My First Fiddle Leaf

Getting your first indoor plant can be very exciting and sometimes you can get very carried away with it because you don’t really understand the practices to keep it healthy. Locally, one of the most loved indoor plant species is Fiddle Leaf Fig.  They have been popping up all over magazines, blogs, Instagram feeds, and just plain all over for the last couple of years. It is now considered as the new “it” house decor item and you just can’t help buy yourself one to make your house look more chic and alive. To know how to properly care for this crowd favorite plant, here are some guidelines.

Water regularly but not too much. No question that all plants need water but fiddles can be picky. It doesn’t need very much water and overwatering this plant is no good. Once you’ve had it for a couple of weeks, you’ll soon understand a watering schedule it needs. Check the topsoil if the top inch is dry, then go ahead and water it. This is usually once a week.

Check the water temperature. Plants in general hate extremely cold water, especially fiddles. Use lukewarm or room temperature instead. 

Carefully choose the light. Of course, all plants need light but fiddles need indirect light. They don’t need to be placed in an area where there is direct sunlight. No direct rays hitting them.

Rotate on a regular basis. This is so that the stem will wingback the other way towards the light and straighten out. 

Wipe the leaves. This helps so much. When leaves are too dusty, they aren’t able to soak up all the sun and nutrients they need. Leaves are important breathing devices of plants so keep them free of dust by wiping them with a damp cloth.

Look for brown spots, which may be caused by overwatering or not enough water! When a brown spot occurs, it can develop into a whole in the leaf. Take scissors and trim around it. 

Be cautious about draft and humidity. The location of your fiddle plant will determine the amount of water and sunlight it needs. Try to keep the plant away from an air vent or drafty window. 

Watch the roots. If you notice roots coming out of the bottom of the pot, then it’s a sign that you need to repot or root prune it. If you’re not sure how to root prune, then just get a larger pot.

Taking care of your first fiddle leaf or any indoor plant requires a lot of patience. If these tips got you excited then, start searching where to buy indoor plants in Davao or just type Davao online plants. Fiddle plants are now available in Malagos Homegrown Produce. Check out their website malagoshomegrownproduce.com today!

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Self Care Rituals You Can Do At Home

While we are constantly taking care of other people, thinking of all the stress and anxiety this whole pandemic is causing plus resolving all the personal problems we have in mind, taking care of ourselves might not be the priority all the time. Sometimes we forget to pamper ourselves and end up compromising the most important things like peace of mind. When it comes to times like these, aside from thinking about other people that matter to us, it is also crucial to learn how to care for ourselves. In connection to that, here are some self-care tips you can do to take care of yourselves.

1. Spend some quiet time with yourself.

Too many times, we simply rush out of bed and the first thing we do is face our problems and sleep with another set of things that worries us. Then the cycle goes on as we face it again the other day, leaving no time for ourselves. But just so you know, it has never been a waste of time to pause for a while and spend some time with yourself, rather it is beneficial to your mind. You can do some journaling, write down the things that worry you, and you'll be surprised how much relief you will have when you simply take a moment to reflect.

2. Have an exercise.

One way of caring for yourself is to also do something that stimulates your mood-lifting hormones, which is exercising particularly. When it comes to dealing with stress exercising is always the way to go, it has always been fail-free in relieving stress and giving peace of mind to people.

3. Pause for a while and take a deep breath.

When things get worse and it's seemingly impossible to deal with, breathe. Breathe for a while and take time to think. Reflect and pause for a moment and you'll simply find the peace of mind to start facing it again.

4. Pamper yourself.

Also, never forget to pamper yourself. Maybe you've been working too hard and have been too tight on yourself. Loosen up! Have a pampering bath, do the things you love, have some sleep if you want. You can even do yourself some makeover too. It's always up to you!

5. Indulge with comforting snacks.

When it comes to self-care as much as exercising helps, well so does eating. Indulging into your favorite comfort foods is always the way to go. Soak to its comfort, that's one of the times when you forget about your problems and just dig into it.

As for me, I also do these 5 things too. I exercise, spend time with myself, breathe for a while, pamper myself, and indulge into comfort foods. Of all these, one of the things I've always loved to do is to cook and just munch up with my favorites. Good thing, I can easily purchase healthy ingredients for snacks online. With the help of a Davao online grocery and delivery called Instakart, I get to buy almost anything that I need without stepping out of my home. It lets me shop by just clicking my phone. On where to buy snack ingredients near me, nothing really beats Instakart in terms of comfort and affordability. They also deliver fast too. All along, this has been such a great help to my self-care routine.

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Why I am an avid fan of Instakart

Even before the onset of the pandemic, online stores are already taking the lead among industries nowadays as it provides people convenience while shopping. Meanwhile, as the COVID pandemic has made going out risky, online shopping has climbed itself up from being a leisure into a necessity as stay at home restrictions were implemented. 

