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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Moringa Farm New Year 2020 Update

It’s a new year and a new beginning for our farm as we continue to care for our moringa trees. Although we are experiencing a dry spell once again, it isn’t as bad as the one we experienced last year. Our trees did not shed much of their leaves, and there are new shoots from those trees that we cut back last rainy season.

It is natural for a tree to shed its leaves, but what we experienced last year was really bad that I thought I’ve lost my moringa trees. Turns out that Moringa is indeed a miracle tree. It can survive droughts better than other trees, and even though they might look like they’re dead, they’re not! They are survivors and grow back their leaves again.

Let’s talk about pruning moringa trees. Moringa is one of those trees that loves to be pruned. The more you cut them, the more they grow new shoots. We cut back just about 1,000 of our trees this year and we still have a lot of moringa trees that need to be cut back so we’ll do that again when the rainy season comes.

We have also bought a new 200-liter water drum, which we placed right in the middle of our nursery area so that it’s not difficult for the workers to water our seedlings. We’re planting more trees this year, and we have started growing various seedlings like graviola, chempedak (which is an indigenous tree here in Palawan called "badak" by the locals), jackfruit, rambutan, papaya, guava, among others.

Our banana trees also regularly give us bananas for our personal consumption, and yes, I’m happy that I will get to cook them again in many different ways.

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!

Malunggay - An Important Functional Food

The Philippine Technical Working Group identified moringa, also known as horse radish or malunggay in the Philippines, as one of the eight functional foods, along with coconut oil, coconut products, turmeric, seaweeds, root crops, local berries, pili, and edible mushrooms.

These functional foods were chosen because they contain one or more nutrients which are helpful in improving and supporting one's health and "may prevent risks for some certain disorders."

Source: Food and Nutrition Research Institute, DOST

What are these "certain disorders?" In this article published by the FNRI Digest on the first quarter of 2018, they pointed out that about 31% of Filipino adults suffer from obesity, 22% have high blood pressure, and about 6% have elevated blood sugar levels. In addition, 2 out of 10 Filipino adults also have high cholesterol levels. 

Consuming adequate amounts of functional foods like moringa and making them part of our regular diet is an effective strategy to maximize health and reduce disease risk. However, "functional foods" are not magic foods. The best way to live a healthy life is still through proper diet and maintaining a healthy body weight along with regular exercise, avoiding tobacco, and reducing stress.

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.

Uses of (Moringa) Malunggay Powder

MalunggayLife's Moringa Leaf Powder can be used in a variety of ways:

• Add moringa powder to any dishes, rice, soups and stews for a more nutritious meal.
• Sprinkle it on your salad. 
• Mix it with your favorite hot drinks like coffee, milk, or chocolate to give you that extra energy boost.
• Blend it with your fruit smoothies, juices, or shakes.
• Use it in baking bread, cookies, and other sweets and pastries.
• Make a warm cup of tea.

Malunggay Life Moringa Farm Updates

Our moringa trees have started growing more leaves! We have harvested almost all of the mature fruit from our malunggay trees, probably only about 10% still have fruits.

We harvest the leaves every week, and dry and process them on the same week so that our Moringa powder and capsules are always fresh.  

We also continue to plant more moringa seedlings so we can reach our goal of 10,000 new moringa trees by end of this year. At the moment, we have about 7,000~8,000 trees in the farm.

Our workers harvesting some leaves to be processed into moringa powder

We have covered the soil with plastic mulching so we can control weed growth.

Green, fresh, and healthy leaves~

We are constantly germinating, nursing, and planting more seedlings so we can reach our goal of 10,000 new trees by the end of this year.

Moringa Oil (Malunggay Oil) Benefits

Moringa Oil is extracted from the seeds of the Malunggay tree (moringa oleifera). The oil extracted from Moringa oleifera is also called Ben Oil because it has high amounts of behenic acid. Other species of Moringa can also produce Moringa oil, but they are not called Ben oil. This name is especially reserved for Moringa oleifera oil.

Benefits of Moringa Oil

• Has anti-aging properties
• Helps moisturize, brighten, and rejuvenate skin
• Has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties 
• Acts as a natural combatant against skin troubles and face blemishes
• Helps fight acne, black heads, and dark spots
• Helps strengthen hair
• Moisturizes dry scalp
• Helps reduce split ends and dandruff

Ongoing Construction of Vermicomposting Bed

We've started construction of our vermicomposting bed in the farm. This is actually a long overdue project, as we have been very busy taking care of MalunggayLife Agri Farm's business permits. We want our moringa farm to stay true to our principle of natural, organic farming, so instead of always buying animal manure from our sources, we have decided to make our own from worms.

Vermicomposting is a composting process that makes use of various species of worms. The end product, called vermicast, is rich in nutrients and loaded with microorganisms that are beneficial in creating and maintaining healthy soil.

Honestly, I am terrified of worms, and I don't know if I would ever be able to touch any of these worms with my bare hands. We'll see in the coming weeks.^^

Meanwhile, the rainy season has started, so our trees are beginning to grow more leaves again. We have stopped gathering leaves during the past months so we can gather all the seeds we will be using for this planting season. We've cut the trees back to a height of about a meter to encourage leaf growth once again.

Unfortunately, cogon also grows extremely well during the rainy season. Since we don't use herbicides, our farm workers have to manually pull out the grass. 

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.

Drying Malunggay (Moringa) Leaves

Immediately after harvesting the leaves, we transported them to our drying area. We harvested the leaves in the morning so we have plenty of time to sort and clean the leaves. Our workers then wash the leaves in water with salt solution to get rid of insects, dust, and dirt.

          

Air-drying the moringa leaves. We hang the leaves to dry in our drying area protected from sunlight, dust and pests.

Day 2 air drying. We hang them in net bags so that it is easier to remove the leaves off the stems.

First Malunggay (Moringa) Leaf Harvest

We started planting moringa seeds in February this year, transplanted the young seedlings in April, and now we are harvesting for the first time. We harvested a total of 700 trees, but we forgot to weigh how much fresh leaves we were able to harvest. We will weigh the leaves next time we harvest again. 

1. Pruning and harvesting at the same time

2. Trimming selected branches. We left some branches for our next harvest.

3. Transporting the leaves to our drying area

Moringa Leaves Drying Room

Moringa leaves should never be dried under the sun. Sun drying strips the moringa leaves of Vitamins A and C, Folic Acid, and essential B vitamins. In addition, the chlorophyll which is responsible for the antioxidant benefits we get from consuming moringa leaves is reduced when the leaves are sun dried.

The best way to dry moringa leaves is to dry them first in a clean facility, away from direct sunlight and protected from rodents, insects, and dust.

Since we are in the testing stage, we made a small drying room where we can dry the moringa leaves.

Our drying room is a construction in progress. We will paint the floor of this drying area to prevent concrete dusting and install doors soon.