‘A bad neighbour is as great a calamity as a good one is a great advantage.’
– Hesiod, ancient Greek poet.
Do you know a feedlot in Bangi, Selangor has reported the deaths of 20 head of beef cattle due to heat stress brought about by the hot weather in Malaysia currently?
Feedlot manager Muhammad Zubir Mohamed told Bernama that each of the cattle which died weighed around 180 to 250 kilogrammes and was valued at around RM4,300. The deaths of the cattle caused him to lose nearly RM100,000.
In the past, Muhammad would bathe his cattle once a day in the morning but now he bathes them twice a day.
Now, his cattle are also drinking twice the amount of water.
The heat stress is also affecting one of my pet dogs, Cookie. I used to bathe the fluffy male mongrel once a week but recently, it was panting so badly that I had to bathe it for the second time in one week.
Like the cattle in the feedlot in Selangor, my dogs are also drinking more water than they used to. Now, I find I have to refill the water in their drinking bowl every day.
The hot weather is also affecting the plants in my garden. Many are dehydrated and have wilted although I water them every day.
I love marigolds and used to have three or four pots of these colourful and pest-resistant blooms at the front gate.
Yesterday, I found one pot of the marigolds had withered while the other pots did not look too good. Yet, I have been watering them every night after work and sometimes in the morning before I leave for the office.
I find that the soil in the pots has also hardened. This happens even though I put mulch (materials such as decaying leaves, bark, or compost) around the plants to enrich them and insulate the soil.
On my next day off, to keep my marigolds and other plants healthy, I have to repot them with fresh soil.
On reflection, maybe my plants are affected not only by heat stress but also because they have used many of their soil nutrients and organic materials.
I learn from a gardening blog on the internet that ideally, we should change the soil in our potted plants every two years.
When the soil becomes depleted and hard, it will not be able to hold water or nutrients any more.
My friends, I am very happy because a kind young neighbour and his wife have just given me three big pails of black fertile soil from their garden.
Not so long ago, this young couple, who lives in a house directly opposite mine, began cultivating a vegetable garden in the front yard of their house.
An introvert by nature, at first, I admired their vegetable garden from afar. I could not help noticing the long bean vines curling around their fence.
One day, as they worked on the soil outside their fence, I took up the courage to greet them and ask them what they were planting.
“Brinjals,” answered the wife politely. “My mother gave me these plants.”
“Oh … so they were just replanting the brinjal plants,” I told myself. The plants looked very strong while the leaves were very big.
I also learnt that her mother was a vegetable planter.
When I commented how fertile their soil looked, both husband and wife asked me if I wanted some for my plants.
I was surprised by their offer and quickly accepted it. The next day, when I came home after a shopping trip, two big pails of black soil were waiting for me in front of my gate.
After I promptly repotted the plants in my backyard with the soil they gave me so that I could give them back their pails, the young couple continued to give me some more soil.
Needless to say, I am grateful to them for being so generous. Usually, I have to buy my soil from a gardening shop at the 4th Mile, Penrissen Road, Kuching.
In return, I plucked some ‘cangkok manis’ (botanical name: Sauropus androgynous) from my garden and gave it to the young couple.
The popular local leafy green vegetable is delicious when stir-fried with egg or dried anchovies. All my nephews and nieces love to eat ‘cangkok manis.’ I hope the couple and their young son love it too.
Although the young man and his family have lived in the house opposite mine for over 30 years, I did not talk to him until recently.
I did not know when he got married but I knew he had a son. The lovable boy, who’s around eight years old, always calls me “Po, Po” (grandmother) whenever he sees me. Sometimes he asks me, “Are you going to work?”
My friends, one lesson I have learnt is that it is never too late for us to get to know our neighbours. We can start by approaching them to say hello.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
