Our backyard garden may be small but nothing compares to the simple joys of harvesting something from it. We gathered the first fruits of our pipinitos (mini cucumbers) after just barely two months after we first sowed the seeds.

For breakfast, we  sliced the pipinitos into thin pieces as salad and it was great with rice, sardines and scrambled eggs. We also prepared a blended pipinito smoothie out of our harvest. All we did was mix some calamansi juice, add honey to sweeten and some crushed ice. The result was a refreshing and delicious drink.

Growing pipinitos is easy. Sow the seeds directly and put a trellis near it (a tree branch will do), water regularly and wait for nature to run its course. We did not put any fertilizers nor applied pesticides but we got good results. Imagine doing this in your own yards.

Carbonized rice hull is a crucial ingredient of bokashi organic fertilizer and can also be used in composting toilets and animal bedding. CRH results from the incomplete combustion of rice hulls under high heat and low oxygen conditions (pyrolysis). Pyrolysis causes the decomposition of organic materials such as lignin and cellulose, leaving a residue of carbon and mineral nutrients.

Click on Carbonized Rice Hull to view in pdf format.

The document was done by one of the members of Natural Farming Philippines.

The three-day 3rd Pinoy Organic Festival will open on May 28, 2010 (Friday) at the AANI Herbal Garden and Livelihood Center at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City. The event will end on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

The organic fest will be participated in by organic farming practitioners, advocates from the government, academe and the private sector. Various organic products will be exhibited for sale by growers and processors of various commodities.

Expected to grace the 3-day festival are:

1. Pablito Villegas (trustee of the Organic Produce Trade Association, owner of Villegas Organic Farm, and convenor for Asia of the Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organization)
2. Sen. Miguel Zubiri (one of the principal authors of the Philippine Organic Agriculture Law)
3. Rep. Proceso J. Alcala (Congressman of Quezon Province and a staunch advocate of natural farming)
4. Armand and Teresa Saniano of the Earthkeepers (Teresa Saniano write a book on natural farming)

The Quizon Farm in Antipolo City will also display live turkeys as well as processed turkey meat products.

The exhibits, the forums and seminars are open free to the public. The event organizer, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, is the Agri-Aqua Network International (AANI). Pol Rubia is AANI’s vice president and operations manager.

See you there.

Note: Article is a repost.

Our weekend visit to the University of the Philippines Los Banos to attend an activity at the Boy Scouts Campsite gave us a reason to finally drop-by the Herb Republic Restaurant for lunch. The heavy traffic (it took us 3 hours to get to Los Banos from Cavite) did not dampen our moods. It was already past 12 when we got there. The place was a oasis considering the searing heat of the midday sun.

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My trips to my home province of Sorsogon will not be complete without visiting the Our Lady of Penafrancia Seminary which is my highschool alma mater. The visit this time was doubly satisfying because it gave me an opportunity to see and admire the Sustainable Agriculture Center (SAC). The SAC manages the greenhouses on the seminary grounds in front of the Home for the Clergy and the open field farm at the back part.

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Mama has always been into gardening ever since I was a young boy. It is no wonder that I have a fascination with gardening as well. I recently had a chance to see her garden again when I went home to our province in Sorsogon for a brief vacation.

There is  really nothing extraordinary about her garden but I think what is more important is that it serves the purpose of providing them with some common everyday vegetables which otherwise would have been bought from the market.

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Green is definitely in. But do most of us really understand what green is and what it represents? Sadly, there are still those who have so many misconceptions that sometimes border on the hilarious.

Take this as an example. A friend (Jenny Bonto of Green Babes*) who is a very engaging speaker/writer/artist/entrepreneur related some rather awkward encounters with customers while selling “green” chicken in tiangges (bazaars). The most common would be “kulay green ba ang chicken? patingin nga…“  (is the chicken green, let me see).  – as if they were really expecting Incredible Hulkish-chickens inside the coolers only to be disappointed to see “typical” dressed chicken. Others would ask:   eh bakit daw mahal??? pareho naman ng timbang.? (why is it more expensive? it weighs the same as ordinary chicken?). To which she would patiently explain that ordinary chicken is TINIMBANG KA NGUNIT KULANG (loosely translated as “you were weighed but found lacking”) in protein.. antioxidants.. sobra ng (too much of) hormones.

They are called “GREEN” chicken because they “are raised outside on pasture rather than in crowded poultry houses. They have constant access to a natural diet and enjoy plenty of fresh air and sunshine. It does not use artificial growth promotants; does not feed meat or bone meal; and does not use antibiotics”.

Sometimes it frustrates her realizing that it is indeed hard to sell the truth (mahirap magbenta ng katotohanan!). Stories like these  made me realize that we still have a long way to go in educating most of the consumers. We must keep on patiently pushing though. If it is any consolation,  some corporations are now actively helping spread the sensibility of truly living the “green” way of life.

