Vegetable scrub

During one of my travels , I noticed a lot of sponge gourd being sold in the wet markets. Not only the loofah or petola are nice to eat, they make good scrubs and ideal for craftworks.

Usage of durian pulps

A picture of D101 , one of varieties that we planted.

A couple of weeks ago there was one article released by the Department Of Agriculture stating that Federal Agricultural Marketing Authourity (FAMA) have been successful in securing a contract to supply durian pulps to Shanghai early next year. After extracting pulp from fruit using machine, the frozen pulp will be shipped. The pulps will be used as fruit flavouring for food products. Previously when they shipped to Singapore, the pulp was for making mooncakes and dumplings.

Mangosteen

In P2 there are a few matured mangosteen trees. We will try to preserve them .. perhaps plant a few more ..

Known as the Queen of fruit , this exotic fruit is especially popular during the durian season. Many would eat durians and later finish off with some mangosteen ... as they believe the fruit is anti-inflammatory and have a " cooling effect " on the body system. But one thing for sure, this fruit with deep purple fruitskin contains lots of antioxidants. The while pulp inside is simply delicious and sweet with a slight sour edge. Mangosteen tree can flower up two times yearly. It fetches very good selling price in the fruit market. Also there is growing interest in mangosteen juice as it is healthy drink.

Buah dabai

I took this picture at morning wet markets in Sibu. When in season, the entire place would be crowded with buah dabai vendors. The buah dabai would be graded by size and freshness. Good profit for the vendors especially if they start selling before others.

Preparing P2

Some more pictures taken on P2. Land preparation will start mid December 08. After surveying the land, we will clear the land in stages. Quite a number of mature fruit trees to be kept - durian, local olive - buah dabai, langsat.

papaya tree

Papaya can grow almost anywhere. While a female tree bears fruit, a male tree only flowers. Although flowers can be eaten, most prefer the papaya. From large papaya to small exotica papaya .. some very sweet and others no so sweet. The ones that we are planting at the dusun are smaller fruit with a tougher fruitskin. Supposedly the fruit can last 4 or 5 days after plucking. Very sweet. It takes about 9 months for a papaya tree to mature and bear fruit.

papaya sprouts

Two months ago after sampling a very good papaya in KL that was RM10 per kg, I saved the seeds and took them back to my little nursery. Sowed the seeds onto the little black bags ... now at least 200 tiny papaya plants have sprouted. Next month they will be transplanted to the dusun.

This special papaya specie produces small but very sweet papaya. The uniqueness is the fruitskin is firmer and the papaya can last up to 4 or 5 days, which is ideal if we need to despatch them to the fruit wholesalers and vendors.