Thursday, January 26, 2012

One Sunday Morning Harvest from Mama's Garden

A bit late but I would like to wish Happy Chinese New Year.
May the dragon year brings good health, fortune and luck.
I have been back in Adelaide for 10 days now after my trip back to Malaysia. But I feel very exhausted at the end of the day in this first month of the year 2012. Hopefully I will regain some energy and leave this lethargic phase soon. It was a very short and busy trip to Malaysia about 5 days. I did get to help prepared small veggie patches at mama's place and sowed seeds on them. This is what my youngest sister and I managed to harvest from my parents garden on the morning of my departure day to Adelaide. I was in charge of picking roselle flowers while my sister harvested the chillies. It was no easy task picking them as this part of the garden looks like a mini jungle and might have imagined some slithering creatures that can be encountered. I don't even pick all of them. It was too difficult to reach as the roselle plants were taller than me and no entry from the opposite side of the plant.
This is how one of the corner of the veggie patch look like. At the front of the photo are chilli plants which has noticeable red fruits dangling on it. Roselle plants are on the background of this photo. I probably step onto many turmeric plants on my way there. Chilli plants thrive on my mama's garden. They provide so many volunteers as well. On average, my sister harvest at least a bucket full of chillies every month. Most of them are bird eyes chillies.
Chillies harvested by my youngest sister. She harvested them by plucking it with bare hands. 
Some lady fingers, citrus, passionfruits and papaya were also available to harvest from their garden. There are lots of waste of over-ripe papaya and citrus not taken and simply drop from the tree to become compost.
Plenty of passionfruits to share with squirrels and birds when they ripen all around the front garden pergola which can fit one big car.
Home-made Roselle juice and Home-grown young coconut water to enjoy.
Ate a lot of tropical fruist and sambal belacan from those home-grown chillies.
Happy Holiday Australian Day.

34 comments:

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Wow! ehem....we are quite a frequent traveller to Sabah now...if we can have your mom's address? teeheehee///would love to explore her garden. Happy Australia Day, mate! Oh...I miss those backyard barbies. purrr...meow!

cathy@home said...

Did you see the sweetpeas growing?
I have decided to do a autumn winter spring garden too hot in the summer,

Sean L said...

Love the roselle. I remember when I was young, we had a roselle in the garden that was almost two-storey high! Never could get to the fruits at the top that I can spot from my room window upstairs. Those passion fruits are nice to eat with ice cream. Your mom is lucky to have so much space to grow stuff.

Sue Garrett said...

Wow it looks like your mum is in for a good banana crop too!

tina said...

It's a beautiful harvest. I can't imagine harvesting all those chiles. I hope your sister's hands were okay after picking!

tina said...

Forgot to say-feel better soon.

Dani P. said...

Wow, that's a jungle - garden ! First time that I saw roselle. And all those chillies, you must love the spicy food. Hope you are in a better mood now. Hugs !

Kate said...

I'm glad you found your way back out of your Mama's garden!

cookingvarieties said...

sumsoc

Kelli said...

Happy New Year! Some great colour in your photos. Those bananas appeal to my taste buds.

Liz said...

Happy New Year, glad you're back. Wow that looks like a really plentiful garden. Fabulous chillies and I am especially envious of all the fruit.

ejaMaria said...

seronoknya tengok passionfruit tu... kita baru je tanam... lambat lagi rasa nya nak tunggu buah... ;p

Malar said...

Waste papaya? I hope the papaya tree is in my garden! hahahhaa...
YOur parents garden is so huge with so many harvest!

kumittyi said...

I'm so glad to hear you are back safety out of your hometown.
What a fabulous harvest!!
Every tropical fruit of your photos are new and fresh to me.
I do want to try your home made Roselle juice and Home-grown young coconut water badlly.I'm sure to be so tasty.

Jody said...

I love that you call your mom, "mama". That's what our boys call their mom too. She has a beautiful garden. Now I know where you get it from. I hope you get a little rest now that you're home.

makcikmanggis said...

idamkan sebuah rumah yang dikelilingi kebun sayur sayur,buah2an....seronoknya minum jus roselle.....passion fruits sungguh mahal di sini...6 biji 10 rm:(

cathy@home said...

What a great Jungle garden.just came to wish you a Happy Australia day." 'Ave a good one, mate."

mummyseri said...

bestnya, kalu di kampung mak n nenek mmg suka bercucuk tanam, bila tuai hasil paling best..my mom tanam roselle jugek..;)

lena said...

thanks for your wishes at my blog. That's a very short trip back home, you rest more. Is it still as hot there? 've seen roselles here selling at the market..i just didnt know what to do with them :(

JGH said...

