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Showing posts from 2024

Jewels of Opar

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One of my more interesting Carousell buys was a small edible plant that thrives in full sun, known as Jewels of Opar or Java Ginseng (土人参). I was pretty sold on growing a ‘ginseng’ and harvesting it in years to come. Its leaves are edible but honestly I haven’t tried it before. But my cat attempted eating it and I think it wasn’t delicious enough for him.  It blooms beautifully in the tropical Singapore climate though! It came as a surprise and really helped me to see myself in a new light. I might not be good at most things but I’m really pretty good at growing this.  Look at their adorable little roots!  I should have just eaten because I realised the number of health benefits. It can help to lower blood glucose levels, more importantly, induce lactation (accordingly to this study ). It might have saved me from that painful engorgement as my breastmilk production delayed for 7 days CRIES.  Unfortunately as I packed my bags to shift into my new BTO, I didn’t manage ...

How I got into propagating byblis

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Few years back I was really into balcony gardening because I had quite a bit of free time when working from home and work life was generally chill. I also had a balcony that was not really aesthetic at my old place, but I knew it’s something that I could never have back in my new BTO so… I met up with a Carouseller to buy a byblis plant because I thought it would be perfect for my living conditions and hopefully catch annoying mosquitoes since I did not want to use bug sprays in case my cat accidentally inhales it somehow.  So Byblis plant is a carnivorous plant that grows up to 30cm tall, it starts out erect and eventually became lazy and weak so it becomes trailing. Its characteristics reminds me of myself because I just get lazier and lazier these days.  It’s a really hardy plants that caught me so many random tiny bugs. It even produced flowers and I didn’t even do anything much. Standing strong and catching lots of tiny pests I’m such a frugal person- I even propagated it...

It might be the most wonderful time of the year

After a really long stretch of absence, I’m finally and tentatively back once again in this personal space that brings back a wide range of feelings- ranging from wistful to pure cringe.  A decade has passed and there has been so many changes that made me gasp at how fast time actually passed.  A decade ago, I doubt my ability to adult. (I did and past me would be impressed at how far I’ve come.) A decade ago, my metabolism was fire 🔥 (I’m still struggling with my postpartum pooch) A decade ago, my health and fitness level was decent. (I’m very shocked about my subclinical hyperthyroidism diagnosis) A decade ago, I keep thinking I’m just a baby and Now I have a real baby!  These days I’m really really happy and my heart is so full that I can cry because idk what I did to deserve so much happiness. I thought I should update this space and record this moment, so I could look back one day when I’m even older and remember how great it is today, and hold this moment close to ...