Growing a Young But Functional Food Forest

Growing a Young But Functional Food Forest | Ecency

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Looming Thunderstorms

It might be my prayer being heard and the thunderstorms came later in the morning of the 21st of June, just after a long bout of torrid dry season.

Less than an hour of weeding a portion of the garden, the rain fell heavily, giving me the comfort of working until noon.

I was able to clear more than half of the garden that day, though stalled by the Mimosa 'Makahiya' plants because each needed to be carefully slashed along its base before weeding out to avoid pricking.

The raised-beds on the western side were also joined into one to cater a larger batch of crops next month—as to what it will be, that is still a question.

As the water rised above my ankle, I realized the two rivers already started overflowing and I needed to get out fast. I needed to cross a knee-deep path to safety afterwards, though this is normal and no need to worry.

There's still a lot to do, hoping to complete it before June ends.

Because of the sudden thunderstorms and flooding, the communal water faucet was sometimes cut off temporarily, and there are days without potable water, unless you bring a water container large enough for the day.

Midyear Planting Season

Aside from more gingers and garlic being planted last week, I also introduced Aloe vera plants. Aside from growing foods and flowers, medicinal plants are also welcome in the food forest!

It's great to complete the food forest checklist. There are canopy forming trees and the understory are brazen even after the super storms. The shrub and bush elements such as the citrus and berries are growing in numbers.

There are the grass and cereal elements, also the herbaceous and rhizosphere too. As for the vines, there are beans and cucurbits self-sowing after the kast cropping season.

In about 2 years, these Guapples should start bearing fruits about 4-6" in diameter, with thick white flesh. I also have native varieties that are just about two inches in diameter, but with thin red flesh.

My goal is to plant at least 100 trees before the year ends, but I still have around 75 left, though I need to check that number again—achievable? Haha!

Each visit, I put the collected kitchen scrap on the empty raised-bed. By next week, I'll be augmenting it with soil to officially begin the next cropping season.

Around 70 days after sowing, I'm able to harvest corn at last! Though the photo is not a representative of the harvest, it's my first actual success in growing corn after so many attempts,—most of the harvest are small, but have around 60% kernels on the cob.

A technique I found online for a sustainable corn plot, is to plant it close to each other so when the wind blows the pollen off, fertilization will be maximized, then the corn cobs will not be empty.

The corn came after the cucumber season, now the corn were harvested, I uprooted the stalks and laid it down back to the raised-bed to start decaying back into organic matter. There are volunteer Marigolds to lessen pests, but attract pollinators.

After clearing, it gives the new batches of corn stalks, which are already half the height of the previous, to get more sunlight. Underneath the old cornstalks, were young cucurbits—cucumbers and luffa seedlings.

I was happy to see the mulberries has ripe fruits, though I should've plucked it, anyway it was delicious—I love tangy fruits. There a lot of transformation and growth at the orchard, the garden is awaiting for soil ammendement and the orchard is teeming with volunteer flowers.

In the next planting season, I'd be growing corn, beans, and cucumbers again, but will be exploring other crops too.

The local government completed the first few miles of the farm-to-~~pocket~~market road, but is going in the wrong direction—towards the not-so-agricultural private land owned by a single entity.

Now that the upcoming local election is just a few months away, the heavens has touched the hearts of those who is vying for renewed political power and is now working on rehabilitating the old road towards the real agricultural lands.

Most of the farm owners were willing to pledge a few-meter wide road to allow their tenants to transport farm implements and harvests easily, but so far, only a short walk were paved, majority is still a mudpath.

I hope that the government become more human and less of being elitist, wealth- and power-hoarding individuals.

PINNED POST

	Clearing the Damage After the Storm Instead of falling into anxiety, it took time to make use of what the storm had given.

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.