Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. — Robert Louis Stevenson
The pleasant weather continues till today.
There is less sunshine now and more occasional rains.
During the third half of the year, storms frequently visit the north side of the country frequently then on the rest of the year, it's the storm season in the Eastern Visayan region.
Topping seedling to grow more potential branches.
Recently a super storm ravaged the north of the Philippines and damaged a lot of homes and agricultural properties. While storms are normal, super storms are expected to come only once every century—until now that it comes several times a year.
My great great grandparents would recall a very strong storm during their time and since there weren't any reliable systems of forecasting and recording of weather disturbances it was almost forgotten.
Practical versus Economical Living
Using the abundant bamboo resources for trellises and crop support.
Since the usual houses in the previous decades and centuries in the Philippines were made of wood, bamboo, and grasses, it was very risky during bad weather. Right now, in some regions where the storms rarely pass through, houses can still be built using light materials or even with concrete without any foundation.
In our region, with the occasional earthquakes and expected annual storms, our houses must have deep and strong foundations to be stable. Because of this, building traditional houses is not an option, though dreamed by some.
Growing vegetables from the the Bahay Kubo song.
Probably one issue in the local architectural trends is duplicating the closed houses in the colder countries, which leads to very poor ventilation versus traditional Filipino houses with designs that allow an ample amount of air to naturally enter and circulate around the house.
This time where electricity bills are rising even with drastic cuts on usage, it might be the right time to bring back the traditional Huts and Gazebos locally called as the Pajag or the multi-purpose huts and the Lantay or the recreational bamboo platform to feel refreshed during daytime.
Daily Gardening
Unless you're rich or upper middle class, staying inside a Filipino house is a daily battle with the intense heat. It is like being a bread and the house is the big oven.
The weather is becoming more pleasant and gradually becomes gloomy in the next few weeks.
While I don't like spending time outdoors and in the crowds, being alone in the edge of the village and in nature is really an exception. It is a joy to spend time with the greenery as the breeze dry up the sunny day sweat.
I usually visit the orchard daily, but I make it my rest day when the rain is so strong. Before when I just started, I usually spend more than five hours building the permaculture garden and food forest, but now an hour is already enough.
One of my daoly routine is to scatter the kitchen scrap into the raised beds and to collect flower seeds to sow more around the food forest.
Currently, there nothing yet to harvest as food, but there are some that can be collected for storage and reseeding. On of which is the mung beans which I pick, dry, and de-shell almost daily. And there are a few vines of turnip bean which have mature seed pods.
Beware, the foliage and the seeds are toxic and will cause poisoning. Only the tubers must be used for consumption.
Turnip bean grows a fleshy tuber that can be harvested amd eaten fresh, in a salad, or added as a vegetable in dishes. The taste and texture of its tuber is almost similar to an apple but has an earthy flavor.
Collecting turnip bean pods with dry seeds.
This time, I am growing turnip beans for seed collection amd propagation. The vine can keep producing pods through its lifetime. Later on, I'm planning to harvest more seeds to store, share, and sell. Growing turnip beans is multi-purpose, since it can help loosen compacted soil, fix nitrogen in the soil, provide organic materials, provide seeds, and can be used as a food.
Routine Gardening Activities
Planting more flowers ad companion plant.
From time to time, there are routine task needed to maintain the young food forest. As a disclaimer to anyone who wants to start gardening, there will be a lot of weeds plus the other ups and downs, but it is part of the story, you must find ways to make it bearable and fun.
If the soil has gone dry, watering is really necessary, but now that there are more rain than sun, the job shifts into planting whatever I can grow in the food forest.
A big part is clearing unused areas. When talking about weeds, it is not about the raised beds since it is already controlled by the living mulch. Majority of the weeds grow extensively on the currently untended spaces of the orchard which gradually tries to reclaim the areas I am working on.
Opening the overgrown path to the recently transplanted Mango seedlings.
Today, I cleared up the path near the fallen Mango trees. It was the remembrance of the super storm Yolanda 'Haiyan' and it occupies a big space that could have been used to grow more crops. My future plan is to cut down some of its branches and leaving some for it to grow upwards instead of sideward. I still need permission from my father to do that.
On the cleared path, I will be planting Pinto peanuts or 'Mani-mani' to suppress weed growth and also plant strawberries on the edges of the raised bed. I also added more Green 'Bungoyan' bananas as I expand eastward. Once fully cleared, I intend to use the space to grow berries and more root crops.
Banana plants growing beautifully after the consistent rains.
So far, the bananas has grown a bit taller and had new leaves. The sweet potatoes vines are growing longer and The lemongrass started dividing.
How about you, what crops are your growing this time? Share in the comment section below! :)
PINNED POSTS
| Clearing the Damage After the Storm Instead of falling into anxiety, I took time to make use of what the storm had given. | |
| Building Abundance with More Fruit Trees Amid the Economic Turmoil This year, I planned to initially plant 100 trees wherever possible until the year ends. | |
| Using Saltwater and Fire to Heal a Permaculture Garden Plant debris becomes natural mulch and organic matter. | |
| Harvesting Cucumbers After a Year of Labor As crops mature, harvest season began as well. | |
| Fermenting Fish Amino Acid for the Garden Crops It would be a sin to throw away such things, even the food scraps I turn it to compost now. |
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About Me
@oniemaniego is a software developer, but outside work, he experiments in the kitchen, writes poetry and fiction, paints his heart out, or toils under the hot sun.
| Onie Maniego / Loy Bukid was born in rural Leyte. He often visits his family orchards during the summers and weekends, which greatly influenced his works. |
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