More, More Moringa Harvest

Mixing the moringa leaves while they are air dried is important so the leaves will dry easily.

It's finally rainy season! Rainy season for us means more moringa leaf harvest. More leaf harvest means more moringa dried leaves and powder that we can process further into various products.

Harvest day. This is just one of those days when we harvest moringa leaves....

This is Jemboy busy getting leaves that will be further sorted by our leaf sorters in the processing facility.

Moringa leaves still attached to the stems. They will be placed in the plastic crates afterwards.

Moringa harvest now being loaded to our three wheels.

Careful unloading of freshly harvested moringa leaves from the farm.

Gle, our farm staff unloading the harvested moringa leaves. The sorting ladies can't wait to get their hands on those leaves!

The leaf sorters now busy at work sorting bad moringa leaves and stripping the good ones.

Moringa leaf sorting and stripping in progress

Serious at work. Look at how fresh those moringa leaves are!

Moringa leaf harvest on another day.

Moringa leaves are mechanically dried using a dehydrator after air drying them.

               

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Effect of Rainy Season on Moringa Trees... and other farm updates!

Due to the extended dry season this year, we weren't able to harvest a lot of leaves during the past months. With the rainy season finally on its way and with the southwest monsoon during the past few days, our moringa trees are once again healthy and producing many leaves. 

With the onset of the rainy season, we may be able to harvest about 80-100 kilograms of fresh leaves per month and more after we plant more trees this year.

Some of our trees still bear moringa fruit. When these fruits dry up, we can use them again for planting more trees.

Our lemongrass, one of our natural ways to control pest in the farm, 
is also growing fast! Thanks to the rains

This is our vermicomposting area where we take care of vermiworms.

We have four vermicomposting beds where we prepare 
the worms' food in advance.

Look! A baby worm!

Our farm worker harvesting the first worm casting

We don't want our "babies" to go hungry, so we plant banana trees and madre de cacao in the farm and prepare them as food for our worms. 

Moringa Harvest Day

It's moringa harvest day! We have been finding ways to combat the dry spell here in Palawan for the past months, and today, we are finally able to harvest some leaves for drying.

We use organic and natural fertilizers and pesticides on our trees and plants in the farm, so our moringa trees produce leaves in smaller amounts, BUT in the long term, we are contributing to the protection of the environment. :)

We don't let our trees grow higher than 3 meters, so that it is easy for us to reach the stems for harvesting. 

Fresh, green, all natural and organically-grown moringa leaves ready for drying!

Moringa For Diet and Weight Loss

If you're looking for ways to  lose weight, taking moringa supplements might be beneficial for you.

Moringa has high levels of B vitamins, which are great metabolism boosters. B vitamins can help support and promote a more efficient metabolism. An efficient metabolism burns more calories, which can help if you want to lose weight. Moringa may help get rid of fats and waste faster because it stimulates metabolism and helps the body digest food quicker.

In addition, because moringa is rich in nutrients, it can provide our body with essential vitamins like Vitamin A and C, calcium, and protein, which can give our body more energy and curb our cravings for junk food.

Moringa is also high in fiber. Fresh moringa leaves and moringa supplements in the form of powder, capsules, or tea offer varying amounts of fiber. Adding lots of fiber like moringa into your diet is another natural solution to cravings, which could help you meet your weight loss needs.

Eating lots of leafy vegetables is necessary to improve and maintain one's weight and diet. Leaves such as spinach and moringa can make you feel full longer, while also keeping your calorie intake low. It is therefore easier to maintain a healthy diet without experiencing cravings for high-calorie foods.

Moringa supplements like powder, tea, or capsules are in concentrated form and will provide the body the same amount of vitamins and nutrients present in fresh leafy greens. If you're not into eating veggies, taking supplements everyday is a quick and easy way to gain all the nutrients your body needs.

The Nutritious Moringa - Benefits of Taking Moringa

Moringa contains high levels of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. What's great about moringa is that unlike multivitamins that are mechanically processed in laboratories, moringa is an all natural source of vitamins, minerals, protein, antioxidants, and other important substances that our body needs to stay healthy.  It is a powerhouse of nutrients, which is why nutritionists around the world consider moringa a superfood!

Moringa has Vitamin A (beta carotene), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (Niacin), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), Vitamin B7 (Biotin), Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol), Vitamin E (Tocopherol) and Vitamin K.

Moringa also contains significant amounts of chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous and zinc. In addition, moringa has 9 out of 10 essential amino acids, which our body needs to grow, repair, and maintain cells.

Fresh harvest: Moringa Seeds and Leaves

It's been a while since I posted my last update about our moringa (malunggay) farm.

We haven't been harvesting leaves because we wanted to find out how long it takes before a tree produces moringa pods, and also be able to produce our own moringa seeds that we can plant in our farm.

Planting seeds that came from our own farm means we are 100% sure the seeds are also organic since we only use organic and natural fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides in our farm.

   

Moringa flowers started blooming in the farm early January

The trees started bearing moringa pods early February.

Moringa pods, freshly harvested from the farm and ready for planting!

Healthy moringa seeds

This will supply us with more than enough seeds we need to plant more moringa trees!

We couldn't harvest leaves from those trees that bear fruit, but we were able to get some moringa leaves from those trees that don't have moringa pods. 

Dried Malunggay (Moringa) Leaves and Powder

Our second harvest! This time, we harvested malunggay (moringa) leaves from 400 malunggay trees in our farm! It's the second time we harvested and dried malunggay (moringa) leaves straight from our farm. To maintain the freshness of the moringa leaves, we wash, dry and process them immediately after harvesting. 

Dried Moringa Leaves

Dried Moringa Leaves

Dried Moringa Leaves, ready for processing into tea

Moringa Powder ready for consumption!

Mechanical Drying of Malunggay (Moringa) Leaves

Three days after air drying, our malunggay (moringa) leaves are ready for mechanical hot air drying. Humidity these days is very high due to the rainy season, so we spread out the moringa leaves that have been stripped off the stems on trays to make sure the moringa leaves dry completely. 

The finished product: Dried moringa leaves! These leaves can now be made into powder, added to any food or beverage, or any meal to make it more nutritious.