PinoyEcoFarmer

The pili seednuts given by Dr. Roberto Coronel have finally sprouted in our seedbed beside the river. It almost took two months before breaking free from the seemingly uncrackable hard shell.

November was fun at PinoyEcoFarm. We had small harvests of peanuts and stringbeans from the first trial plantings. We also organized and put more worms (African Night Crawlers) in our vermibed to help us compost the kitchen refuse and all the farm trimmings.  One of the hens that we brought did lay her  first eggs but unfortunately she died of unknown circumstances so we just ate her eggs.

The farm has become our second home and on some nights we even went overnight camping using our reliable tent. Camping under the full-moon and enjoying the bonfire was indeed something to remember.  Family and friends were likewise hosted. Partaking in simple prepared lunches while enjoying the cool breeze. All came home with smiles on their faces. The usual favorite spot is the river and flowing spring below the property. Wanda our chocolate labrador provided extra entertainment with her fetch antics. She likes swimming in the river so much and can spend all afternoon there.

The farm needs more work to be done but it is fast taking shape as planned. Impatiently excited as always.

An opportunity to visit this odorless and relatively fly-free hog farm presented itself when a environmentalist friend suggested it in our itinerary during our recent Bacolod trip. The owner’s son who is also an active environmental advocate in Negros Occidental arranged our trip to their farm in Victorias City.

The farm is located in the vicinity of the city just at the back of a big grocery store but it does not create a problem because of its unconventional way of waste management. It is amazing considering that it houses about 800 heads of hogs in any given time. In addition to probiotic spraying to prevent the multiplication of flies, the farm likewise employs natural processes using azolla and quiapo as consumers of manure. These nutrient-rich plants which carpet the ponds are then used as feed supplements and vermifeed that sustain the other livestock in the farm including ducks and chicken.

Another attraction that is rising within the compound is the a majestic house constructed out of lime and wood. The bricks are made of lime and cement mixture pressed into strong building blocks. The upper portion is primarily of wood and bamboo. The roof is cogon grass complementing the nature design.

A Malay-inspired pond house sits on a body of water teeming with koi and other water plants.  Trellises constructed out of bamboo are neatly positioned along the pathways. A variety of creeping vegetable vines (some with fruits) serve as a shade. No space is seemingly wasted. Plots of medicinal and aromatic herbs are neatly positioned at the sides accenting the whole place creating a garden-like ambiance.

The integrated farm has its own windmill that powers the water pump in the compound. The water requirement is surely enormous considering the number of hog pens that needs to be cleaned. The wastewater drains into the ponds where the azolla grows.

The farm is indeed a showcase of an urban-based food production that blends well with its surroundings. And for the weary, a blissful place to relax.

I already read countless articles about this man who considers fruit tree conservation as  a passion. For most of us who share the same interests, this man is really larger than life. Dr. Roberto Coronel, a retired University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) professor has undoubtedly all the credentials and experience that sets him apart from most of us when it comes to fruit trees but what struck me most when I finally came to meet the man is his very down to earth and humble way of relating with people. Unselfishly sharing his thoughts and knowledge on fruit trees.  It is like a father passing on something to his children.

We were treated to an excursion around his farm where he takes pride in the collection of fruit bearing trees. Some of them are native, indigenous and others are from different parts of the world which he collected during his travels. A sampling of the fruits in season was an added bonus to what we came for.

The two-day hands-on basic training seminar on nursery propagation was indeed well worth it. Not only did we learn but more importantly were even more inspired to be part of doing something that will contribute to “greening” the Philippines through more fruit trees. I brought with me our farmhelp so he can learn firsthand the techniques in propagating trees and hopefully do it in our farm.

The stay in Dr. Coronel’s home and nursery was also partly an introduction to the new fruits and a rediscovering of the fruits that I had as a child growing up in the province. The mouth watering plump balimbing and the sight of the black pili fruits were enough to transport me back to the memories of my home province in Sorsogon where we used to have balimbing in our backyard and regularly had blanched pili pulp as a sidedish (a favorite in our household).

We also bought from him planting materials for our farm at very reasonable prices that even came with lots of freebies. Some seeds and cuttings were just given away. We had rambutan, balimbing, biriba, abiu, blackberry, anise, variegated calamansi and lansones among others. A trio of bantam chicken which he raises in small portion of his backyard also came home with us.

Someday as those trees bear their fruits, I will certainly remember the man who truly inspired farmers like me to be part of something that future generations (including my children) will come to enjoy as well.

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I also posted the photos of the training course in my Facebook account. Dr. Coronel labeled the fruits. Here is the link.

One of the basic requirements in farming is water. We know we have a good source in the farm but the challenge is how to bring it up. The free-flowing spring near the river is about 45 meters below and for it to be useful we have to pump it up to our farm. We considered the conventional option of using diesel and electric-driven pumps but we figured that it will costly in the long run. It was good that we stumbled upon an article sometime back about a pump that uses no fuel. I reposted that article here: “Trailblazing Pump Brings Relief to Farming Community”.

The ram pump is really an old technology. “A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It functions as a hydraulic transformer that takes in water at one “hydraulic head” (pressure) and flow-rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic-head and lower flow-rate. The device uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that allows a portion of the input water that powers the pump to be lifted to a point higher than where the water originally started. The hydraulic ram is sometimes used in remote areas, where there is both a source of low-head hydropower, and a need for pumping water to a destination higher in elevation than the source. In this situation, the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the kinetic energy of water”. The definition is quite technical but the device is quite simple.

