After a year of dedicated work to harvest fast producing crops my father decided to convert the land to a food forest by planting fruit trees around the property.
That was a year ago when my parents decided to grow low maintenance crops that would gain larger return years later.
Starting from my little sister's idea of planting fruit trees around the hut, a lot more fruit trees had been added and variety of fruit trees have been planted now.
A fleshy jackfruit and lanzones which is given by local government to the farmers, local cocoa plant, and guavas are now more than a year older.
It was my mother who first planted these trees around the property, the idea still wasn't finalized at that time as much of the trees are still growing.
Four years ago the property was over grown with shrubs, it has become a jungle years after my grandparents decided to move out from there to live near the village.
Since then more snakes and critters lived there in the property and a deep silence of the forest grounds left the critters thriving.
Reclaiming back the land took a year to make it usable for farming, from cutting down shrubs and sending venomous creatures away.
Then even all the weeding and constant maintenance of cutting down shrubs, the garden still was overtaken with weeds.
Tending a garden has become so high maintenance than ever that everyone decided to stop going to the farm, except my mother who decided to continue doing the things they started.
My parents had grown vegetables for a year before switching to high value crops like bananas and fruit trees.
Fruit trees needed care for its first year of planting and once it grows it need not much care than it would before.
There were two years old trees there which my parents planted and one year old trees which my sister planted before my parents decided to finally fill the property with a different kinds of fruit trees.
We now harvested bananas and guavas from the trees that are planted two years ago.
It used to be a coconut and a rice farm yet now it was filled with fruit trees and shrub around with a secret garden in the place where my grandparents' house once stood.
It was so secret that even insects and people never knew there was a garden around.
So, let me share a sneak peak of the crops we harvest before switching to planting trees and some of the snippets of our vacation on the off-grid farm.
We still had neighbors though on the other hills around for we are near a village also two hills away which always play loud music in their large speakers which definitely scare forest creatures away.
It was life away from the village that we need the most, more oxygen, no fake lightings, fresh spring water, organic produce, and a natural sleeping pattern.
The noise from the speakers are probably heard because of the silence of the forest and the echo from the hills which made us feel that we still had neighbors after all even when they are so far away.
This is the life I wanted, away from the noise of the daily life, the crowd, and the four walls where life is at best and all is but a hard work.
A simple life is what I really seek with some quiet--or am I getting old?
I am almost there, living the life I dream of with a cup of coffee in my hand.
