more and more people develop allergies to common food like chicken, eggs, fruits, etc.  To my own non-expert mind, it is only logical.  When we have continued to consume toxic chemicals and hormones which no one has done a long-term study on or have studies done and the recovery measure is via more chemicals, it only makes sense that we are causing harm to our body systems.

Often we hear reports on death caused by food that has been "contaminated" by toxic chemicals or over-use of chemicals.  Some countries are banning GMO or requiring labelling of GMO.  It is important for us to understand what these technological advances are in agriculture and how it impact us from GMO to the usage of chemical hormones, fertilisers, pesticides and preservatives.  Many fruits are sprayed with chemical preservatives to increase the "freshness" of the fruits especially when it has to be packed, shipped, and distributed before it finally gets to the consumers.  I rarely see any mention of this or labelling.  So I wonder, when you juice the fruits without peeling them first, what else are you adding to your health drink?  And, there is virtually no peeling of the outer layer for vegetables (except for those like carrots): spinach, kale, celery, etc.

For the sake of ourselves and our families, we need to take an interest in this and not view it lightly.  Once the damage has been done, sometimes it is not irreversible and we will live with the after-effects.  I am very much an advocate for growing your own food, if not a major part then to supplement commercial food.  This can be achieved by having our own "garden" and you do not have to have land to do this.  There are so many food plants that can be grown in pots for those with limited or no land space.  There are many ways to produce your own fertilisers organically and it is not difficult to do so.  We are blessed to live in a country where it is "growing" season year-round.  Whilst we may care about our outward appearance by buying good quality and expensive clothes, accessories, make-up, body care items, etc.,  as well as spending time and money to go to gyms and spas, I feel that we should exercise the same concern and care for our insides.

For me, I like to enjoy a calamansi drink and be able to drop the squeezed fruit into the glass for additional flavour; I love the joy of enjoying durians of different sizes from the same tree as well as the different tastes; and I enjoy eating my vegetables without have to detoxify them.

The moral of my story is this:  If you cannot produce your own food, or reduce consumption of chemically contaminated food, you should at least know the origins of the food and how it was grown.  Then you can make a choice: " pay now or pay later".

SHL Tips #2: Increasing the chances of germinating seeds and having healthy seedlings

At the farm, growing seedlings is one of our key activities.  We are continuously sowing seeds in our effort to have a continuous supply of vegetables and fruits.  For the moment, we rely on commercial seeds for all 50% of our vegetables and the rest are farm produced.

What we find at the farm, the two major factors for successfully germinating seeds is the quality of the seeds and composition of the germination medium.  Hence I experimented with various types of germination medium with the aim to have one that is cost-effective and easy for us - both from the preparation as well as the maintenance throughout the germination and production of a healthy seedling.

Our germination medium comprises of the following 4 elements:

1. organic mulch
2. soil mix
3. vermicompost
4. chicken manure

Each of the element plays an important role in increasing the success rate of seed germination and healthy seedlings.  The organic mulch helps in maintaining the moisture content in the mix and

preventing the mix from drying out and keeping the mix light.  The soil mix contains soil and burnt soil to create the base for the root growth that also contains nutrients.  Vermicompost is a good source of nutrients as well as beneficial organisms for the seedling growth.  Apart from providing nutrients to the seedlings, chicken manure contains the key element for a healthy root growth - phosphorous. 

When placing the seeds, it is important to place them at the right depth.  In general, the larger the seed, the deeper it is.  Whilst placing the seed at a lesser depth can still result in germination, it will cause the root to form too close to the surface resulting in a seedling that is not well-rooted hence it can topple easily.

A layer of mulch mixed with chicken manure and soil (7:1:2) is placed on top to further reduce the water evaporation rate.  This will also help keep a continuous supply of nutrients to the seedling as the mixture breaks down thereby not requiring further fertilisation until transplanting.

With moist - not soggy- germination medium rich in the essential ingredients, a healthy seedling with good root growth can be produced.  It is important to have a healthy root growth in order to produce a healthy plant as the root system is the key mechanism for the plant to "eat and drink".

