Classroom in the Park - 8 June 2012

Unveiling the secrets of Taman Warisan Pertanian in Putrajaya - an agricultural education park with a variety of fruits, herbs, spices and agricultural crops. 


Posting by Xian Wei:

Why were these branches upside-down? Guess the name of this tree. 

Our guide was cutting the bark of a cinnamon tree....... It has a strong smell!

Hmmm..... I wondered which hand could reach the fruit first.
Our guide showed us a pineapple plant. If you cut the crown of the pineapple, then you can plant it again.


We went to a small paddy field. We saw duckweeds which were the small green floating plants. These plants could take up a lot of oxygen,  they must be controlled.

After that, we learnt to plant at the Little Farmers' Program.  Our guide taught us to plant using recycled bottles.

Busy at work.........

The finished work........

Rubber-tapping demonstration

Looking at the latex dripping into the bowl....


The leaves of rubber tree were always in groups of 3, like three fingers.


After collecting the latex, put into a container. Then pour some formic acid (it makes you itchy if you touch it) to harden it. Flatten it like 'roti canai'. After that use rollers to roll and  pattern it. Next, soak the sheets in water to wash away the acid. Finally, hang to dry before put the rubber sheets in the smokehouse for 4 days.

Hip-Hip Hooray!!!!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's
Read more