PinoyEcoFarmer

I came across this valuable Companion Planting Chart designed by Yayasan IDEP Foundation.

The Philippines will propose to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in April the adoption of a regional organic standard in a bid to encourage trade of organically grown crops. The advocacy came as the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) approved on February 12, 2012 the Asian Regional Organic Standard (AROS), a multinational, public-private initiative among 15 countries including the Philippines, a United Nations agency said in a statement on Saturday.

“The Philippines initiated to have the ASEAN approve the organic standard for adoption, since not all ASEAN members are part of the GOMA Asia Working Group that developed the standard,” Lara G. Vivas, Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards senior science research specialist, told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview.

More

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning”. John Boyton Priestley

We welcomed the New Year (2012) at PinoyEcoFarm inside our dependable Coleman tent away from the loud bangs and smoke of exploding firecrackers. It was a very chilly night made more unbearable by the gusty winds. We were discouraged to venture outside away from the warm comfort of the blankets. We were all content with an early dinner of simple servings of kare-kare, liempo and beef nilaga soup which also doubled as our noche buena.

A dip in the the refreshing waters of the river in the mid-morning of New Year’s Day was soothing breather from the flurry of farming activities that included sowing more seeds and cleaning the sloping areas of the farm. The river will always be a special place. For us, never missing the perfect mix of physical effort and blissful relaxation.

Among the new additions in our farm for the month was the mini-basketball goal which was a resurrection of an old ring that has been gathering dust and rust in our storage at home. A little imagination and creativity did the trick. Playground swings made of discarded rubber tires were set up under coconut trees for children to enjoy.

Sinta papaya seeds were sowed on seed trays for planting later between the plots of vegetables. More vegetable seedlings were transferred to new plots and fruit tree planting materials field planted to take advantage of occasional downpours. Our first harvests of kamote (sweet potato) from our trial plantings provided us with more than a sackful of very nice rootcrops. About a week’s snack of purple, yellow and white kamotes were brought home for our enjoyment.

Visitors gracing the farm has become a regular occurrence and we are always glad to be hosting them. A simple lunch, fresh buko from the farm, relaxing nap in the hammock under the shades of trees, and a dip in the river and spring below were more than enough for them to enjoy the brief stay.

It has been more than six months since we started developing the property and January seemed to pass in a flash (the same with the months before it) but we would like to think that we have steadily shaped the farm as we intend it to be. The Arceo farmhouse which is steadily taking shape is anticipated to be a comfortable place to stay for family and friends who want to spend their evenings in the farm.

And as for me, always looking forward to more farming.

So you want to raise native chickens. To start with, put up an enclosed ranging area. Provide a 1 square meter space per chicken, made up of light posts like bamboo, and net at least six to eight feet high. Put also a roofed shelter at least 2 square feet per chicken and a nesting basket equivalent to the number of your hens. Nesting baskets must be in a partially dark place.

Plant the surroundings with legumes like trichantera (madre de agua), rensonii, Indigofera or any high protein legumes. Put also perches for them to stay during night time.That’s one way of protecting themselves from predators. When the plants are at least 3 to 4 feet high, then you are ready to raise native chickens. These plants will serve as their food and shade. Chickens love shade very much.

Buy a pair of native chickens or better one male and twenty females, preferably 4 to 5 months of age or older. You can easily distinguish a native chicken by its body conformation. If you are familiar with the banana flower, that is exactly the shape of its body. It tapers towards the tail. Let them loose in the enclosed area, feed them grains or feeds formulated for natural farming. The amount of feeds given will be 50 grams per bird then you can also give the legumes that you planted. When your chickens are acquainted with your place, the chickens will soon lay eggs. Each chicken will lay an average of 10 to 15 eggs and soon they will sit on them (broodiness) for 18 to 21 days. After that, those fertile eggs will soon hatch into beautiful healthy chicks.

After hatching, when the chicks are already dry, gently remove the baby chicks from the nest, including the new mother hen. Isolate them from the rest of the flock. Give the appropriate feeds for their age, chick booster for the chicks.

The hen will rear her chicks for some time. After that she will leave them. She will be ready to be mated again after rearing her baby chicks for 1 to 2 months.

Reposted from: Start Raising Native Chickens Now By REY B. ITCHON, DVM, February 1, 2012, Manila Bulletin.

