Almost Recovered.

Just a couple of days ago I was able to harvest some leafy veggies for the table after almost more than six months of no cultivation because of the bout with sciatica. It is indeed a pleasure to have freshly picked leafy organic veggies on the table which made eating much more pleasurable and a great excuse for a broader waist line….hehe!! Anyway I am glad that the mini farm is almost fully recovered.

I am now into my second year of being an organic farmer that I never knew I had this kind of interest and ‘ahem’ talents. This is indeed a great discovery for myself and I am very please about it not only because it is productive but a real wonderful feeling that words cannot describe. Even my mum was surprised. OK let’s not get melodramatic here but it is good to be close to nature which is something I always enjoy.

Having survived the first year I had made some changes to make the farm more organized after learning from my mistakes. The first and most important lesson that I learned is that never ever force yourself to continue working when you feel your back is letting up. I was rehabilitating one of the beds so that I can get some leafy veggies going just before the wet season sets in so I was a bit tight on time. Thinking that my old cranky body is still like a ship shape John Deere, I put in full throttle and guess what …. I got sciatica and was in pain for almost two months but managed to finish rehabilitating that bed just before the attack. The weeds were having wild parties on the rehabilitated and fertilized with my specially cured organic compost beds. I guess that was a real good lesson learnt and now whenever I feel the slightest threat to my delicate back I would just take it easy until the threat is gone.

Having quite a lot of time on my hands while recovering from the sciatica, I decided to make a study to improve on the starter pods that I am using. It was kind of a frustrating when I had an idea but was not able to carry it out physically but the pain from the sciatica quickly dismiss the desire to try it out. The moment I recovered from the sciatica I started the slow and tedious process of having to rehabilitate all the six beds all over again. It was slow, very slow because I could still feel the agony of the sciatica pain running down the whole of my right leg from the small of my back without mercy. Just thinking about it still sent a chill down my spine but nevertheless I am now into the last bed.

Having rehabilitated one of the beds I decided to try out the idea I had by using egg trays as starter pods after some modification because it is much easier to handle. I was really pleased with the results because by virtue of its shape I can stand the pods in shallow water thus keeping the seeds watered all the time and transplanting was much easier. Moreover the egg tray decomposed much easier because it is made of mashed paper and it is easily available.

I have also discovered that climbers cannot share the same trellis because the faster growing plant would practically take over the whole trellis suffocating the more timid one. I have not planted any of the climbers yet this year and I intend to do so real soon. I have some idea on how to plant them and I will plant them individually on mini hills this time. Seeds, some seed deteriorate really fast even thought it was kept in a dark cool place and I was surprised to find that it was powdery when I wanted to use it. Now I decided to keep only the newly purchased seeds in the fridge because many people say that seed can last much longer in the fridge.

Now only leafy veggies are planted on beds and others are on mini hills …..yeah!! it is great to be planting again.

Oats

In the early sixties or earlier I had my first taste of oats and one thing for sure it is Quaker Oats. Till today the first thing that comes into my mind when anybody mentioned Quaker, oats will quickly register in my mind because Quaker was the only brand available when I was growing up I think. In those days we get to eat oats quite often for a while for breakfast only because it was really fast to prepare. It was kind of a fun then because I get to prepare it myself, actually everything was on the table and I just had to mix it myself after mum pour the boiling hot water in it. The recipe was very simple just oats, sugar and boiling hot water. I just cannot remember why or when I stop eating it but I can remember the taste, it is just a sweet and boring. I guess it must be the do it yourself part that makes me eat it and when the novelty died out I guess that is also when I stopped eating it ……hmmm ….. Maybe!

Just recently I just restarted to eat oats as a weapon to help me in my never ending battle with cholesterol and the famous battle of the bulge ……hehehe!! Even Sun Tzu is not able to help me here. Taking oats is my last resort at fighting cholesterol and if it does not work then…….. I stayed away from oats because eating oats is really boring and yucks!! So is exercising. Playing game and doing constructive labour is my way of spending energy other than the daily routine needs of walking, talking, eating and etcetera. Let’s hope I don’t really need to rely on exercise to help expand the stored energy.

OK I did mentioned that I tried walking and it was nice initially but I guess when it becomes a routine it is just boring to walk aimlessly even though I was burning calories. Swimming, errr …. Let us just continue with the oats OK? Hehe!! ….. Never thought that I would be eating oats again after all these years, oh well!!

If you were to Google oats you would get something like more than seven million sites talking about oats and I guess all of them are talking about how great oats are against cholesterol. Many people that I know say likewise and some even swear by it but not doctors, as far as I know none had recommended oats to me but fish yes…….mmm, I wonder why? To make eating oats bearable I first tried eating it by mixing with my coffee for breakfast and it tasted OK but I had to drink more coffee after drink eat the oat coffee so I guess it is a no no because coffee consumption will increase. Next I made oats sandwiches and it tasted quite good with lots of bite. It is really easy to make, just spread butter and kaya or jam if you like on a single slice of bread and top it up with instant oats. Then fold the bread once and hold tightly the end that is going in the mouth last so that the oats do not fall out …… try it, it is quite interesting and better than whole meal bread …hehe!!

Eating with bread the amount of oats consumed per day would not be enough so I decided to have for lunch and dinner as well if possible. Being an Asian and rice being my staple diet it is quite easy to include oats in my meals, I just reduce the amount of rice I am having and replace it with oats. There is no need to boil or cook the oats just use instant oats and add it into the rice and gravy or soup it. Oats don’t really have any kind of strong taste so everything just taste the same except for the structure, it is just like eating rice cooked with too much water. The beauty of it is that there is no real increase in intake and I should feel my pants getting looser.


So far to date I think I had consumed more than two kilos of instant oats and there are so much more variety of brands to choose from nowadays. I usually chose the cheapest and to date I had eaten three different brands and they are all the same in taste, I guess instant oats are just instant oats. My next cholesterol test is in September, so till then I am really keeping my fingers crossed.