If you have a choice, would you rather have “green” chicken for your family knowing that it is safer? Or you’d rather go for the usual factory-raised, hormone-pumped and antibiotic-injected chicken we have grown accustomed to? You decide.

*Green Babes is a group of women entrepreneurs who are into the green advocacy. They are marketing/selling organically/naturally produced items. These women participate in various small bazaars to bring these products closer to the consumers. They will be at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center (Filinvest, Alabang) bazaar on May 3-6, 2010.

Jenny Bonto gets the “green” chicken from the Herb Republic at Los Banos, Laguna. She told me that Herb Republic is already selling “green” pork.

Note: The green chicken glassware image was lifted from www.allaboutnature.org

The growing domestic and export market demands for organically grown fruits and vegetables compel us to learn to grow ORGANIC MANGO using the Natural Farming System. This is a simple and basic study to help mango growers produce naturally grown mango free from toxic chemical residue, using both herbal organic fertilizers and concentrates with biotechnology and integrated pest management.

Our latest experience in growing organic mango show that natural farming system is easier to learn and adopted by farmers. Production cost is much lower than conventional chemical farming. Organic fertilizer and beneficial microorganisms increase soil nutrient year after year as the tree also grow bigger and increase their productivity.

The booklet  “Guide to Growing Organic Mango with Natural Farming System” which was compiled by Rex Rivera is an excellent reference for Philippine mango growers.

Click on Cover Page to download.

Do-Nothing Farming, also known as Natural Farming, the Fukuoka Method, Fukuoka Farming, is an alternative permaculture farming method to chemical or traditional farming. Developed for 30 years by Masanobu Fukuoka of Japan, this method includes the use of crop rotation, minimal irrigation, no or reduced tillage, “seed balls,” and allowing natural regulation of pests.

The book “The Natural Way of Farming: The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy by Masanobu Fukuoka and translated by Frederic P. Metreaud is yet another book that will guide farmers achieve the goal of sustainable farming.

Click on Cover Page to download.

open source video, online video platform, video solution

Watching films that tackle the issue of sustainability is definitely worth our time. It nudges us to look , re-examine and do something to regain the balance that has been lost over the years. As natural/organic farmers, we can learn something from this feature and maybe re-apply the concepts locally.

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.

Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

Here is another reference material for natural farmers entitled Nature Farming Manual: A handbook of preparations, techniques and organic amendments inspired by Nature Farming and adapted to locally available materials and needs in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines.

Excerpts from the Background:

Organic agriculture in The Philippines is developing rapidly and farmers have adopted and adapted an array of techniques inspired by a number of different philosophies including biodynamic farming, permaculture and Nature Farming. Of particular interest to organic agriculture practitioners in The Philippines is the Nature Farming approach which was first advocated by the Japanese philosopher Mokichi Okada in 1935. This system promotes a holistic and sustainable approach to agriculture, with the aim of protecting life and the integrity of the natural world. The basic principles of Nature Farming are akin to those advocated by Rudolf Steiner in 1924 when he laid the foundations of biodynamic agriculture. Both systems of thought arose in response to problems that were, even then, associated with industrial agriculture, inorganic fertilizer use and monocultures. A fundamental principle that has evolved with these alternative agricultural systems is that a farm should form a basic unit of self-sustainability. The use of native materials can restore and enhance the fertility and vitality of the farm.

A key component of sustainable organic farming in the developing world is the use of locally produced and low cost biomass resources to rebuild and maintain soil productivity. Organic fertilizers and soil amendments can be produced in a number of different ways. This manual focuses on the preparation of organic soil and plant amendments using microbiological processes, as inspired by Nature Farming. Although biodynamic farming also uses preparations that may potentially stimulate microbial activity of the soil, these have not yet been fully adapted to the indigenous plant materials in the Philippines.

In The Philippines, there are numerous small-scale farming endeavors occupying a mosaic of environments spanning a broad gradient of biotic and abiotic conditions. In this context it is preferable to avoid inputs of commercial EM preparations in favor of locally produced IMO preparations.

Click on Cover Page to Download

I got hold of this publication “Likas-Kaya at Organikong Pagsasaka ng Palay” (Sustainable and Organic Rice Agriculture) by University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) Professor Oscar B. Zamora and his team. The Go-Organic! Philippines Movement and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) helped launch the manual.

I think the manual is a very authoritative reference for farmers who want to venture into sustainable and organic rice production. The book is written in Filipino.

Ma Ceres P. Doyo wrote about it on her column the Human Face in the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated May 21, 2009. The title of the article is “Human Face : Free book on sustainable rice agriculture”. She wrote a general summary of what the manual is about.

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