We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest. — Orison Swett Marden
After more than two weeks of sleeplessness because of a side-project, I suddenly shut down last night like a battery-less robot. My sleep-wake cycle has been on a crazy shift and I am imaginarily feeling unwell already.
I was half-sleeping, I couldn't remember much, but the wind was blowing intermittently at dawn and noticed the electricity went off before I doze off again. I woke up at 5:20 in the morning and went outside to check the weather, the wind was just chilling.
Everyone was still asleep that time, so I just reheated our dinner leftovers for my breakfast today then changed my clothes and got ready to visit the orchard. Even at 6 AM, the farmers were already ahead of me and were already working in the fields.
I should really up my game, lol.
The wind was really blowing strong, luckily the coconuts were already harvested already including the ones in the orchard. I feel much safer working under the tall coconut trees knowing nothing would accidentally fall down on me.
Coconut is a high-value crop, but copra price fluctuates a lot that on some season we don't harvest and sell because it is more costly to pay for labor and processing than just leave it.
The process is simple but is laborious. The laborers would climb hundreds of trees to harvest mature coconuts, then use an axe to open it before they can chisel out the flesh and transport it in the dryer at the farm. After drying it, it would be carried downhill and transported to the city to be sold at the big copra warehouses. Our friends will get half of the sales and pay my Papa the other half, then we all wait for the next season again.
Growing Leafy Greens
It's a shame that under me, the orchard looks so overgrown. Just six months ago, I had paid the whole place to be cleared, it's just the the power of nature is stronger than me, haha! But really, underneath the foliage is a few inches deep mud, due to the consistent rain.
I did spend time weeding two raised beds and transplanted some leaf-vegetable sweet potato cuttings from the kitchen. We call sweet potato tops as Gayay and it has a more slender and thinner foliage than the root crop varieties—a great addition to my growing sweet potato collection. So far, I already have 9 hybrids of sweet potatoes in the food forest.
With the cold and rainy weather, the vegetables I am growing are doing well, but their flowers aren't forming fruits. I wouldn't really ask for the sunny days to be back right now as it is more comfortable to do gardening during the wet season. When the rainy season subsides, I will be sourcing sand and gravel to fill the raised beds, so that the plants can grow better roots over the original clay garden soil.
As of the moment, I also have two varieties of Kangkong growing happily in the raised beds. Having leafy vegetables growing on actual soil can help supply enough minerals in our daily meals without needing much supplements.
Banana Harvest
A lot of the different bananas varieties that were planted in the orchard more than two years had multiplied and started bearing banana bunches and I was able to harvest a Costa variety. Even if it was growing on the shadier part of the orchard, it had grown plump banana fruits.
That was actually my Mama's banana plants before she moved to the farm, the ones I planted are still short and skinny. Usually, the original plant die off and it is the succeeding shoots that matures and bear fruits successfully. We really have a terrible typhoon seasons and like the previous years, our banana plantation got zeroed out. It took as another year before it recovered.
I'm feeling a bit sad about my food forest because due to the consistent rain, some of the seedlings died, including the Cherimoya. In March, I will be finding new seedlings to add to the food forest and to replace those that didn't survive.
I really miss being a morning person, even if I'm honestly is not one. Being a night owl and sedentary seems an easy path for me, but at my age, I can really feel my body deteriorating while working at night and starting sleep in the morning.
Anyway, after many nights of coding, I'll be releasing the next version of HiveHealth website soon. After it, I'll might take a rest and focus more on doing labor at the orchard.
PINNED POSTS
 | A Sustainability Review of the Year 2022 Starting from January, let's have a trip down the highlights of my journey in self-sufficiency and sustainability. |
 | 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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