It's Friday and I am looking forward to Sunday to pay a visit to our farm.
I was born to a farmer's parents, the land is not that big and the farm is not that successful. We are behind in agricultural technology not because we lack knowledge about it but because we lack money to establish things and make our production more successful.
Whenever we plant crops, we always rely on the natural occurrence; the rain and the sun, and most of the time when my parents plant and harvest crops, they are always challenged.
Way back then, when I was in college, my parents dried corn grains in summer but all of a sudden the rain came. We do the drying manually as well as the packing. I literally cried because of the rain. I thought at that time that God did not see us doing things and gave us what we needed the least. Later in my life, I realized that it was just a huge trial of my faith in him.
In July this year, my mother had a hard time financing her farm and my husband volunteered to cultivate them. We had been asking both sides of our parents for a parcel of land to farm ut the declined us way back then.
The husband and I got hurt by the declination but realized that things happen for a reason and everything will fall into the right place at the right time such as this one.
When my mother agreed that we cultivate the farm, my we looked for money and people to do the work.
Only grass and weeds grew at the farm at that time but we still chose to plant cassava. Weeding will never be a problem since there are herbicides available for use as long as the crops till did not emerge from the soil.
Thus on the 10th of July, it was Sunday, and my rest day when the land is ready, we decided to plant.
The planting materials, the cassava stalk was just from the previously harvested crops and we only paid someone to cut them for bout 8 inches long to plant. And here is our lovely experience:
It was a cloudy day, not s good for working but we have been praying for the rain to water our crops so so we did not complain about it.
The husband and I decided we take the shortcut trail and I waited for him to leave his motorcycle at the nearest house to prevent anyone from doing nasty things about it while we are not around
I took picture of the surroundings because I was amazed at how green everywhere is and it is what my sad soul was looking for. I felt alive being close to nature.
Along the bumpy road, the chain on the motorcycle got misaligned and my husband took longer than he should have.
There was stocked water and it looked like a lake, it was behind the bamboo.
The waters from last night's rain are still on the canal nad was showing a wonderful reflection of the grass that si above it. Beauty is everywhere!
I came to help him and we decide to leave it alone and deal with it later when we go home when we can acquire something hard enough that can push the metal out.
On the shirt cut road is a vast rolling land and is covered with greens; This was once a farm but the owner stopped cultivating it and it became a pasture for cattle of the neighboring farmers.
I brought the pail where the dog's food was and my husband carried the sweet potatoes on his shoulders.
My slippers got wet and it was very slippery to walk with so my husband went ahead on crossing the river warning me to take my slippers off. Unfortunately, I did not listen to him since I was busy snapping at the beauty of the surroundings.
Then snap! I sid through the river bank and got dirty. The good thing is that I was able to secure the valuables and stopped before reaching the water.
This is what I got from not listening to the warnings
We were almost at the farmhouse but I noticed these delicious guavas from the tree. Some were ripe, some are still green, and some the birds ate already.
We took a little rest when we got to the house and watched the panoramic views around.
I wanted to help them at the formwork already but ther is no one that cooked also I volunteered. Anyway, I had to do I since the rest of the people around is paid to do the planting.
So I began cooking the meat before it will spoil but when I was on my way to finding the lighter, I saw these chilies soaked in vinegar along with ginger and other spices.
It must have been kept for too long because of the look of the chilies.
Turns out that Loloy, my husband's cousin was the owner of this and he can not go anywhere without it. To him, it was his appetizer and indeed, food is more delicious when it is a bit spicy. But I think this one is crazy!
I cooked by fire in a makeshift dirty kitchen that my mother came up to. It was half of a metal drum filled with soil and fillets where pots are hanged for cooking.
Before we came here, the husband asked me to buy pig's feet on the meat shop so that the workers will be encouraged through the food that we give them and perhaps come back whenever we needed them again.
The meat is sauteed before it was poured with lots of water and slow-cooked for over an hour to become tender.
At ten in the morning, some of the workers asked for food because they did not have breakfast yet. Ooh, and the dogs are looking up to them waiting to be given too.
I enjoyed serenity for a few hours. This is where I grew up and I miss this place a lot. A piece of my soul is tied to this place which makes me feel satisfied and complete.
At this moment, I am not imprisoned by the four walls of my workplace; Only the wind and the animals can be heard around and everything is natural and fresh, especially the air.
I enjoyed watching Jackelyn and her puppy too.What they have is pure love; they and humans are so much alike.
Here is a bantam chicken too.
We had lots of soup and it was very delicious!
We ate outside the house, and under the mango tree while enjoying ht view. But I guess they did not bother appreciating the beauty around them.
After the food, Loloy had his cigarette which is made from tabaco leaves rolled by duhat leaf; a traditional cigarette that people have around here. My grandparents used to do it too.
Most of them relaxed during the lunch break but I was busy washing the dishes and preparing the sweet potatoes too! I had to do it soon so that I will be able to help them with planting. Then these lovers caught my attention and I snapped them instantly. How sweet! Lols.
Anyway, here are the sweet potatoes that I washed and prepared. I'm very excited to pair them with coffee later.
They went ahead of me so I have no rush too. I took a snap everywhere I wanted to. I wanted to get some young coconuts but they are too high for me to get. I needed someone's help but no one is around.
The clouds are gathering fast and I feared that it would rain too soon and we won't be finishing the task before it will pour.
I noticed some guavas that fell into the ground too. We can notice a lot in life when we are not in a rush, right?
That mountain covered in clouds is part of Mount Kitnaglad and it looked nearer in the farm than my workplace
Everywhere looks so beautiful!
Rows were formed as guides in panting using cattle and a plow. Then someone was assigned to arrange cassava stalks along the row and most of us are covering them up to protect them from the scorching sun and to encourage them to root and grow.
That's the trio that asked for some food earlier.
As I was covering the stalks, I walked past the rotting log and saw a beautiful orange fungus in it. I looked around and found out that it was the only one around I took snaps but it was a bit challenging since it was very bright.
I was also amazed by this rock formation. Have you ever seen similar to this one? I wonder how nature came to make this up. Do you think this is natural?
This guava also adjusted to the ock below it. I guess it was hard for the guava to grow in this situation but it survived and even gave lots of fruits.
But I wonder how the fruit was halved.
My husband got hungry again and decided to steal some sugar cane from the neighboring field. The sugarcane is very hard since it was over two years old already. I admired my husband's teeth because they are very strong.
I got very tired already so I excused myself from my husband to boil water for snacks. He understood and let me go. And on my way to the house, I took snaps around. This time, the clouds have thinned already.
Along the way, I found these rat holes in the ground. I bet somebody is til living under it at the time I snapped them.
I boiled some water and waited for them to finish
That's the cattle Loloy used to plow the file and is grazing grass as a reward for itself after a day's work.
We had coffee paired with sweet potato to fill our hungry stomachs and rested a while before we went home.
Farming is laborious work; It's hard to find people to do the job since factories are already around our place and most of the young men that are able to do the work are employed already. Also, taking advantage of the time that we still worked even on a Sunday.
In just a matter of a year, we will be harvesting them but we still had a long way to go before we can have a taste of that success.
This will be all for no,w I'll see you around