SHL Tips #1: It starts with the soil

I continually experiment with the purpose of trying to improve the quality and quantity of yield from my plants and trees.  To me, it all starts with the soil.  Based on my limited experience and experiments, there are a few aspects of the soil that I focus on:

1. Quality of the soil
2. Composition of soil
3. Moisture retention within the soil

Quality of the soil encompasses how healthy the soil is.  My farm is totally organic because I am a firm believer that the chemical pesticides and herbicides causes the soil to die as the various natural life forms that promote the health and well-being of the soil are killed off.  This includes the beneficial microorganisms and the various types of worms.  Earthworms are essential for promoting the health of the soil as well as performing the critical function of aerating the soil.  The beneficial microorganisms further enhances the breakdown of nutrient elements in the soil making it easily available to the plants and trees.

Composition of the soil matters when I am determining what I plan to plant.  Different types of plants and trees require different types of soil composition.  For example, plants that produce tubers prefer soil composition that has a higher proportion of sand than fruiting plants.  A simple way of thinking is this:  If the plant produces tubers like sweet potatoes, ginger, turmeric, and if the soil composition is heavy like clay, it would make it more difficult for the plant to produce the tubers as clay is heavy and hard to push through especially when dry.  If it is too wet, then it will make it more likely for the tubers to rot.  Clay soil is rich in minerals and nutrients so it is not necessarily bad, I just have to make some modifications to the composition to "lighten" it depending on the plant or tree that I want to plant.

Moisture within the soil also makes a big difference.  Some plants prefer "wet" soil and some prefer consistent moisture whilst others prefer to have the soil dry out before watering.  Depending on the plant and the capability of the moisture retention within the soil, this will affect how often and how long you water.  The moisture retention capabilities of the soil can be adjusted with the use of mulch and other organic material as well as sand.

At the farm, we only use organic soil improvers and additives and the majority are farm produced with an eye to organic recycling and minimisation of cost as well as cost-benefit.  With the right soil quality, composition and moisture, you have the option of planting in containers like pots or polybags, or in the ground.  To me, this is the foundation for healthy plants and trees.  If they cannot feed and grow roots, one cannot expect them to grow well.

PS>> I am not a trained agriculture expert nor am I a lifetime farmer.  What I am is a 7-years practicing, hands-on farmer :)

And I used to think that Chem, Bio and Physics was wasted.....

I used to think that I would never get the opportunity to maximise on my Physics, Chemistry and Biology classes from secondary (high) school.  As I continue on my chosen vocation, I realise more and more the value of all that I learnt.  All the knowledge that I gained then is being put to full use now as I am slowly becoming a practicing technical organic farmer.  It has helped me understand the literature and reading I do on the more technical aspects of organic farming and being able to translate it to practical applications adapted to my farm environment.

I find that my chemistry and biology knowledge has helped me the most in the day-to-day act of growing my vegetables, fruits and herbs as well as in growing the fresh water fish.  When talking about the nutrients necessary for the plants such as Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Sulfur and Magnesium and marrying it into the biological aspects of photosynthesis and chlorophyll generation, it all boils down to having healthy plants that have good quality yield.

Then you have the soil pH from acidic to neutral to alkaline.  Certain plants prefer acidic soil and certain alkaline and some neutral, it boils down to whether the plant can grow.  Trying to grow cabbages in acidic soil will result in it dying or having poor growth.  In contrast, tomatoes prefer acidic soil conditions.  In practical terms, it means that I cannot grow cabbages and tomatoes side by side since they require opposing soil conditions.

I have learnt to appreciate the beauty of micro-organisms and the role they play in growing healthy plants.  Understanding the chemistry of water and other components ha enabled me to produce my own beneficial micro-organism for use at the farm.