Glad you were able to save some of the fruit from being compost!Good thing you were there. Did you bring some chilis home? What are you going to cook?

Hope you get your usual energy back soon! Happy New Year:)

TK said...

Seronoknya dpt balik kampungkan? Happy for you.. I tell you.. cili padi yg kecik2 tu mahal kat pasar..
Tak balik Tganu ke?

Lrong Lim said...

What a lush looking garden your mum has... passion fruits... wow... have always dreamed of growing this fruit...

rainfield61 said...

That mini jungle must be a heaven for those slithering creatures.

Mac said...

Jealous of the roselles, wish I can grow them here.

shaz said...

Wow! Such an impressive harvest. Very envious of the passionfruit :) Sounds like you enjoyed a lovely trip back. Hope you get your energy back soon.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cat-from-Sydney~ My mama kebun is actually in Sungai Buloh. She has not make a garden yet at her new place in Kota Kinabalu. You are welcome to visit us though. This year its kind of a mix living arrangement for them as they put up both residence in KK and SB depending which part of the year.

Cathy~ I did saw your sweatpeas. I am happy that those seeds sprouted and grow well in your garden. I did not garden at all in January which is mid-summer here since it was too hot.Thanks for the Australia Day wish too.

Sean L~That is a very gigantic roselle plant you had. Probably had to use galah panjang to pluck them if its too high. She has the space to grow but not enough time to garden now.

Sue~Bananas thrive with neglect there. The leaves are useful to make traditional cake containers.

Tina~My sister is used to plucking those chillies now.

Dani~I like spicy food:). Thanks feel much better now. Roselle is related to hibiscus.

Katie~It was a bit tricky to maneuver oneself around that jungle garden;-).

Cookingvarities~ Hope you had a nice long holiday during the Chinese festive season.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kelli~ I was unfortunate that while I visited there were no ripe banana for me;-).

Liz~It was end of season of many local fruits here when I went back. I missed the mangoesteen and rambutan.

EjaMaria~Oh kalau kat Malaysia mungkin cepat tumbuh sebab cuaca sesuai. Yang mama saya tanam baru setahun lebih je rasanya.

Malar~Papaya in mama kebun has been a good volunteer since we planted them. There are so tall that we got lazy sometime to pluck the fruit. So the squirrels and birds got to enjoy them. Moreover, seeds drops and sprouted so easily.

Kumittyi~It was my first home-grown roselle juice and I really enjoyed it. It was really easy to make it too.

Jody~My boys call me 'mama' too. When I was in my teen, it was usually either helping in the garden or cook. So I prefer working out in the garden rather than cook and here my siblings complain about my cooking later.

Makcikmanggis~Ohhh...kat rumah mama tak termakan tapi si tupai pun rajin tebuk buah markisa atas pokok tu.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

mummyseri~Mesti seronok kalau balik kampung masa ada tanaman nak menuai.

Lena~This week the weather finally cool down. Hopefully it stay that way. I heard you can make roselle jam as well but I have not tried it yet. Making roselle juice is easy. You can google it many blog show how.

JGH~We can't bring any chilli back as Australia have tight regulation of bringing back parts from plants. But I did enjoy them in many type of dishes that mama prepared.

TK~ tu la dengar cili padi sekarang mahal kat pasar. Selalu gak usik adik kalau dia rajin petik pastu jual kat kedai murah sikit boleh dapat top up kredit untuk handphone dia.Seronok balik kampung tapi sekejap je tak sempat pun nak pergi Terengganu.

Lrong~Well mama garden has been at least 15 years since we moved there.

Rainfield61~ Yup, have to be careful of creature without legs especially on places that look like semak samun.

Mac~ Roselle do need the same requirement as growing okra.I have not tried growing roselle here with Mediteranean climate yet.

Shaz~It was a nice trip back. But I did not get to eat all the food that I missed in that short amount of time;-).

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Thanks for your CNY wishes.Oh, your mama also like gardening huh..I going to plant passionfruit after i received seed from Cik manggies, can't wait. I need to look for roselle seed also, wish to plant some too.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sonia~Good luck and hope you have fun growing them!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sonia~Good luck and hope you have fun growing them!

Wendy said...

oh my gosh - all those wonderful tropical things to eat and drink!!!

J.J. said...

I really love the pictures!

Helyanti said...

banyaknye rosselle ni.. nk kene tanam jugak la camni..