Took a break from Internet over Long Holiday

I can't say it is total break, but I did minimise my time on my laptop while listening YouTube....

Of course, I didn't just listen to YouTube, I had a lot of things done with my eyes away from the screen...

Especially dealing with a falling apart terrarium box that was blessed to my family right before the pandemic started.

One of the reason that my vege have been getting over-and-over-again mealybug attacks was the terrarium box's cover was already so worn out that it no longer provide a protective environment for the Brazilian Spinach to thrive and struggling of loss of water as well.

So I took the effort to travel the other side of the city to get 2 boxes from the warehouse that I spotted while getting some essence of Chicken for my mom's recover.

Instead of having another gigantic terrarium box, I have decided to split its soil into 2 slightly smaller sizes and hoping to ease more space at the tight balcony that I have. I am glad that they have transparent ones; as they are a lot harder to find compared to solid coloured plastic boxes.

Since they are regular boxes, "manual breathing holes" for the terrarium must be made and I try to create an extra hole for better water disperse if the soil was too wet.

Hence, the "migration" begins

Along the way I found some happy little "helpers" in the soil, that I am glad that the soil is still "fertilized naturally".

However I wasn't very sure what these "white spots" in the soil were. I was worried that these could be the mealybug "underground nests" and decided to remove them along the process.

Some of the terrarium bottles still had very healthy Brazilian Spinach cuttings and I have harvested the healthiest I could find as saplings for the new terrarium box, and discard quite a bit of plants that were full of mealy bugs.

Right before transferring to the new box I have to keep them hydrated as the weather is still very humid and warm despite it has been cloudy all the time.

After a long and patient planting, the new boxes are all planted with (as healthy as I can find) cuttings from current and other boxes that were not infested with mealybugs.

So what happened to the old decaying box?

Not every single part of the box was brittle. I had to patiently drill holes just to create a line in order for me to saw through into tinier pieces so that I can pack it all up nicely in the garbage back before throwing away as trash.

It actually took me a full hour just to dismantle enough smaller pieces to pack up. That was definitely lots of calories burnt during the process!

After finishing planting the new cuttings, all the other vege in the old terrarium box that are excess or infested, I didn't want to just throw them away. I used a special vegetable wash that could kill off all the mealybugs (while drowning them in the tub) so that I can harvest the healthy leaves for salad.

Glad that they are still super yummy as salad! Well it doesn't look like a proper meal but I was so tired I just air-fried some minced fresh fish nuggets and crab stick for dinner. I must say the taste was better than it looks. haha.

And this was just one part of the many parts of my long holiday celebrating Eid, with lots of unwinding from the busy life with fresh air, sweat and some good sun (by the balcony)

I know that not every single part of the world had a long holiday in the beginning of May; however, how would you spend your time when you have an opportunity to replenish from tiredness?

For me, nothing beats a touch of the soil and the sight for sore eyes greens. Tiring, but still worth it.

Happy Eid (Hari Raya) to all the Muslim friends here and let the month long celebration begins!

(Well, at least for people in Malaysia here haha.... especially weekends!)