DQ Farm (est. 1991)

In 2005 we posted on preventive measures one can take against Avian Flu.  The strategies are still valid against A(H1N1).  To read the post, click here:

http://dqfarm.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/09/26/preventiv... . 

We no longer teach Qi Gong (one of the strategies), so if you are keen, you can join a local class in your neighbourhood.

Also, there have been numerous reports that TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) preparations for flu are effective against A(H1N1).  Visit a reputable centre such as Tung Shin.

 

I have this thing about Darkness.  So we decided to build a spot of darkness in a corner of the farm; a spot dedicated to dark colored plants.  Plants with dark leaves, dark flowers, dark tubers.

The plants will be grown in a raised bed with a Permaculture key-hole design.

 

Lay out the design with the key-hole (used for walking  when tending the garden)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build up the wall; how high depends on how deep-rooted the plants are. (These are left-over clay bricks from the walit house).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put in the planting material; here, dead leaves, some very old broken down chicken manure, some soil etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then add in the compost and the plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then mulch it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we have only completed planting just one corner while we hunt for more dark plants.  We planted some aroids from the jungle, such as this (haven't got the name yet. Click for close-up). :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a Tacca Chantrieri from the jungle, which flower is black (Click on photo for close-up) :

 

 

 

Photo of the Tacca flower from here

 

Once the garden is matured, perhaps we can sip dark pu erh tea and savour it with a melancholic Stratovarius playing in the background.

We were quite happy with our 71kg of pumpkins from the trial 35ft x 10ft 'no-dig' patch. 

 

 

 

 

From that first pilot, we have decided it may be more efficient all-round to grow pumpkins in raised-beds.  Here's a couple of pictures of our pumpkin raised-bed patch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we are not advocating using clay bricks for the raised-beds.  We happened to have some left over from the walit house.  

You can also use bamboo as the next picture illustrates:

 

 

 

 

It will be interesting to know the overall cost-effectiveness of this 'raised-bed' method for growing pumpkins in terms of energy and effort used, production, etc.