PERSONAL ESSY

The Delicate Art of Saving Fart Fruits

Another tale of nature’s rewards

My friend, also a senior coworker, who is staying in the office accommodation with me, suggested that it was time to clear the front yard. He believed it was already too late for that, but I was not in favor of his idea.

I explained that with the current hot conditions, weeding the front yard would increase the surrounding heat.

Frankly speaking, it is almost unbearable to spend the night without a fan these days. The dense vegetation may absorb some heat, and if we clear it out, the entire yard may burn out easily.

After some convincing, he agreed to postpone the clearing works for a few weeks.

Although the heat situation is a significant concern, I had another secret reason not to clear the front yard.

A few days ago, I noticed a familiar vine slithering in an area of the front yard. It was entwined with several others, so it was not easily visible. I happened to notice it purely by coincidence; otherwise, it would have gone unnoticed.

Some of you might know it as the Stinking Passion Flower or Bush Passion Fruit. However, for us, it is known as Del Batu [Nightshade with a mesh] or Pada Gedi [Fart Fruit], obviously due to the little green mesh around its fruits and the foul smell of its leaves, respectively.

It is said that this plant is not native to our country, but it is widespread all around the country. The flower is somewhat identical to a passion flower, and the fruit is exactly a miniature replica of a passion fruit. The only difference is the bright yellow color outer skin covered by a green mesh.

In our childhood, it was very common to find a vine in our yards, and we loved it. We used to pop these little fruits and suck them up.

So imagine my happiness to see this plant in our office-accommodation yard. I am perfectly sure that before the previous clearing, we didn’t have this plant in our yard. I don’t know where it came from, but at this point, I am not complaining.

My only goal was to save this plant until the fruit ripened. Even though I am reluctant to admit it, the ever-hated hot weather helped me this time with this task.

Otherwise, the front yard would have already been cleared, and I am sure it can’t be avoided simply because of this plant. It is practically impossible to save it during a cleaning process, as it has become entwined with other plants.

Today, I reaped the benefits of saving this vine. As a daily habit, I checked the status of the fruits and observed that they were starting to ripen. I found two of them. Though they didn’t satisfy my craving, they surely brought back nostalgic memories of early childhood.

It has the same taste, we enjoyed as little kids. After school or on weekends, we wandered here and there in search of these wild fruits. When we encountered a plant full of fruits, we collected them all and sat nearby with our harvest in the middle. Then we popped them and sucked them until we were satisfied.

Too bad, I don’t have many ripened fruits yet. I will have to wait for a few more days to have plenty of fruits for complete satisfaction.

Then I can share with them my friend while proudly showing off another benefit of postponing yard clearing for a few days, even better.

Honestly speaking, having uncleared vegetation in this hot weather is a help for many small animals. Perhaps nature decided to reward us with this plant in return. Whatever your reasons, thank you very much.