ENJOYING THE SCENT OF WHITE FLOWERS

Our front yard seem so fresh this morning.

Fresh air and also fresh aroma from so many white flowers from our front yard.

Lots of white jasmine are blooming next to the stony wall.

The smell is so lovely.

And the flower is so beautiful too...

On the western side there's a exotic scent from white Mondokaki (Tabernaemontana divaricata).

From the entrance, we are getting fresh aroma from lemon flowers and Kemuning flowers (Murraya paniculata).
Starting the day with fresh aroma from white flowers...

EXPLORING JASMINE

Our jasmine bush in our tiny garden is growing so lush.

The branches are 'running' here and there.

A slim branch is 'running' into the porch.

This branch is full of flowers and crossing in front of the door.

My little one really loves to smell these aromatic flower 

BABY GARDENER AND HER JASMINE

EASTERN BACKYARD ON SEPTEMBER

This was my eastern backyard on July...

Too much shade here.

Some trees grew taller and taller, but they were not productive.

Then I cut down them on August, and this space looked brighter, more sunshine...

So I can grow so many vegetables here.

The  Kara bean (Phaseolus lunatus) grow so healthy here.

Pandan leaves on the corner, and a little pumpkin seedling on the edge of the poor raised bed.

There are three new pepper (Piper nigrum) vines.

Some climbers looks so thrive.

These are the climbers closer.

The white jasmine is showing me its flower buds.

Another variety of Kara bean.

The Jeruk purut (Citrus hystrix) finally 'green' again with its leaves.

The edible alocasia looks so healthy.

The sirih (Piper betel) is climbing so high and looks so poor in this dry season.

Row of eggplants and celery pots.

A pot of little guava tree is growing better right now.
Actually it  was  tough for me to lose some plants that I loved.
There's always a bright side in each decision...

RAIN DROPS AFTER THE FIRST RAIN

 

 

KEEP HEALTHY WITH OUR HOMEGROWN MEDICINE - PART 2

MENGENAL MANFAAT LAIN DARI TUMBUHAN
GET TO KNOW THE OTHER BENEFITS OF PLANTS

Sejak dahulu, nenek moyang kita sering memanfaatkan bahan alam untuk pengobatan berbagai macam penyakit. 
Banyak tumbuhan yang telah teruji secara empiris mampu menyembuhkan berbagai penyakit, baik itu penyakit ringan maupun berat. 
Ribuan jenis tumbuhan yang bermanfaat bagi kesehatan tersebut belum semuanya tereksplorasi. 
Masih banyak tumbuhan yang lebih dikenal sebagai tanaman hias, tanaman pangan, tanaman pagar, gulma, atau tumbuhan liar.

From long time ago, our ancestors often used natural ingredients for the treatment of various diseases. 
There are a lot of plants that have been tested empirically able to cure so various diseases, both simple or severe diseases.
Thousands of plant species that have benefits to the health are unexplored yet.
The other plants are well known as ornamental plants, food plants, hedges, weeds or wild plants. 

Sirih (Piper betel)

Sebagai contoh, tanaman Markisa (Passiflora edulis) yang tumbuh rimbun di halaman rumah kami. Orang lebih mengenalnya sebagai tanaman penghasil buah segar untuk jus maupun syrup. Tapi di dalam kesegarannya, tersimpan banyak manfaat dari buah ini bagi kesehatan, diantaranya sebagai antiinflamasi, pereda demam, antioksidan, pelembut kulit, pembersih arteri, pelindung jantung dan masih banyak lagi.

For example, Markisa or Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) that grows so lush on my front yard. Everybody knows that this plant produces fresh fruit for juice or syrup. But inside the freshness, this fruit have so many benefits for our health, such as anti-inflammatory, fever- reliever, antioxidant, softening the skin, cleaning arteries, heart protector, and many more.

Markisa / Passion fruits

Markisa (Passiflora edulis)

Saya yakin, semua orang mengagumi keindahan bunga Melati (Jasminum sambac). Tanaman ini dikenal sebagai tanaman hias dan penghasil minyak atsiri. Tanaman ini tak hanya indah tapi juga berkhasiat baik akar, daun maupun bunganya. Tanaman ini sering digunakan untuk pereda sakit kepala, radang mata, pelancar air seni, dan masih banyak lagi.

I'm sure, everyone admires the beauty of Jasmine (Jasminum sambac). 
This plant is known as an ornamental plant and its essential oil. 
This plant is not only beautiful, but also have so many benefit through its roots, leaves and flowers.
This plant is usually used to relieve head ache, eye-inflammation, diuretic and many more. 

Melati (Jasminum sambac)

Cabe rawit (Capsicum frustecens) sangat dikenal sebagai sayuran yang bercita rasa pedas. 
Selain bermanfaat sebagai sayuran, buah cabe sering dimanfaatkan untuk menambah nafsu makan, meningkatkan kadar insulin, meredakan rematik, sakit gigi, perut kembung, batuk dan asma. 

