Friday, June 17, 2005

Green Green Grass

I went to see my plot of land and it was covered with giant grass that reached my shoulders! Apparently in the two weeks I was gone the grass that had been cut grew back and with a vengence. It should have been pulled out by the roots. It is becoming more and more obvious that Renato has no idea what he is doing. It is going to take much more work now to clear the land. I wish I had my camera because it is truly amazing how fast and prolific it grew. The wonders of nature.

I took Gil to do a quick survey of the area and he is now working on landscaping it for my organic farm. I hope this happens before I croak.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Bad News

Things are starting to go wrong. Two weeks ago my so called supervisor/farm manager disappeared. Vanished. Or so I thought. I called a friend of his who's number I happened to have because this friend was suppose to supervise the clearing of my lot while Renato was away finishing his commitments. Well, I found out that he has not been hit by a truck or murdered on the bus but was in Bicol province and would be back shortly. The nerve! He simply left without a word in the middle of farming operations. He didn't even bother answering my phone calls or replying to my texts. I believe this man is out to con me. By the time he started clearing my lot he had said he had quit he's former job and would work for me full time. That doesn't seem to be the case at all. And to think he was going to charge me P30,000 a month! I agreed to that because he gave me a plan that essentially said would make an enormous profit thus justifying his salary. Too bad. I really was looking forward to working with him. He said all the right things.

The next thing is last night it began to rain very hard. It is still raining hard this morning. This means it is the start of the rainy season in Manila. Can I still plant?

The good news is just before Renato's disappearing act I met someone at the Biosearch who can take his place. Gil Carandang's credentials are exemplary. He also owns and manages an organic farm in Laguna. He also holds internship programs with agriculture students from schools in the USA. He also certifies organic farms that comply with strict government standards (something Renato claimed he was doing too). Apparently, this organic formula that Renato supposedly invented was being sold by Gil. Not only that but he is also selling the recipe for the formula! Could it be that Renato took this recipe and used it as his own? I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if I found out he had a criminal record.