PinoyEcoFarmer

“Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart”. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Rare Fruit Society of the Philippines (RFSP) gathering on June 12, 2010 was an overwhelming success judging from the enthusiasm of the farmers-at-heart attendees who surprisingly went in droves (some were with their families in tow). The Cavite tour started at Len Faustino’s farm in Silang, Cavite where they served a delicious breakfast of crispy tawilis, fried rice, itlog maalat (salted duck eggs) with tomatoes, turmeric rice, scrambled eggs and brewed kapeng barako (native coffee).  Some of the food served were generous contributions from the attendees.

After the breakfast, Len took time to tour us around his farm. His farm is planted to a variety of fruit trees, coffee, herbs, pineapples and a lot more.

Above: Mr. Len Faustino

Above: Pineapple treated with Mykovam

Above: Coffee

Above: Laurel

Above: Tata Ben Rara explaining something

The group then proceeded to a cutflower farm where Ponchit Enrile serves as a consultant. The farm is planted to daisies which originated from Amsterdam. However, Ponchit cautioned the group that this is not for those who are averse to chemicals because these daisies are regularly treated with insecticides to deter the whiteflies that wreaks havoc to the plants.

Above: The convoy of about 20 or more cars stopping at the cutflower farm

The next stop was the Silan Agri Farm of Edilberto R. Silan (a multi-awarded farmer-scientist) in Alfonso, Cavite. The farm grows and sells dragon fruit among others. They have diversified into dragon fruit derived products such as cider vinegar, wine, juice and some bath soap. They also sell planting materials.

The last stop was the Terra Verde Ecofarm of the Atanacio Family (Eric, Emer and Erwin are the prime-movers of this farm)  in Maragondon, Cavite. The beautiful farm was a welcome respite from a tiring morning spent mostly on the road. I personally saw the transformation of this farm and was awed by what it has become.

The sumptuous lunch (chicken inasal, grilled fish, adobong manok, menudo, steamed vegetables and so much more) prepared by the hosts with some contributions of “giant” alamang, marang from Davao, ginataang laing, paksiw na bangus and a lot more courtesy of the generous rarefruiters filled our starving stomachs. Fine wines (these are award winning wines abroad) courtesy of Sir Joe Real and brought by Madam Moje flowed for everyone who wanted a taste of it.

Above: Sweet marang from Davao

The children enjoyed the expansive grounds just running around and enjoying the sight of the livestock in the farm. They were also treated to a ride around on a tractor-hitched trailer while the grown-ups were busy listening to the nuggets of wisdom from the seasoned gentlemen-farmers who gave most of us a reason to fall in love with farming even more. My only regret though was that I was not able to exactly remember all the names of the wonderful fellow farmers who I met that day. I do hope though to visit their farms soon and learn more of them personally.

Above: Andry Lim – a natural farming advocate and practioner

Above: Tata Ben Rara and TJ Gonzales

Above: Verman Reyes

Above: Alfonso ‘Ponchit” E. Ponce Enrile

Above: Dr. Joy Zarate of UP Biotech

Above: Moje Ramos-Aquino

Above: Our gracious hosts- the Atanacio brothers (from left: Emer and Eric)

Note: The complete photos can be viewed in the gallery at the beginning of the post.

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