Obtaining my water supply required that I understand the physics of pressure as well as force and speed.  Applying these concepts to practical terms of creating my own polypipe supply line resulting in me understanding how to construct a water tank that is at a higher level than the water coming in and being able to have good pressure in the pipes in the farmhouse and the watering pipes.  At the same time, I have a fountain that doesn't require a pump but simple the application of force and pressure but yet provide sufficient oxygenation of the water.

So, at this stage of my life, I am now benefitting from the knowledge of my younger days and realising the value of it.  I am also thankful that I had great teachers at MRSM Pengkalan Chepa that taught in such a way that I understood what I was learning and not just parroting for exams :)

Balancing with Nature: SHL approach to producing effective micro organisms for farm use Part 1

From the Open Farm Day on April 19, 2015, many are interested in using and/or producing their own effective micro organism solutions. Effective Micro-organisms is apparently a trademark name so I will henceforth use a different terminology. The use of these beneficial micro organisms or friendly bacteria  is really using what is available naturally to improve the farm soil quality and at the same time enabling nutrients and health benefits to our plants and trees.  Being a totally organic farm, we try to utilise what we have to further improve the quality and quantity of our produce.  It is a common saying that "seeing is believing".  We try to promote cost-effective organic produce from fruits to vegetables and one of the ways is to utilise what nature has to offer like what our tag line is: "Maximizing Nature's Bounty".

So, how do we produce our organic beneficial bacteria solutions.  First, we use pesticide-free and herbicide-free ingredients as our base organic matter such as fruit peels and vegetables waste from our farm which will provide the beneficial bacteria and enzymes.  For the ladies, I am sure you are familiar with fruit peels that provide beneficial enzymes for our skin cell renewals, well the same principle applies for our plants and trees.  Remember our biology lessons from school  - bacteria can be easily killed by toxic chemicals and the chemicals do not distinguish between friendly and harmful bacteria.  Common sense tells us that if we start with organic waste that have been sprayed with pesticides, they will tend to remain on the peels and skins.  It doesn't take much to kill these bacteria which you cannot see with your eyes.

Next element is the food for these friendly bacteria to feed and multiply.  They like simple food - unprocessed or unrefined sugars such as molasses, raw sugar or cane sugar.  An option for us, going local, is gula nira or gula melaka.  We are encouraged to stay away from refined sugars but instead go for unrefined sugars - same principle here.

The third element is water and this item is just as critical as the first two.  Everyone is aware that our water is treated with all kinds of things to kill bacteria and it remains in the water.  As our "tap" water sources are often contaminated, all kinds of other things are added to "clean" it which will remain in the water.  Check your tap water - is it "crystal" clear? When you leave it for long periods of time in a container, is there a sediment?  Is there an odour to it?  All these things tell you that the water is not healthy.  If it is good, there would be no need for people to buy water filters or water filtration systems costing thousands of ringgit.  You need good, clean water free of "introduced" chemicals such as chlorine.

Now that you have the ingredients, the ratio most commonly used is 3 parts organic matter to 1 part sugars to 10 parts water.  Place it in a closed container, out of sun and allow the gases produce by this fermentation to escape daily initially and then 2-3 days interval followed by weekly, depending on the amount of gases produced.  Allow three months for the fermentation process.  If you do not release the gases regularly, your container may "explode" or burst from the gas build-up.

And there you have our recipe for producing beneficial bacteria for use on your plants.  The dilution we use from this concentrate to create the spray is 1:100 or 10 ml per litre of water and the water we use for dilution is also good, clean, "introduced chemical" free water.  Always remember we are using beneficial living organisms so do not kill it when you want to use it by using the wrong type of water.  Happy "using beneficial bacteria" in your gardens :)

Part 2 will be all about increasing the value of your beneficial bacteria solutions and in shaa Allah, will be written in the near future.  The experiments continues.........

