Hello everyone. I’m sorry for not interacting much because like I said, I ‘m just borrowing my mother’s phone. Anyway, yesterday, we went to my brother’s lot. It is 300 square meter that they bought for 8,000$. It is away from the highway and the city. It still has many trees and wild plants. It looks so green. The air is fresh and it’s away from neighbors. However, there’s still no electricity in this place and it’s hard to be installed water. Well, they are planning to install it a waterpump, but it’s costly. According to the source, it costs 1,000$. Right now, they live here while slowly constructing their tiny home. They weed the grasses everyday because it’s not cemented yet. Since it is a lowland, they paid 2,000$ to dump the sand and gravel to avoid the water crawling in their place; as typhoon is a common problem here in the Philippines that leads to flooding. Well, it’s costly indeed to make our own house. Before hiring construction workers, secure your budget first because it requires big money.
While their house is under construction, they planted vegetables such as Alugbati, Okra, sweet potatoes, mung beans and ginger. We will plant more here so that, all of our vegetables are organic and fresh. We don’t need to buy at the market especially these days that prices have inflated. This is my dream for a sustainable life, because there is no soil in our 160 sqm land area in the house. We need a planter and soil before we can plant many vegetables and we have a little space. We’re very excited to see these plants growing and cook them soon. Such a beautiful life to imagine a house that is surrounded with garden.
Aside from fruits and vegetables, they also planted flowers. The lemon grasses behind have grown thick and healthy. When we rented a house long ago without soil, we can just have a lemon grass if we bought it at the mall. But this time, we’re abundant of it. We always put this plant on our soups and it’s yummy. We also put in inside the pork belly when we make a lechon baboy or roasted pig. Aside from being added into a dish, lemongrass is also great for our health. It has many health benefits. One of those benefits are treating a hypertension. When my mother’s bp is going up, we immediately boil a lemongrass and make a tea. It’s very effective for a normal blood pressure. So here, we’re thankful that they have a spacious yard where we can plant anything.
My brother’s house isn’t finished yet. The wooden floor is not yet done. When we went there, I was always anxious with my baby who loved to stay at the unconstructed wooden floor. She was curious with the holes and the ground she saw below. Since she likes climbing, I knew her plan. That’s why she sat down in the area. But I can’t keep my eyes on her, yet, we went back home immediately because it was really dangerous to bring her there. She also loved going to the ground with gravels and it’s dangerous if she’ll bump on the rocks. She’s very curious of the things she newly sees.
My brother fenced their area through the bamboo. It may look simple, but they spent huge money to it. The first plan was to use a barb wire, but their budget was not enough. The last option with the cheapest expenses is using the bamboo they bought for 5$ per bundle. They spent 150$ for the bamboos including the wooden sticks for pillars and nails. They’re the only one who built their fence to avoid spending much money for carpenters. My mother’s friend who is a carpenter offered help since my brother had only a short time because of his work, but they refused. They don’t like being helped by someone they don’t like. My mother was upset because she was just doing her part as a mother so they couldn’t spend money for the sticks. It was a plan of my mother’s friend to cut the small trees in their farm to be used as the pillar of the bamboo fence so that they don’t need to buy, but they hated her friend.
Since they don’t have carpenters, my nephew is their helper. I’m glad that he learned to obey his parents because when they lived here in our house, he was really spoiled. Maybe because my mother who is his grandmother spoiled him a lot. But now, we see him doing things independently. Well, it’s a good idea to part ways from us because they’re already a family and there’s a positive outcome for the kids.
My nephew surprised me with her powdered face. She said she would scare me, pretending to be a ghost and I was just laughing because she looked cute instead of being scary. Later, she was sad when I took the powder away because she might be allergic to it that will cause cough and cold. My baby was also allergic with powder and strong scents. Anyway, I must stop here. How about you, what did you do yesterday?