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. (AIDFI) which is based in Bacolod, Negros Occidental has perfected their own version of this simple yet very effective pump. Some communities both here in the Philippines and abroad are in fact now benefiting from the technology. This earned for the Foundation a BBC World Challenge Award in 2010 and a Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2011.

I contacted them to express our interest of installing one in our PinoyEcoFarm. We even went to their office and fabrication shop in Bacolod.  Among the other technologies that they have there are the biogas digester, oil distiller, various pumps, micro turbine generators and a lot more. We were fortunate to see their pump installation in a remote barangay in the the town of Murcia, Negros Occidental. The place was difficult to reach because of the very rough roads going to the site but we nonetheless persisted. The accommodating AIDFI technician (Felix) guided us to the site which likewise required a downhill trek that tested our physical endurance.  It was amazing to see the ram pump actually working and delivering water about 80 meters up.

After our visit, we immediately arranged for a survey to be done so we can install the pump in our farm. They sent their technical man (Orlan) to visit our farm and get all the details needed for the installation including the water flow rate of the spring, head (drop), elevation and others. We recently received the technical plan but we are still studying our options and hopefully execute it soon.

We brought in our trusted farmhelp Benjie on July 17, 2011 to start working with us after the green light was given by the sellers that we can start developing the farm. We were all excited. We are fortunate because there is a small concrete house with the basic amenities in it just beside our property. It was generously offered to us by the sellers as temporary  shelter for our farmhelp. It has a power connection, kitchen and a toilet. We just provided a folding bed, bedding and a mosquito net. Our arrangements with Benjie is to pay him a regular monthly salary and a meal allowance for his subsistence which leaves him enough cash to send to his family in the province.

The farm was practically a jungle when we moved in. It was really a challenge transforming it to what we have in mind. We sometimes felt overwhelmed by the volume of work  but we just had to start somewhere. We decided to  proceed with small steps and reassess every so often if we were going into the right direction. The first month was spent mostly on clearing the vines and overgrowth that has taken over the trees. We knew that we needed to cut some trees to let the sunlight through. First to go were the softwood trees. We then decided to take out some santol trees, kakawates and tibig to thin out the crowding but we did not want to sacrifice the diversity of what we already have so the more mature ones were left as is.

We knew that it will take a while to do the clearing with just one farmworker so getting some outside help was the next best thing to do. A local with two helpers were hired to cut the trees and clear the stumps. It costed us about P3000 extra just for the clearing  operations but without them work will proceed in a snail’s pace and we were just too excited to wait.

To get a head-start, I bought some banana (latundan and lakatan) plantings so we can already plant along the sloping sides while doing the laborious task of mowing the weeds and clearing the trees.

I had the cut wood stacked in piles sorted according to future use. The big ones were reserved for lumber and the softwood were used as landfill in some slopes. Some were chopped into smaller sizes as firewood.

I know we still have a long way to go but every journey starts with a step. With the way things are progressing, I can definitely say that we even moved steps ahead than what we have expected.

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” 
Masanobu Fukuoka, One-Straw Revolution

A recent acquisition of about 2,000+ sqm meter farmlot (mid July of this year) somewhere in the highlands of Alfonso spurred a regular weekend love affair with farming. This has been a long time coming after a discouraging attempt to takeover a smaller farm property somewhere near Dasmarinas, Cavite that never materialized. An unexpected offer by longtime friends Henry and Cris Arceo to be their neighbors in the Alfonso farmlot paved the way for this quite addictive (I must admit) venture. The opportunities all unexpectedly fell into place with the concessions given by the kind sellers.

Farming has become a therapy. A weekend stay at the farm recharges me for another week of office work. My wife (Hilda) and two kids (Julius and Juliene) have joined me in these getaways. The kids never miss to enjoy the springs and river below the property while I supervise the farm work that needed to be done. A stay at the little farm has become something of a regular event to look forward to even with just the most spartan facilities that we have so far.

It was like a jungle when we first saw the property due to years of neglect and abandon. The vines have crept and invaded the santol, coconut, lansones and avocado trees that consequently blocked the sunlight from reaching the rich soil below the thick canopies. Practically nothing was done to take care of the property and the trees planted to it. There was little activity except for the occasional harvesting of coconuts sold to middlemen at ridiculously cheap prices. We saw a lot of work that needs to be done yet we took the challenge and has never regretted the decision.

With a collective area of half-hectare farm space, we set a general direction of what we intend to do with the tiny farm which is to be an ecologically sound and sustainable natural/organic farm on this scale. This is a fairly manageable area at this point considering the time and resources that we can afford to allot. The farm is a work in progress and as rookie farmers (all I have are theories although I was trained to be a farmer) we surely need a lot of help from both veteran and new farmer friends who share the same passion and enthusiasm that we have.

I will attempt to chronicle and share our experiences, successes as well as failures along with posts on various protocols done by others so other farmers who will read this can learn and hopefully share theirs as well.   The internet has made and facilitated knowledge sharing that is unprecedented which we can use to our advantage. It has provided us with a wealth of information. Farmers can really learn a lot from each other but at the end of the day there is no better judge on what will work best in their farms than the farmer themselves.

For hobbyists, serious farmers and retirees who need to shake off that sedentary lifestyle, what should be their guide in shopping for farm lots, now that these are sprouting like mushrooms all over the land?

Let’s ask the experts.

“Farm estates successfully integrate man-made, low-density development with the natural features of the site,” said Amado de Jesus, founding chair of the Philippines Green Architecture Movement. He added, “These are much more sensitive than regular land developments like subdivisions. Waterways, old growth forests, including indigenous wildlife must be respected and preserved while providing modern facilities.”

For agri-idealists, all farm practices should be ecologically sound.

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