Open Farm Day: I must be crazy :)

This year, for the first time I started the farm, I am having a open to public farm day on April 19th,  2015.  Am I anxious? Yes. Am I excited? Yes.  Am I scared? Yes. Am I loving having the day? Yes.  Talk about mixed emotions.  When I bought the farm, it was a jungle, nothing like what it is today.  I went my own route, approaching it like a major project with project timelines, tasks, resources, etc. - old habits dies hard.  I spent several months thinking about it and planning starting with what my vision was, what my goals were and what outcomes I would like.  Some thought I was crazy to leave a high-flying corporate lifestyle to become a farmer.  Some thought I was weird to have a farm concept different from everyone else.  Some thought I was wasting my education and talents.

Having this Open Farm Day where it is open to the public and having people who I have never met as well as some that I know come over to see what I have done is nerve-wrecking but I love challenges. I will get to hear what people think of what I have done.  I am sure that I will get comments of what I should have done and I always leave an open mind when I hear this kind of comments as I never know when I might hear something that would work wonderfully at the farm.  At the same time, I get to hear other people's perspectives and learn.  The farm is a continuous work in progress as I strive to improve the quality of the produce whilst trying to improve efficiency in having an organic environment.

What is planned is a sharing of what I have done and how I have done it, from fertilising to end produce; from balancing nature to getting the desired outcome; preserving our botanical heritage.  In essence, people get to see what I have done, me, a person with no agriculture or aquaculture knowledge prior to having the farm and with an idea of my own of how I want to do it.  To me, it is all about the journey of love and passion and mistakes have been made but I love the challenge of learning from it and doing better.  I am still a long way off to what I want to achieve but each day brings new experience and more practical knowledge.

Throughout my journey, I have met and talked with may people who are knowledgeable in specific areas but not one who is doing what I am doing.  The farm is all about me, from what plants and trees were selected to be planted to the sectioning of the area, to the design and how the farmhouse was built.  My challenge is there is never enough time to do all the things that I want done but I give it the best that I can.  So is it perfect?  Of course not :) I have always been a maverick and I guess, it is in my nature.  I am really looking forward to this day as it will be a test for me.  Still, I hope all my guests have a great time and we all share our experiences.

Why garden? Why farming?

I won't say how long I dreamt of having a farm before I actually started one.  Let's say it was before I was 10 years old.  Along the way, pleasing my parents and family, conformity, social norms, etc. happened.  Now that I have been doing this for more than 5 years, I began to evaluate what I have gotten out of it.  Can't help it? Corporate habits die hard!  So, here we go:

1. Reduced stress level and better health. No doubt about it, the level of stress in my life has dropped dramatically although there is stress when things do not go as planned or when challenges arises but it is manageable.  I enjoy what I do and at then end of everyday, I get the satisfaction from doing something that I feel is worthwhile and beneficial.  Moreover, it is what I enjoy doing so I derive a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from it.  A plus for increased mental health. 
2. No need to pay for oxygen therapy.  Working in or out of the greenhouse during the day, with all the plants and trees, there is a good amount of oxygen produced by them from their photosynthesis and I get to reap the benefits of loading in the oxygen.
3. Gym? The whole farm is a gym.  There is always a lot to do in an organic farm that requires physical activity from weeding, making planting beds, composting, clearing the area, carrying things that weigh 10 kg or more, constant movement, etc. etc. etc..  Weight training, cross-training, aerobics, you name it.  Basically you get a total body workout with rewards, not only a stronger body but good food.
4. Paying top ringgit for fresh organic produce?  Is it really organic? Why? You are already
   
   producing it and you can be sure that it is organic because you are producing it.  Since I am also against GMO,  at least to a certain extent, I can control the food that we consume and be assured of freshness.  There is the saying "Pay now, or pay later" and where my family and I are concerned, starting with good quality food is a great place to start.  Plus, nothing beats eating what you have grown, somehow it tastes better and you get a great feeling of satisfaction.
5. Rushing to get somewhere to enjoy nature? Nature is all around you and in my case, with the
   