Related Post/Articles:

Small-Scale Chicken Production

Ang Pinagbuting Pamamaraan ng Pag-Aalaga ng Manok

Manage Insects on Your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies. Ecological pest management employs tactics that have existed in natural ecosystems for thousands of years. Since the beginning of agriculture — indeed, long before then — plants co-evolved with pests and with the natural enemies of those pests. As plants developed inherent protective mechanisms against pests, they were helped by numerous partners in the ecosystem, for example:

Beneficial insects that attack crop insects and mites by chewing them up or sucking out their juices; Beneficial parasites, which commandeer pests for habitat or food; Disease-causing organisms, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and nematodes that fatally sicken insects or keep them from feeding or reproducing. These organisms also attack weeds; Insects such as ground beetles that eat weed seeds Beneficial fungi and bacteria that inhabit root surfaces, blocking attack by disease organisms.

A crimson clover cover crop prevents erosion, improves soil, fixes nitrogen and attracts beneficial insects. By integrating these natural strategies into your farming systems, you can manage pests in a way that is healthier for the environment and eliminates many of the problems associated with agrichemical use. Knowing the life cycles of pests and understanding their natural enemies allows you to better manipulate the system to enhance, rather than detract from, the built-in defenses available in nature.

Another National Academy of Science report (1996), Ecologically Based Pest Management (EBPM), stated that EBPM “should be based on a broad knowledge of the agro-ecosystem and will seek to manage rather than eliminate pests” in ways that are “profitable, safe, and durable.” In addition to reducing pest damage, shifting your farming system to ecological pest management will bring multiple benefits to your operation. For example, moving from monoculture to longer rotations improves water-and nutrient-use efficiency. Cover crops planted to attract beneficial insects also suppress weeds, improve the soil, provide moisture-conserving mulch, fix or store nitrogen for subsequent crops and contribute to overall nutrient management goals.

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms : A Planning Manual. Crop rotation is a critical feature of all organic cropping systems because it provides the principal mechanism for building healthy soils, a major way to control pests, and a variety of other benefits. Crop rotation means changing the type of crop grown on a particular piece of land from year to year. As used in this manual, the term includes both cyclical rotations, in which the same sequence of crops is repeated indefinitely on a field, and noncyclical rotations, in which the sequence of crops varies irregularly to meet the evolving business and management goals of the farmer. Each field has its own rotation, and, consequently, each farmer manages a set of rotations.

Good crop rotation requires long-term strategic planning. However, planning does not necessarily involve identifying which crop will be grown on a field years in advance. Indeed, such specificity may prove futile as plans become disrupted by weather, changes in the market, labor supply, and other factors. Lack of planning, however, can lead to serious problems—for example, the buildup of a soilborne disease of a critical crop, or imbalances in soil nutrients. Such problems can result in an inability to meet the demands of a carefully cultivated market or in additional labor and expense. Problems caused by faulty rotation often take several years to develop and can catch even experienced growers by surprise. In fact, rotation problems usually do not develop until well after the transition to organic cropping. Since the crops grown by organic farmers are often different and more diverse than those grown in the preceding conventional system, the organic transition itself often rotates away from the previous crops and their associated problems. Most farmers are greatly tempted to plant excessive acreage of the most profitable crop or to overuse certain fields for one type of crop. Such practices can lead to costly problems that take many years to correct. The purpose of this book is to help growers and farm advisors understand the management of crop rotations; avoid crop rotation problems; and use crop rotation to build better soil, control pests, and develop profitable farms that support satisfied families.

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses. Regardless of whether you are a beginning entrepreneur who has recently inherited a business, an experienced farmer who is considering on-farm processing, or a retiring business owner who is looking to pass on the farm, business planning is important. It is an ongoing process that begins with the identification of values and ends with a strategic plan to address critical management functions.

Like many rural entrepreneurs, you may have a strong sense of the values that drew you to the land or inspired you to begin a business. You may also have a clear set of personal and business goals that you would like to pursue “when the time is right.” But, if you’re like most farmers and rural business owners, you run into problems when trying to incorporate values and goals into day-to-day business decisions. How can you build a balanced and sustainable business—one that reflects your values and is successful—in the long run?

Unlike most other business planning tools, Building a Sustainable Business: A Planning Guide for Farmers and Rural Business Owners takes a whole-farm approach. You will consider traditional business planning and marketing principles as well as your personal, economic, environmental and community values—those less tangible things that are a part of your thoughts every day, but which often don’t become a planned part of your business. You will be asked to integrate values with business management practices throughout this Guide.