 
This is a journal of my small garden. I am a Malaysian but for the time being reside in Waterloo, Canada, about 2 hours drive from Niagara Falls. I love gardening but have no chance so far to have my real garden. But I will make the best of what I have now, a balcony. The balcony is facing South-East, should be the best position of all except for the cluster of apartment at the south which has successfully blocked most of the scarce sunlight my plants need. The only direct light they get is from the early morning sun up to 11 am during summer, and about 2 hours of morning sun in spring and fall. When I was a small child, we lived in a small village in Sabak Bernam, Malaysia. Our house was fragile and small, built on a small piece of land that we once owned. But the land around us was so vast. The main crops were coconut and cocoa. Mosquitoes was the main enemy, they were everywhere. I remember my mother planted topiocas, eggplants, cucumbers, pumpkins, long beans and chillies around the house. There was no running water nor electricity. But there were plenty of firewoods for the stove, and we use gasoline for the lamps. We also had several chickens and roosters. They were reared under the house, surrounded by a string of chicken wires. During the day, they were free to roam about the land. To us the children, life was easy and carefree .... but for our mother, it was a lot of non-stop hardworks. When I was seven, my family moved out to Klang, a big town further south, to search for a better life. My father was not a keen farmer, he preferred to be somebody else. So he became a security guard and lasted until he retired at 55. My mother did some odd jobs, she had worked in a bakery {which I loved most), and also several others which were dangerous, poisonous, and abusive. Our day to day lives was difficult, but in term of education we were very grateful. My mom always reminded us that they had nothing to give us except education. I have been in Canada for about 3 years now, another year to go. I am a stay at home mom, my husband goes to a graduate school, and we have two beautiful children. Another one is under way. I decided to keep this journal after purchasing a grape plant which, as a Malaysian, seems so exotic. I wanted to watch it grows, to wonder even at a small development, and to make it my best gardening memory in Canada. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Border Courtesy of Susan Duncan English
Bahasa Melayu
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