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Better Fermented

What is Fermentation
(noun) The process of lactofermentation in food. This process preserves the food and creates beneficial enzymes, boosts nutrients and minerals, along with various strains of probiotic.

Update: we have fallen in love with fermented food. Not only do we love fermented food for its tangy taste, but also their many benefits for the human body.

One of our first experiments with fermentation was with one of our beloved roots of all time, our farm-grown Lobak Putih (Daikon Radish) during our farm workshop. Here’s a few reasons why we love fermented food:

  • Rich in probiotic bacteria
  • Improves digestion and absorption
  • Boosts the availability of beneficial enzymes, vitamin B, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals such as iron and calcium
  • Helps build a better immune system
  • Long-lasting snack/food

Include more naturally fermented food in your diet and let us know if you want recipes of them!

Guess The Plant

Time for a plant guess! Do you know what this one is? Comment below 

Feast From Nature

Always try to eat fresh, whether it’s reducing fast food intake or eating what’s in season. The nature is abundant with produces that we can enjoy everyday. Spare some time to getting the freshest produce that you can get your hands on while you keep your lifestyle. That way, incorporating food from nature is more feasible.

Forest by The Farm

In the forest next to the land that we planted, we can find trees growing endlessly since a long time ago. There are nutmeg trees, fragrant cloves, teak trees and durian trees and some tea growing in the secluded corner. When you come to the forest, ask us to bring you there! It’s quite an amazing spot where you can enjoy a snippet of nature’s grandeur.

Lemongrass For a Better Sleep

Did you know that lemongrass has a great benefit for your night time sleep quality? Lemongrass has a relaxing effect on the brain and helps to relieve stress. It is also known to improve sleep pattern and insomnia. Perhaps a cup of lemongrass tea before sleeping tonight?

Random Finds: Leunca

Leunca is one of those plants that grow just anywhere. We would find leunca plants in random places in Blueboots Farm. The black one is the ripe one, but actually we would eat the unripe fruit, which is the green ones. Leunca is rather popular in Sundanese cuisine and is usually used in sambal or cooked with oncom. It pops in your mouth and gives a fresh note to a sambal. Yum!

Saving Seeds

Did you know how seeds are collected from edamame? During the dry season, we are saving the seeds from edamame naturally on the tree. This can only be done in the dry season, because too much rain and humidity will make the edamame to be rotten instead of producing seeds.

First of all we must decide which edamame plant we want to take the seeds from. Usually it would be the most healthy and productive among the lot because we want to pick the best ones for our next season. It takes about one month for the plant to dry out and produce seeds. When the edamame has turned yellow and dried out, it’s the time for us to harvest the seeds.

Liwetan at Blueboots Farm

Remember when we got some school kids visiting Blueboots Farm for their school outing? That time, we prepared Blueboots Farm liwetan for our lunch. It was one of the most fun lunches we have ever had at the farm. Almost everything was made from the farm’s produce, including the fresh lalapan, which you can see in the photo. The roots were even still there!

Perhaps it’s time again to do another round of liwetan at Blueboots Farm? Anyone keen to join us? 🙂

Lemongrass Remedy

Did you know that lemongrass is traditionally used to heal cold and cough. Carrying antibacterial and antifungal properties, lemongrass has been used widely to heal cold, cough and flu symptoms. It also has lots of vitamin C, which improves your immune system. We love to have it as lemongrass and honey tea when it looks like we are about to catch a cold.

A Farmer’s Glossary

When we started Blueboots Farm, to be honest, we barely knew any farming jargons. Sometimes we have to asked our farmers about what certain words mean and not rarely that we have to google what those farming jargons are. Here is a short glossary that we would love to share with you about Indonesian farming terms, which hopefully will be useful at least when you are talking to your gardener or getting some stuff from the gardening shop. So here goes our Local Wisdom section of A Farmer’s Glossary:

  1. Aklimatisasi: tahap perlakuan penyesuaian lingkungan tumbuh tanaman setelah dari persemaian ke tempat pembesaran.
  2. Cocopeat: Sebuk sabut kelapa / cacahan sabut kelapa.
  3. Dormansi: tahap dimana benih/bibit/bahan perbanyakan berhenti tumbuh karena lingkungan tumbuh yang tidak sesuai.
  4. Eradikasi: pemusnahan total tanaman yang terserang penyakit ataupun seluruh tumbuhan inang untuk membasmi suatu penyakit.
  5. Fungisida: obat untuk membunuh hama tanaman yang di sebabkan oleh fungi / jamur.
  6. Gulma: tumbuhan pengganggu tanaman utama atau tumbuhan yang bernilai negatif atau tidak dikehendaki kehadirannya.
  7. Pancaroba: masa peralihan antara dua musim utama di daerah iklim muson, yaitu di antara musim penghujan dan musim kemarau.
  8. POC: Pupuk Organik Cair.
  9. Pollen: benang sari/ serbuk sari / pejantan.
  10. Variegata: kelainan warna daun yang menyimpang dari warna aslinya (abnormal).