   clean rivers, forests, hills, greens, animals - I think that about covers all aspects of nature and I get to enjoy it all the time.  You can choose what you want to plant according to your preference and create your own piece of "heaven".  Peaceful environment.
6. improving my level of patience.  Nature has its own pace.  You cannot seed a plant and expect to enjoy the benefits immediately.  You adjust to the pace and learn to be patient.  I also learnt to apply this to my son - he will start walking when he is ready, he will start talking when he is ready.  He has his own development rate, I can nurture, provide guidance and love.  It led me to dealing better with people and not to get upset or angry easily.
7. Learn when to let go and when to take control.  You learn your limits, learn when you need assistance and when to act.  I understand myself better and strive to continuously grow and view each challenge as an opportunity.  However, there are times when in spite of all I do, the outcome is not as expected so I learn from the experience and move on.  This also led to a reduced stress level.  I learn when to affect changes and when to of with the flow.
8. Appreciate the importance of balancing with nature and not harming it. I live in  world with easy access to toxic items and it is my choice whether I want to introduce it to the environment and destroy it or learn to live with it in a better environment.  I learn about what herbs and natural resources can be used to combat pests or to improve the quality of living things.  Water is a scarce resource and I strive not to add contaminants to it as it will affect my animals, my plants and trees and ultimately myself.  This appreciation also led me to a wider appreciation of all life forms including the human race and how it is important to nourish and not harm.
9. Retirement planning.  Working in a corporate world has a life span after which you are asked to retire.  I thought about what I will do when none wants me in the corporate world.  I definitely didn't want to wait until the choice was out of my hands, to the extent that I can control it.  Now, I have something to do for the rest of my life which is generating income - will not make millions, but I do not need millions to live in old age, I hope.
10. Strengthening my religious belief. I am a Muslim and every day I marvel at what Allah s.w.t. gives us, from sunlight, rain, wind to all the other things and count my blessings.  As I do things at the farm, I am presented with opportunities to zikir.  I am sure, no matter what your spiritual belief it, it will have an impact on you spiritually.

More and more, it is hard for me to imagine returning to corporate life full-time and facing traffic jams every day as well as the high pressure, high stress days.  It is a risk, but one that I feel will ultimately pay off for me, in more ways than I can imagine.  Some may look down on me because I am a farmer and not being materialistic ( designer clothes, deigned accessories, expensive cars, etc. etc. etc.) but my quality of life has improved.  After all, there is more to life than chasing money.

After five years and still loving it

As we approach 2015, it is time to plan the year ahead and reflect on the last 5 years to gain from lessons learnt.  when I first started the farm, many couldn't imagine what I meant or what it would look like.  After all, to those that had come to visit the piece of land, all they saw was this jungle with no water or electricity supply.

My vision was an integrated farm, incorporating our heritage plants and herbs as well as working towards self-sustainability.  Here I am, a person from the corporate world, with no experience in farming and little knowledge but I had a dream.  My retirement plan, what I would like to be able to do till the day I die without worrying if someone was going to tell me that it was time to leave as I had reached the retirement age.

I had a vision of what I wanted the farm to be like.  I tried looking nationwide for something like what I had in mind but I couldn't find one.  With some of the experts that I had spoken to, they said what I had in mind was not feasible, that none has done a farm like what I had in mind,  Furthermore, it would be difficult to get government assistance if I didn't focus and produce limited types of produce.  It has never been my aim to obtain government assistance nor do I want to be bothered by the politics and bureaucracy.  

Did I fear that I would fail?  I didn't consider failure but focus on making it successful.  To me, thinking of all the ways that it could fail was a waste of time and energy and without any benefit.  Instead, I focussed to gaining as much knowledge as possible from practicing experts, those who have real-life experience and not necessarily those with MSc, MBA or PhD.  Whilst academic knowledge is good, nothing beats real-life work.  Theories and concepts may be good starting points, but there are many factors in the real world that may not be accounted for in academia.  Moreover, I do not have unlimited funding nor do I rely on government grants or assistance to finance my project.  I have always loved challenges on working on things that people said couldn't be done, too difficult or too much effort.  I experimented and documented my experiments for my own use.  I learnt from my errors and inexperience and the joy of discovery. I strive for balance, maximising nature's bounty and not using any chemical pesticides or herbicides.  I strive to maintain and balance the eco-system, appreciating simplicity and complexity of nature.

