Last Week in Chempaka Kuning farm December 16th - 21st 2024
This week seen us all on another planting marathon when we finished planting all ten terraces that had been cleared of oil palm trees some months ago. This week we concentrated on terraces nine and ten where we planted the usual mix of trees/bushes like banana/papaya/limau kasturi/star fruit together with smaller plants like lemon grass, cassava, ginger and of course glyricidia. Although we have run out of glyricidia plants and will have to wait until the new ones coming are large enough to replant. We also bought some larger trees from a nursery this week which included rambutans, mango. Mangosteen and amla. A few of which we planted on the terraces we planted this week. We also continued planting seeds and seedlings to grow seeds for the seed bank, this week planting ladies finger seedlings. These are our first generation Chempaka Kuning ladies finger grown from seeds taken from Buddha Garden. The first generation were very small seedlings but this second generation are a bit larger suggesting that already they are responding to the new conditions in Malaysia. Finally we welcomed some new chickens from a nearby farmer who was unable to go on caring for them as he is sick. We wanted some chickens so were pleased to take them although it does mean that we will have to be really quick about building the new chicken/goat house. December 21st is the solstice and although the effect is somewhat muted here in Malaysia, because we are near the equator, I can feel the year turning once again…...