PinoyEcoFarmer

Despite the El Niño, his lowland rice crops reached harvesting stage with more filled grains and more seeds per panicle.

Bernardo Calilung, Magsasaka Siyentista of Farmers’ Information and Technology Services (FITS) Center in Tarlac City, proved that the combined application of vermicompost and vermitea can improve soil condition and agronomic performance of selected rice varieties.

Calilung’s farm in Barangay Amucao, Tarlac City was used as a Science and Technology-based farm (STBF) demonstration plot. The Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA), Tarlac City FITS Center, Central Luzon Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CLARRDEC), and the Philippine Coun-cil for Agriculture, Forestry and Natu-ral Resources Re-search and Development (PCARRD) assisted Calilung during the STBF implementation.

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Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Goats gives a detailed and comprehensive guide to raising goats. Raising goats has many benefits including meat and milk. Their manure can also be used in composting.

Goats serve many purposes worldwide. They produce delicious milk, healthfullow-fat meat, and fiber for spinning. They are excellent at brush control, and they may be used to carry camping supplies on hiking trips or hitched up to help withlight chores around the yard. They are inexpensive to maintain, require simplehousing, do not take up a lot of space, and are easy to handle and transport.

Click on the Cover Page or the Title to download.

Compost: The Natural Way to Make Food for Your Garden by Ken Thompson is another reference that will be very useful for gardeners and farmers alike. A straightforward and easy reading that will serve as a composting blueprint.

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.

I found these documents from the Natural Farming Philippines e-group and I think these will all be valuable references for the garden/farm. The guides were done and compiled by Josephine Gamboa who is a natural farming expert practitioner.

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“Worm composting is a process for recycling food waste into a rich, dark, earth-smelling soil conditioner. One of its advantages is that it can be done indoors and outdoors, allowing year-round composting. Worm composts can be made in containers filled with moistened bedding.”

Vermicomposting is indeed a nice way to manage our biodegradable scraps/wastes and turn them into something useful for our garden. I found this Guide to Vermiculture and Vermicomposting from the Bureau Plant Industry website which is a useful reference to get us started. The document focuses on the production of organic fertilizer through the action of earthworms. There are many other resources on vermiculture and vermicomposting including a series of brief articles posted on EntrePinoys which will further enhance our understanding. A more comprehensive reference is the Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture By Glenn Munroe. The document can also be viewed from the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada.

Other Resources You May Like:

• Start Your Own Worm Farm

In a country where 70% of the poor live in rural areas, one tool for poverty reduction that shows great potential is sustainable agriculture, a holistic systems approach to agriculture that adopts indigenous knowledge systems and demonstrates cultural sensitivity. This paper recounts evidence that sustainable agriculture has a positive effect on farm yields and income, accompanied by an initial increase in production costs which tapers significantly over time. The author gives policy recommendations to mainstream sustainable agriculture and lays guidelines for the establishment of a Department of Agriculture program on sustainable agriculture for poverty reduction.

This policy paper examines sustainable agriculture and it’s role in reducing poverty incidence in the Philippines. Maybe we can throw our two cents worth of recommendations as well.

Click on the Cover Page to read the document.

The New Self-Sufficient Gardener: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Planning, Growing, Storing and Preserving Your Own Garden Produce by John Seymour.

John Seymour’s classic guide gives you the knowledge and expertise to create your own self-sufficient garden and produce what you need. Whatever the size of your space, discover how to garden organically and maximize your harvest, without the need for radical changes to your lifestyle. From cultivating vegetables to making cider, keeping chickens to training vines, you’ll garden in tune with the seasons, growing for the year, eating for today and storing for tomorrow. No specialist knowledge required: just clearly explained principles and practicalities ideal for any gardener.

I already have one of John Seymour’s book “The Self-Sufficient Life & How To Live It” which I bought at Booksale (used but very cheap). I really enjoyed reading that book.