Balik Kampung Part 2 - Red Dragon Fruit Farm

I have seen this farm a couple of times already but I never thought of going there. Most of the time we would just head right to Gerik Town. Back then the dragon fruit trees were still young and I don't think they produced any fruits.

My parents and aunt wanted to get some dragon fruits, so we went to the farm. My aunt and cousin were there the day before, so they knew piles of dragon fruit was on sale.

The small concrete shade was located very near to the main road. You would be able to see it provided you don't drive too fast.

Both of the old folks are the dragon fruit farm owners, Mr & Mrs. Tham. At first, they started out small but failed. Now they are successfully cultivating a piece of 10+ acres land, solely producing Red Dragon Fruits (龙珠果 / 火龙果).

Mr. Tham (谭木) constantly replenishes the piles of fruit on the table and would call for the lorry to carry more to the shade if they run out of the fruits.

The dragon fruits here were separated into 3 grades - A, B & C.
Grade A - RM7 each kilo
Grade B - RM6 each kilo
Grade C - RM5 each kilo

If you want larger sized ones, just ask from them. They cost RM8 each kilo. Very cheap right???

Endless Dragon Fruit Trees.

Rubber tree estate beside the fruit farm. Reminds me of all those leeches sucking the blood out of me during NS *shivers*

The grass seems short eh? No long lalang or whatsoever. They cut the grass themselves and never ever used a drop of pesticide. If they do the trees would be ruined and won't live for long. That explained their first failure. When the land is contaminated, it cannot sustain the crop anymore. Thus, they had to move (to their current farm).
I am sure many of us only saw the ripe fruit but never knew about the growing process. I was fortunate to be able to document it as there were so many trees growing in various stages :D

Here is how it all started. Again, I manage to capture a dragon fruit tree stem with 3 flower buds :)

A slightly developed dragon fruit flower bud. Ants all over...must be very sweet...hehehe

Fully developed Dragon Fruit flower pod.

The flower bloomed beautifully. No flower scent tho. Too hot probably. If not mistaken, one would be able to detect the flower scent at night, around 8pm.

I'd also heard the flowers can be turned into tea after being dried or the stems can be eaten. Not very sure but I did remember a dragon fruit farm owner in Johor stir fried a dish out of a certain part of the tree.

Anyway, they looked lovely. It reminds me never to take things for granted and appreciate the simplest things in life. We won't be able to enjoy bright blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds for long :S

After the flower wilts, fruit starts to develope and grow into green coloured fruits like the picture below.

Half riped Dragon Fruit.

Although, red in colour, the fruit was not entirely ripe yet.

When the dragon fruits are ripe, they look something like the picture below.

To determine the fruit is sweet or not, you have look at its shape. Round ones would be sweeter and the fruit's end must have cracks. Those cracks shows that the dragon fruit is fully ripe.

The farm size is about 15 acres and I heard that the farm was located beside the Perak River.

Before reaching somewhat the end of the farm, I get to see some other animals like ducks and geese :D First time seeing a live one right in front of me.

However being a city girl, I never knew my situation at that time was dangerous as those geese can bite me anytime :S They were already in attack mode. I did not run (lucikly!) and continued snapping photos :P I only knew further about the geese when I met my aunty back at hometown.

The land was very fertile indeed. Just look at the papaya tree! I never seen so many papayas in one tree before :D

I can imagine how juicy and sweet they would be when they are ripe...

After the papaya tree, I reached the end and it turns out to be a slope. Another 150+ metres, you can dive into the cooling waters of Perak River but of course I didn't. There wasn't enough time, so I didn't walk further.

The view was great. I was glad that I dragged myself there. Initially I didn't feel like walking that far (200 metres from the farm entrance) and the sun was super hot! >.< Here's a video I'd compiled.



Great view was one thing, walking back all the way back to the entrance was another! >,< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hr3acwTEpOo/Si8ss4XmWwI/AAAAAAAAB14/aYZx_XJGtCA/s1600-h/dragon+fruit+stalks.jpg">They also have cili padi trees. Sometimes, they would pick them and sell them in small packets for RM1. Cheap right?

These are the really super hot cili padi variety. Seldom see them in Penang. The cili padi is much more fragrant compare to the regular cili padi.

We bought a lot of dragon fruits (2kg+, mixes of grade A & B) and it cost about RM50. With the bulk purchase and mom telling Mr.Tham that his farm will be featured in my blog, he cut up a small dragon fruit for me :)

Freshly picked, freshly cut and freshly eaten :D Hahaha!

Very juicy and the taste was much better than those bought from other fruit stalls.

Again, Mr. Tham do not depend on pesticides and the red dragon fruits were grown naturally. The trees are already 2 years old and still bear loads of fruits.

Its pretty difficult to pin point the farm's location but I would try to describe it.

Location:
15-20 minutes from Jambatan Raja Dr Nazrin Shah (Tasik Raban, Lenggong, Perak)
Along the highway to Gerik.

Happy reading~

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