Chili pepper (Capsicum frustecens) is well known as spicy flavor vegetable. This chili is often used as appetizer, increase insulin level, relieve rheumatism, toothache, cough and asthma. 

Cabe rawit (Capsicum frustescen)

Kunyit (Curcuma domestica) adalah salah satu bumbu masakan yang sering digunakan sebagai bahan obat tradisional. Selain memberi warna dan cita rasa pada masakan, kunyit juga dapat digunakan untuk menyembuhkan sakit perut, tifus, diabetes mellitus, dan antibiotik.

Tumeric (Curcuma domestica) is one of food spices that often used as stuff for traditional medicine. While give striking color and flavor in to foods, tumeric is also used to relieve flatulence, typhus, diabetes mellitus and antibiotic.

Kunyit (Curcuma domestica)

Indahnya Kembang telang (Clitoria ternatea) juga menyimpan banyak manfaat untuk kesehatan. 
Masyarakat sering menggunakan bunga biru ini untuk mengobati radang mata, radang telinga, asma, menambah daya ingat, mengurangi kerontokan rambut dan masih banyak lagi.

The beauty of Butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea) also saves a lot of benefits for our health.
Peoples often use this blue flower to treat eyes, ears, asthma, as memory enhancer, reducing hair-falls and many more.

Kembang telang (Clitoria ternatea)

Meniran, tumbuhan ini lebih dikenal sebagai gulma pengganggu di lahan pertanian.
Tapi jangan ragukan manfaat dari tumbuhan ini. 
Ya, Meniran (Phylantus neruri) adalah gulma yang telah teruji secara klinis berkhasiat untuk meningkatkan daya tahan tubuh, bahkan telah dibuat ekstraknya serta diproduksi secara komersial.

Meniran, this plant is well known as weed on the farmland or road side.
But we shouldn't doubt its benefit.
Yes, Meniran (Phyllantus neruri) is a weed that have already clinically tested to improve body immunity, and the extract have been produced commercially.

Meniran (Phylanthus neruri)

Masih banyak lagi tumbuhan berkhasiat obat lainnya. 
Beberapa jenis tumbuhan telah dikenal luas oleh masyarakat sebagai tumbuhan obat, dan telah dibudidayakan di pekarangan maupun untuk tujuan komersial. Tanaman sirih dan empon-empon adalah beberapa contoh tanaman yang sudah umum dibudidayakan di pekarangan rumah masyarakat Indonesia. Tanaman-tanaman tersebut lebih dikenal dengan istilah 'Apotik Hidup' atau saat ini dikenal dengan istilah TOGA (Tumbuhan Obat Keluarga).

There are plenty medicinal plants around us.
Several plant species have been known as common medicinal plants, and have been cultivated in home gardens or for commercial purposes.
Betel plant and members of Zingiberaceae family are examples of plant that are commonly grown in Indonesian home garden. These plants are well known as 'Living Pharmacy' or currently known as 'TOGA' (Homegrown Medicinal Plants).

Kunyit (Curcuma domestica)

MELATI GAMBIR - PART 7

Melati gambir is a flower that has beautiful fragrance.
It contains essential oil that used in so many products, especially cosmetics and perfumery.
The essential oil is used as aromatherapy for relaxing also refreshing.
It also has antiinflamation effect and moisturizing.
So the essential oil of Melati gambir is usually used in cosmetic products for dry or normal skin.

Here, this plant is well known as a plant that has so many healthy benefit.
Decoctition of this flower is usually used as diuretic, to treat urination disorder, headache, lower high pressure tension and to treat insomnia.
I hope you all have been enjoying this series and have a wonderful weekend.
See you on the next monthly series.

MELATI GAMBIR - PART 6

The main end product from Melati gambir is Jasmine tea.
Farmers only have one orientation on growing this plant, harvesting the flower buds.
From our observation, actually full blooming jasmines are wasted products.
Everyday we can find a lot of  these 'wasted products' on the farmland.

Then we took a discussion to solve this problem, how to get benefit from the 'wasted products'.
I have had an idea to make a simply syrup from these full blooming jasmine.
The idea was basic on the main end product a jasmine scented beverage.
My friends agreed to my idea, and I got an assignment to design an experiment to get a formula for the 'Melati Gambir Syrup'.
Actually, it didn't need long time to get the best formula.
Using an old concept: 50% sugar and 50% juice.
In this case, juice is scented water. 
The sugar concentration more than 50% is enough to preserve foods up to 6 months.
From my experiments, full blooming jasmine has plain taste, but the flower bud has very bitter taste.
So... selection was an interesting process on making jasmine syrup.
The best formula that we've gotten was ready to be spread.
Then we designed a training to train the farmers how to make jasmine syrup.
So they could optimize their jasmine, and get more income from their wasted products.

Selecting...

Boiling...

Simple bottling process...

Labeling...