Like many people, I am also one of those who made a switch from the usual shopping method to online. I am one of those whose health- consciousness had been heightened because of the threat Covid-19 poses against our health. Since going out is risky, not to mention that it is a total hassle, I have decided to switch for the better which is to buy my needs while I'm at home. At first, I thought that online stores wouldn't be of much use for me as a mom. After all, they'd just be selling fashion items and other things I won't need since there are a lot more things to buy such as COVID essentials and other necessities. As much as I want to stay safe at home, I would have to go out from time to time since I need to do groceries on a regular basis. And since online stores just sell fashion items, I know I won't be able to put my trust in it to spare me from going out. 

However, all these misconceptions were made clear as I stumbled upon a grocery and delivery called Instakart. Never have I thought that my phone can serve me this well. When I checked out the site, there it is, a complete list of products I need. I was really delighted with the fact that I can do my task of doing groceries at home too. 

Ever since I have tried buying grocery items at Instakart, I have become an avid fan of their outstanding service. First of all, It was the wide array of their product that saved me from going out to public places. Even condiments are available, kitchen essentials, and everything a typical supermarket would have. 

Also, there is an evident shortage of COVID essentials on brick and mortar stores nowadays, but because of Instakart, I get access to COVID essentials without the hassle of going out. What's even more interesting is that they offer disinfectant bundles too so I can save much. 

As what has been mentioned, the wide array of product selection is impressive, from home, kitchen essentials, they also have a comprehensive range of COVID essentials such as cleansing wipes, Lysol, alcohol, face shield, and masks. 

This local online supermarket is really convenient for me and I won't have to go to multiple places just to buy items because it's the all-in-one store I can trust. It is where to buy Lysol near me, and other products at an amazingly affordable price. Instakart, my trusted online grocery and delivery, is really impressive and nothing beats it when it comes to service reliability, product quality, and affordability. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone!

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Stay at Home with These Food and Beverage Kits

Although quarantine restrictions have eased now that most cities and municipalities are under Modified General Community Quarantine, cases are still on the rise with first local transmissions being reported in areas where there used to be confirmed cases from locally stranded individuals and overseas Filipino workers only. It is even more important now to stay at home when you can, and while you’re at it stay homegrown by filling up your body with nutritious but delicious food that can help boost your immune system and fight COVID-19. Here are some food-related activities you can do to stay home and be healthy.

 

Pizza and Pasta Kits. When I say pizza and pasta, I don’t mean the Filipino style sweet versions of both. I’m talking about the savory, homey, made from scratch pizza and pasta meal kits that are made with all-natural, good quality ingredients. Restaurant-made pizza and pasta meal kits are widely available throughout Davao. My personal favorite is Malagos Garden Resort’s farm-to-table Aglio Olio and Pasta Pomodoro pastas; however, only the Pomodoro pasta has a meal kit version available on their online store.

 

DIY Baking Kits. There are healthy baked goods available. If you’re hungry you can order ready-made healthy baked items but where’s the fun in that? I like to bake cookies and dark chocolate brownies and order not the one-step easy bake kits, but the baking kits that include premium ingredients. I even use one hundred percent premium unsweetened chocolate for my brownies and lesser sugar to ensure that they are at their healthiest! For my cookies, aside from mixing in 65% to 72% dark chocolate, I also mix in a bit of mashed bananas and often times some fresh moringa leaves. You can play around with additional ingredients you prefer really.

 

Juice Mixes. I like to spice up my afternoon with refreshments. I always go for fresh ingredients that I can find in my backyard garden, however when I’m feeling a bit lazy, I purchase lemon juice in Davao or freshly bottled calamansi juice and concentrate. I mix it in with sparkling water and put in a few mint for a cool fresh kick!

 

I encourage everyone to not just stay home but also to stay homegrown. If this pandemic has not enlightened you to take a look at your health, then I don’t know what will! If you want to give these meal kits a try you can check out Malagos Homegrown Produce. They offer lots of meal kits as well as bottled calamansi juice extract. Perfect for your one-stop homegrown shop needs.

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Does Davao City Really Deserve to go MGCQ?

Last week, news broke out that there are almost 60 fresh cases of COVID in Southern Philippines Medical Center, the largest government-owned hospital in Mindanao. It was alarming because, with this news, it somehow meant that the health systems of our region are slowly collapsing. We got worried because there are not very many nurses and doctors on duty in this part of the country, and with them getting COVID-positive, it means that they can now only do so much. When the health system collapses, we have nowhere left to go.

With that news that stunned us all, you realize one thing: we’re failing this. It might be a very negative thing to think of but the reality stands. We are cracking and the only way to help these frontliners who risk their lives every day for us, is to stay home. There’s not much we can do without the vaccine. So we just need to follow the orders from our government. Many are opposed to what they say, many are angered by their inefficiency. But what else is left to do but to wait for the vaccine to be available?

