ENJOY THE BLOOMS OF 'BAWANG SABRANG'

This is one of our medicinal plant collection.

Here, we call it as 'Bawang Dayak' or 'Bawang Sabrang' (Eleutherine bulbosa (L.) Merr).

It is widely cultivated for its medicinal properties.

This plant is mostly grown in forest with lots of humic and high humidity.

The red slim bulb is used for cancer, diabetic, wound, and also to improve immunity.

However...

I love the bloom...

It's not easy to find the bloom, cause it blooms in night or dark shade.

I'm lucky find the bloom in the morning.

Thank's God...

'HARVESTING' TURMERIC

These are great roots that we got from our raised bed several days ago.
We had to reload or pulled out these plants when they weren't ready to be harvested.... too young.

Yes, they pulled out when we reload the old raised bed.

We got two varieties of turmeric.
They are Kunyit or Common turmeric (Curcuma domestica) and Temu putih or White turmeric (Curcuma zedoria).
common Turmeric is mostly used on cooking and also medicinal purpose.
But 'Temu putih' or white turmeric is only used for medicinal purpose.
The plants were almost similar each other.
Both of them have same foliage and also their flowers. 
The differences are on the size of the leaves and also the root.

The red circled was white turmeric and the yellow circled is common turmeric.
Turmeric has yellow root/rhizome and also smaller foliage.

The white turmeric has bigger foliage, the root is grey-white color and also has balloon roots.

I think I have to replanting these plants soon.

PURSLANE : HARVESTING THE WEED

Purslane or we call it krokot (Portulaca oleracea) is the very useful weed in our garden.

It grow so well here and there in our garden.

Such a shame to let them wasted.

This useful weed have a lot of benefit for our health.

It grows in almost of pots in our garden.

Weeding is harvesting time...

We collect this weed and mostly make salad from this weed.

Just remove the root, clean it and boil for a moment.

It served with spicy peanut sauce... yummy...

A healthy and tasty dish!

BETEL : SNAKING......

Snaking...

It might the suitable term to describe the growth of our sirih or betel (Piper betle).

This vine is creeping the on the wall.

It's growing so lush and so fast during this rainy season.

Actually, it's grown from thrown segment.

So lovely...

It's a very useful plant...

It's mostly grown as medicinal purposes here...

HERBAL TEA FROM FIG LEAVES

Optimizing all that we find in our tiny garden is a must. 
The only one fig plant in our garden is producing fresh leaves, but it will withered and fallen soon during our hot weather.
I have ever read about the benefit of fig leaf.
These leaves are commonly used to treat diabetes and also cholesterol.
The dried leaves are processed as herbal tea to maintain body health.
So, I try to make herbal tea from fig leaves.
I picked some fresh leaves, washed, then let the white sap dried on the open air, not sun drying, only air drying for about 2-3 hours during the hot day.
I put it on the porch.

Then I cut the leaves in to small size, then it dried again.
We can also put it on the oven for about 5 minutes.
Than store it on the airtight container.
So, we will get healthy tea from our own garden.

IT'S OUR CAT WHISKERS...

Hey look...lots of white flowers on our front yard...

We love cat... and we have lots of cat whiskers....
Yeah... here they are our Kumis Kucing (Orthosiphon aristatus).
Kumis kucing means cat whiskers.

A beneficial plant that even grows wildly or as a home garden plant.
It well known as a medicinal plant.

It is a member of Labiatae or Lamiaceae family.
I grows it by cutting.

Look... we can see some flower cluster there.

The white flower is so beautiful...

The leaves usually used as traditional medicine for urinary disorder.
Love to see them blooming almost everyday in our tiny garden.

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...

MANGGIS : PART 5

Yesterday, I have shared about making manggis rind juice.
Now, I will share about making herbal tea from the manggis rind.
First, wash the rind on the flowing water, then drain it.
Break it into a small size
Put the clean rinds on the bamboo strainer, then it's sun dried for about 3-4 days.

To make sure the rind is well dried, we can put it in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Put the dry rinds on the airtight jar, to keep the rind have long storage period.
The herbal tea from the rind is ready to be used.

Put a table spoon of the dry rind  on the cup and pour the hot boiled water on it.
Let it for about 15 minutes, then strain it.

We can add  honey if we like the better taste.
The herbal tea is ready to be served.
A healthy drink...

MANGGIS : PART 4

Yesterday we have talked about the benefit of the manggis rind.

Now, we will make a manggis rind juice.
We only use the fresh rind, because the rind will be drier and harder soon.
And the color will turn blackish soon.

To make a glass of this juice, we need :

1. fresh rind from a manggis fruit
2. a glass of drinking water 
3. a tablespoon of honey (depend on our taste)

First, wash the fresh manggis rind on the flowing water.
Then, remove the outer (hard) rind.
I use spoon to remove the outer rind.
We only use the inner rind that has softer texture.
The color of the inner rind is reddish, and the outer rind is blackish.
After that, put the inner rind and water on the blender or juicer until it becomes a smooth texture.

Pour the juice in to the glass and add the honey to give better taste.
Actually, the manggis rind juice has a little bit bitter.
So, honey or coconut sugar are usually added to improve the taste.

As I have said before,  that the rind is high on pectin, so the juice has creamy texture.
Pectin is usually used on food industries as thickener, especially to make fruit jams.
Pectin is also well know as anti-cancer, anti-cholesterol, and a soluble fiber that good for digestion problems.
Now we get a healthy juice...

LEGETAN

Actually, I took these pictures several months ago, when we did evaluation on so many projects.
We walked through the farmland in highland area.
That area was an area for growing vegetables and tea.

I saw an extraordinary plant that grown widely on that farmland.
I have never seen before.
It looked like an edible weed that we used to eat as salad.
Yes, it was almost similar to Legetan (Acmella uliginosa), you can see on my older post here.
But it looked much bigger, and the aroma was stronger.

I asked to a farmer that stand on his farmland about these plant.
He said that those plant was used on pharmacy industry, cause it has so many medicinal benefits.
It was used as antipiretic, to treat toothache, migrain, and many more.
He asked me to bite a yellow flower, and my tongue got a numbness sensation.

A new plant for me.

Although it almost similar to weed on my garden.

an interesting experience...

SAMBANG DARAH - VARIEGATA

Last month, I have posted about my collection, Sambang Darah . 
Now, I will share about another Sambang Darah that I have.
Yes, this Sambang Darah - Variegata.

The upper side of the leaves is variegated.

And the bottom side is red, like us common Sambang Darah.

Such a beautiful leaf...

When the wind blows we will see the other color of the leaves, so beautiful.