I am happy to hear the birds, some of which are in the protected and endangered species and I do not permit catching or trapping them.  I had to expedite fencing the property because bird hunters were encroaching my farm and trying to catch them.  I chased away people who came to release lots of pigeons for some reason or another as to me, it would impact the eco-system.

I am blessed to have clean, uncontaminated water supply that brings with it many types of river fish such as kelah daun, titan, bujuk, selling and many others.  All this are indicators to me that the water quality is good that these fishes can survive.  At the first glance, it is hard to imagine that the water from the source would be able to support the farm as it looks small.  However, by creating a water collection area, it allowed us to lay polypipes to the farm.  Now, others are sharing what we built and it is great that we are able to support the neighbours.

When the fish pond was created, what I did was have the previous dried-up stream bed widened and deepened.  This was the only concession to having heavy machinery such as the bull-dozer on the farm, to do the digging.  As we dug deeper, water started to sprout from the ground, an indication that we had hit the water table.  

We rear catfish, tilapia and lamp am plus we have an assortment of other fishes that entered the pond with the water.  With water flowing in and out continuously, the water quality for the fish is good and we do not require oxygenation machines for the fish pond.  Although we use fish pellets, it is a supplement to our natural foods which will remain our secret.  The net effect is our fish have a natural sweetness to it and does not have any "muddy" smell or taste.  A bid no-no in feeding the fish is carcasses and other animal wastes such as chicken stomachs.  We sell them fresh or filleted and sometimes marinated, depending on customer special request.  When I have time, we do produce smokes fish or lightly-salted dried fish.  We are not yet proficient on the production of our fresh water fish hence we are not able to keep up with demand but it is our hope, in the coming year, we will have a marked improvement in productivity.

In developing the land, I didn't raze and flatten it to clear the land but did it by hand.  I learnt to use the parang, sabot and the weed cutter.  This allowed me to check the vegetation and retain what was already there such as bunga kantan or ginger torch, senduduk human, dukung anak and many other types of plants natural to the habitat that had therapeutic or food value.

After getting the lay of the land, we started planting fruit trees, ones that would take a few years to start fruiting.  Over the course of the years, we have added more fruit trees as I began to section off areas.  I added a greenhouse for the more sensitive to pest plants such as tomatoes, pak choy and its cousins and cabbage.  We have a section for the other vegetables, herbal section and "rotating" planting areas.  The rotating planting areas are for plants like cassava or ubi kayu, lemon grass or serai, bananas etc. to ensure the soil remains healthy.

The first structure built was a store room cum bathroom with a well since in the beginning, I hadn't figured out the water supply yet.  IT took a couple of years to build as I had it built in stages.  The main idea was to have an easy to maintain functional farmhouse.  It is simple and all the floors and walls are tiled as I didn't want to have to spend a lot of time cleaning.  Now,the farmhouse is almost complete - there is still some small details to be completed but as you may guess, it is at the bottom of my list of to-dos.  The features that I love about it is the surau, the big kitchen,  and my bathroom.  With lots of water, I can have nice cool, long showers.

With all the produce from the farm, we have elected to sell it  ourselves to ensure quality, freshness and competitive pricing as to practice our principle of providing affordable quality pesticide-free and herbicide-free food.  For the last three years we have had a stall at the Sunday morning market in Sungai Penchala and I am happy that we have many regulars.  We also a few types of herbal teas at the market and also via mail.  Our selling principle is we do not sell what we do not eat or drink.  Hence, we have tried it all and also eat or drink it regularly.

As we move into 2015, I look forward to being more productive, more efficient whilst not compromising on quality, freshness and price competitiveness and above all, enjoying what I do and getting satisfaction at seeing people loving my produce.  We at Suria Helang Lui wish everyone a fruitful and joyous 2015 and may we build more relationships whilst solidifying existing ones.