As for us, who are lucky enough not to be directly facing the enemy, we can continue keeping our social distances and just stay in the safety of our houses. Avoid going out when it’s not essential. Avoid going to crowded places like malls, supermarkets, and groceries. With the MGCQ thing now, you might be complacent and think that it’s okay to be traveling from Lasang to Toril. But actually it’s not. There’s many risks involved even if you’re traveling privately because the transmission of the virus is now airborne as confirmed by WHO! For us to defeat COVID19, we need to do things at home as much as we can. Work from home, shop online, and just be patient if you cannot get your usual indulgences like spa or pedicure. For essential things, you can count on a lot of Davao online grocery stores and delivery services like the Malagos Homegrown Produce online store. They recently launched their Stay Home, Stay Homegrown campaign to encourage us all to do our part in this fight and save the frontliners from their fall. Visit them now on their website at www.malagoshomegrownproduce.com to check out their products!

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Why Cleaning And Disinfecting Is A Must These Days Especially For Food Business Facilities

Since the pandemic had come to existence, people have been more and more cautious by the day. They have cast higher standards when it comes to cleanliness and food safety. They just don't choose any other food outlet because they know their health safety is a stake.  And admit it, these days, nobody has the time to get sick,

As a small food business owner, I always maintain regular cleaning and disinfecting in my facility in order to serve only the safest to my customers. I know that with consumers' new meticulous standards, restaurants that follow proper food handling protocols and strict standards in cleaning facilities take the place in leading their lists of trusted restaurants. 

With all these mentioned, I make sure that our facility is well-disinfected and cleaned. I always see to it that the foods are well-packed and sealed for protection. Meanwhile, it is also equally important to have enough supply of disinfectant products, especially in a food business. People get to eat our food and nobody deserves an unclean one. However, I usually encounter problems when buying disinfectants because I can only take out a limited number of them.

Luckily, one online grocery and delivery has relieved me of this problem.  I only had to go to their website, choose my orders, and they instantly delivered it to me. This online supermarket I am pertaining to is Instakart Davao. It has really solved my problems since they never run out of disinfectants. Aside from being more convenient, it's also amazingly affordable and practical because different kinds of disinfectants with their respective uses are already bundled in one. This typically lessens my task since I can get a total package of disinfectant in one click. Fast delivery also makes it easier for me since I get the items whenever I need them.

This is really an all-in-one supermarket that addresses all of my concerns. It does not only save me time and money. It also guarantees that there's always a disinfectant for me and there's no need to worry about running out of it. During this new normal when customers have become more meticulous in terms of a food outlet's food safety standards and facility cleanliness, buying disinfectants online is a wiser choice in terms of affordability, convenience, and quality. Instakart is really my business's saving grace, and maybe yours' too. Let us stay vigilant and fight COVID together!

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A Millennial's Undying Love for Meal Kits

They say millennials are entitled. They say we are too free-spirited and we don’t have long term plans in life. Aside from that, people also say that we are a little spoiled and only want the “good life” and the convenience that the world has to offer. Well, I’d rather look at it this way: we are the generation that is living between the age of the digitalization of things and the time before that. We know radios, cassettes, CDs and we are also familiar with how to use iPods, mp3 players, and now Spotify. We had to watch our favorite movies both by transitioning from DVDs to Netflix. In my opinion, we are actually the generation that enjoys the best of both worlds.

This can be the reason why we are more explorative of the types of lifestyles that we want for ourselves. We have experienced the world in a less advanced time and now we are in the middle of technological innovations all over the world. So, I guess, we are just being so resourceful and conscious of our decisions especially in the things that affect our overall health and mental state. For one, we are more cautious in choosing the kind of job we want to live with. We don’t want to be employees all our lives, not that it is something bad. But it’s the feeling that we want to be in control of our time, our life direction, and when we can take a break. Another thing is the food we eat. We tend to research more on the ingredients and make sure that we are eating healthy. That’s why a lot of food innovations have been made during the millennial years as they would call it. One of which is meal kits. I really love meal kits and this is because of two reasons.

Meal kits are just so millennial if you ask me. They are convenient. Yes, because it’s an in-betweener of taking out food and cooking at home. You get the ingredients delivered then you just cook it yourself which makes it both time-saving and an assurance that your food is safe because you’re the one who prepared it! Second, it makes me creative! As a millennial, we always love to DIY stuff and something that makes us express ourselves more. With meal kits, you can improvise and continue to add ingredients to make it more personalized.

If you’re like me who’s living in Davao, you can easily find easy to cook meal kits and even Davao baking kits! They’re all available in Malagos Homegrown Produce’s DIY meal kits. Check them out on their website now at www.malagoshomegrownproduce.com to try meal kits in Davao and get the millennial food you need!

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