Mama's Garden of Life

Good Day! Hello, Hivers! This is J, and in this blog, I am going to share the hard work of my parents, specifically my mama, in her garden located at the back of our house.

So, why am I entitled to this blog, Mama's Garden of Life? Here is the reason for the Garden of Life: it helps us to survive every day. Living nowadays would cost a lot; inflation here and there is what a survival life needs. Dig up there and here, water and there.

In typical provincial life, my mother or father would water the veggies during the morning and afternoon. We have this water hose to water the plants without hassle. My parents invested time in making the plants so healthy. My parent's garden consists of bitter gourd, also known as Ampalaya, sponge gourd (sikwa), long beans (batong), eggplant (talong), spinach (agbate), lady's finger (okra), lemon grass (tanglad), Moringa oleifera (malunggay left), and squash (kalabasa). Which can be used in several dishes. Those veggies were not just for our daily food; my mother also sells veggies if the harvest is large. So let us start getting to know the famous Ampalaya.

Bitter Gourd or Ampalaya
Scientific name: Momordica charantia
This vegetable is naturally bitter and typically grows in Asia. People usually eat these veggies due to having anemia, which can cause dizziness, which I believe can increase the blood cells as well as diabetes since it is not sweet to intake. Bitter melon contains fiber, vitamin C, folate, and vitamin A. Bitter melon is easy to prepare, and we usually cook it in tiny pieces with eggs.

Sponge gourd or Sikwa
Scientific name: Luffa aegyptiaca
This vegetable grows on a climbing herbaceous vine. When young, it has smooth, green skin with ridges or ridge lines running over the fruit's surface. The seeds are also edible since they are smooth, but they are typically removed before the flesh is consumed. The inside flesh of a sponge gourd is smooth and creamy white. Sponge gourd has a gentle and smooth texture. Mature fruits are fibrous, bitter, and brown, making them unpleasant to eat. We usually cook it with sardines, but you can also use it when it has dried up as a bath sponge.

Long beans or batong
Scientific name: Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis
This vegetable is planted using beans and grows on a vine. We usually cook this in adobo style, with or without meat. It tastes good, especially if you put in a lot of soy sauce. These beans may help regulate blood sugar levels with oil because oil is the favorite of hypertension, which is also a good source of protein. We can't eat most of it, which is why my mother sells it to our neighbors.

Eggplant or Talong
Scientific name: Solanum melongena
This veggie is my favorite and easy to plant as well. You just need the seeds and monitor them, and they will start to grow. The hassle part is that the ant will live on its body and leave. Every time my mother harvested these plants, She would always assign me the task of cooking them. You can cook anything with eggplant. In soup, fried, or maybe grilled. My favorite thing to do with eggplant is to cook it in adobo style.

Spinach or Agbate
Scientific name: Spinacia oleracea
A green, leafy vegetable that can be produced in the spring and fall. Its leaves are slimy when pressed. I enjoy playing the little circle. There are several health advantages and antioxidant characteristics because it includes a high concentration of phenolic or flavonoid components, which are mostly found in the leaves and peak in the summer. As a result, I wasn't fond of spinach, but now I eat it regularly. There is no room for being a picky eater.

Lady's finger or okra
Scientific name: Abelmoschus esculentus
The slimy veggies. Typically consumed as vegetables, the extract of the pods also functions as a thickening additive in several recipes for soups and sauces to boost their viscosity. functions as a particularly high supply of vitamins and carbs, which are also recognized as essential dietary elements of the meals. I love it when I eat it with vinegar and other herbs.

Lemon grass or tanglad
Scientific name: Cymbopogon
Grass is commonly used as an herb in tropical countries, particularly in Asia. A grass that smells great would remove the fishy smells from your dish. Also used to flavor dishes. We used it when cooking soup.

Moringa or Malunggay left
Scientific name: Moringa oleifera
The top of the pyramid when cooking a vegetable soup, also known as utan in my dialect, Moringa is a plant endemic to the Philippines. It contains proteins, vitamins, and minerals, making it effective in combating malnutrition. It is inexpensive and simple to grow, and when dried, it maintains a high level of nutritional content.

Squash or Kalabasa
Scientific name: Cucurbita
This is the other type of squash due to its size. Where you can also eat the seed. The snack called dragon seeds is also my favorite salted dried squash seeds. Squash is a very complicated vegetable for plants. When the flower is already blooming you have to find another flower that has its opposite to yours or I call it gender, Locals would call it male and female. Pakbit is my favorite squash dish.

Do they also have a siling spada or a chili sword? That's what they called a tomato as well. Hence, it saddened me that the heat index slowly dried up some of my parents's plants. When one vine also bore its fruits, it would die naturally after that, so my parents needed to set aside some seeds to plant again. The hard work of my mama and papa planting these crops helps us live, especially if we don't have any food to eat. We just check out our garden and find something to cook. My mother has a green thumb. Since we also had cows, we naturally used their poop as organic manure.

My parents also found a snake in our garden, how scary.
Anyway, My blog about my mama's garden ends here, thank you so much for reading it. Until next time.

Adios, Hivers!