BUFFALOES IN NATURE FARMING

The oil palm, the most efficient converter of the sun’s energy to edible oil is a good  candidate for nature farming that shows intricacies of man-animal-plant-environment relationships and energy flow. From the start, if the area is bushy with small trees, just clear (with bulldozer) the planting row and plant the oil palm seedlings. The lining may not be accurate to our liking but good enough. Within a couple of years the young palms will overshoot the tops of the bushes. The vigorous fibrous root system can cover a wide area and would soon overwhelm the root systems of lalang and grasses around it. Within three years the lalang and other undergrowths will be overshaded by the palm fronds and die off. The small trees can be gradually cut down or pollarded. If there are buffaloes grazing in the area they will help to clear the wild grasses and vines and make walking paths. They will however munch the shoot and leaves of young palms. Being fast growers, the palms will recover with new cycle of leaves and stunting is minimal. Buffaloes will scare away snakes in the area and make it safe to work. If there are muddy pools the buffaloes would wallow in them to cool off.  Their droppings add fertility to the soil that benefit the earthworms and plants. They attract leeches that suck human blood to give the ‘bekam’ effect if one gets bitten. It is a pleasant sight to see egrets land on the backs of buffaloes doing a favour looking for ticks. Monkeys and wild pigs deprived of their original habitats would pick fruits from  the low bunches.  Their tracks result in the area around the base of palm clear  allowing easy access for harvesting. Those animals deserve a share of the harvest. Cabbage from unwanted non-bearing palms can be harvested and cooked. Fresh leaves and pellets made from the fronds provide feed to goats, sheep, and cattle.

EARLY KAMPONG LIFE

Figure 1: A coastal village.

Figure 2 :  Padi fields where Malays had to work hard, surprise! surprise!

Figure 3 : Malays lived amongst coconut palms.  Coconut (and fish and rice) were essential to their simple diet.  

Figure 4 :  But they were not simply kampung yokels dependent only on the bounties from land and sea.  Above is a Malay Eating House - the beginning of the Malay warong. 

(extracted from Anak si Hamid)

PANTUNS IN LEWIS'S MALAY SCRIPT HANDBOOK, 1958

IVANKA AND CHABAD CULT

two of the world’s leading authorities on Jewish supremacism, called out the Senior Advisor to the President, Jared Kushner and Shiksa Princess Ivanka Trump on her treachery by calling advocates for white civil rights “terrorists” while belonging to the Jewish supremacist cult Chabad Lubavich, which literally describes non-Jews as having been created by god only to serve Jews.

AMERICANA - REMINISCENCES

Desert art in Nevada

Sunset Vista Motel in the desert of southwest.

Local travellers - fun at the beach.

Washington Monument, Washington D.C.

Del Rio, border town Mexico.

Summer jam at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Bridge across Mississippi River, New Orleans. Ingredients of jambalaya(?), a favourite southern cuisine - boiled crayfish with corn, chilli powder, lemon etc.

Homecoming at Louisiana State University campus, Baton Rouge. The university was established in 1860.

IK ONKAR (SIKH)

IK ONKAR.  Ik means, one and only one, the one that cannot be compared with any other. Onkar means God.

So Ik Onkar can be summarized as One God – the one Absolute God, the Eternal, the Supreme Unity.

Ik Onkar has a central and prominent place at the head of the Mul Mantar - the first composition in the Sikh holy text, the Adi Granth – later became the Guru Granth Sahib. Ik Onkar is the first name call upon in prayer each time Sikhs go to the Gurdwara.

Ik Onkar is the central belief in Sikhism.

In the Quran, Al-Iklas.

“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
Quran 112:1-4

(adapted after anas zubedy)

KIRGHIZ PEOPLE, CENTRAL ASIA

The fierce pride and independent spirit of their Mongol forbears lives on among the Kirghiz.

KHMU PEOPLE, LAOS

ANAK, LUKAH DAN TRAKTOR

Hidup nyaman dan lestari

REMEMBERING STEVE JOB