Victims and Survivors

I'm glad to announce that my garden is recovering from last month's erratic weather. The unexpected rains and uncommon heat were too much for my tomato seedlings and cauliflower, but my greens, surprisingly, survived. The past two weeks I harvested mustard greens, bok choy and romaine lettuce. I've actually been having a steady supply of salad greens since I decided to leave them in the propagation house/greenhouse to grow. This month's harvest of lettuce had a normal appearance, unlike last month's and the months before when the lettuce seedlings core grew into a stem which gave the plants an alien appearance. It was still delicious though and didn't stop me from making my salads.

Growing one's own vegetables certainly gives one a first hand look at Climate Change. I was certainly brutally aware of the unusual weather's effects. November thru February are usually the cool-dry months of the year. So it was quite disturbing when the heat reached 90 degrees F and at the same time storms were still brewing way past their season. On the BBC's environmental report today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded, with 90% accuracy, that Climate Change is caused by humans. Despite scientists persistent declarations of the reality of Climate Change it seems that the US government is consistently politicizing scientific reports on the matter (The US is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the world and is the only first world country that hasn't agreed to the Kyoto Protocol), according to The Union of Concerned Scientists. Because of this, the world is having a hard time controlling or reversing Climate Change. The greatest fear is that sea levels are rising which is causing havoc to climates all over the world. It is quite scary. Especially when it is causing damage to our food supply.

Disaster

My poor vegetables were wiped out by the brief but unusually strong storm last month. The only thing that survived were some Japanese eggplants which I'm harvesting today. Its such a pity and I was devastated. I won't be posting as often until I have more produce. So in the meantime you can check my other, recently created, blog - still about food of course.

Amaranth: From the Farm to the Frying Pan

Amaranth plants just sproated everywhere right after a few days of heavy rain, coming from plants I uprooted a few months ago. The variety I'm using has reddish purple and green leaves. I've never tried eating these so I wanted to try it in its simplest form. I adapted a recipe for Sichuan Stir-Fried Amaranth Leaves with Garlic.

Amaranth has a very interesting history and has many food uses as the entire plant is edible, including the stalk. It also has an impressive amount of nutritional value.


Steamed Amaranth Leaves with Garlic
It taste amazingly like alugbati, a native edible vine, whose leaves are also of the same color as the amaranth. It has an intense smoky sweet spinach flavor and can therefore be substituted for any spinach dish.

300 g bunch of fresh amaranth leaves
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
salt to tast

Place leaves in a steamer for 2 minutes or until leaves wilt and shrink to about a fourth of its original quantity.

Heat butter, salt and garlic in a saucepan on low heat, just until garlic starts to sizzle and salt dissolves. Garlic should not change color.

You may either remove garlic from the oil or leave it in (I leave it in), then add the steamed amaranth.

*The cooked leaves contain about 8% protein, 4% carbohydrates and are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins B and C in higher concentrations that spinach. For example, only 47 g of cooked leaves contains 100% of the minimum daily requirement of Vitamin C.

Fruits of the Farm

This pretty flower is from my okra plant. I won't be eating this batch of okra, they're being grown for collecting the seed which I will plant the next time around.

Organic Farming Solutions

I learned a lot today about organic farming from Mrs. Rosalina Tan who is one of the founders of OPTA and from Ed Samaniego who gave a seminar on Biointensive Organic Farming. I had five problems dealing with my vegetable plants and each one was answered today.

1. Some of my plant's leaves are turning yellow -- this is a sign of nitrogen deficiency.


2. My squash and melons die after growing healthily for 2-3 weeks after being transplanted -- might be a fungal infection due to overwatering.


3. I have an infestation of some powdery white substance underneath the leaves of some plants -- these are aphids which can be terminated with a product OPTA was selling called Bioneem, a natural insecticide made of neem extract, lemongrass, citronella and atis extract. The citronella in this mixture makes this product dangerous to all insects on the farm which includes beneficial ones. This product should only be sprayed on the affected plants.


4. Some of my tomatoes turned brown at the bottom -- calcium deficiency: add egg shells or dolomite to soil. I read a bit on dolomite as a supplement to calcium deficient soil and found out that it is not recommended in organic farming. A good source of calcium used by organic farmers is gypsum (calcium sulfate), mined limestone, legume green manure, rock (tricalcium) phosphate, wood ash, clam & oyster shells. Calcium apparently solves many organic farming problems such as resistance to disease and poor crop yield.
5. What to mix with coco coir as a mix for fertilizing soil -- vermiculture or chicken manure.

Will apply these solutions and see what happens. I had a long and pleasant conversation with Mrs. Tan who is quite dedicated in advocating organic agriculture. I'm glad to have met such an admirable woman. Cheers to you Mrs. Tan! Check this site for information on OPTA's history and mission.

Typhoon Season

The typhoon season is upon us. The winds are pretty strong and it looks like it will be strong typhoons this year. Most people stayed in town for the weekend as typoons already started in some provinces. Here in the city its been raining and last night the winds were howling but no typhoon yet. Well, looks like my tomato plants will have an early retirement. Time to start planting water hungry vegetables and fruits. Although typhoons do hit the city pretty badly, my farm in Antipolo will be safe from them. Or thats what its geograhic climate suggests, I hope global warming hasn't changed that.

Fruits of the Farm

I spent the afternoon with my friend J at the farm yesterday. Had some drinks and music playing while I checked out the veggies.

Mangoes Galore!

It's the season of mangoes and I was given a kaong (a large basket) of green mangoes! Aside from eating it with bagoong, which I will surely do, I will try some new recipes using this sour fruit. Already I have found some Indian pickles and Indonesian salad recipes on the net. Looks like mangoes are in season all around SEA.


Some of them are turning yellow. Mango jam is next on the list.

A Niche Market

I am passionate about organic food because I believe in health and I want to save the environment (baby steps). I'm hoping more people become aware of the dangers of conventional agriculture to their personal health, to the environment and to society as a whole. Failing to reach others intellectually or emotionally, there's always the flavor of conventionally grown produce compared to ones organically-grown. Organic food taste a LOT better. It's a world of difference. I was first and foremost a lover of good food and eventually I became concerned about the state of the environment. In my studies I learned of the connection between the environment and the food we eat which led me to start an organic garden last year. So far there have been few ups and many downs.

Yesterday I joined the Organic Market for the 3rd time. I had vine-ripened red cherry tomatoes, Italian arugula, chrysanthemum leaves, mustard greens, flat-leaf parsley, lemongrass and scallions. Well, I made enough to pay for the stall I rented and buy some groceries for myself but I'm beginning to have doubts about this venture. It doesn't seem to me like there are enough people out there who want to eat organic food. Also, the market is only open on Sundays which is a rest day in this country. I asked Mara, our organizer, and she said the "powers that be" won't allow the market to open on Saturdays because there is already a Saturday market going on. Completely ridiculous and a decision based on that premise should be illegal! But frankly I don't know what to do about it. So I told myself that we just have to make do with what we've got. Which is Sunday 7am to 2pm. Luckily, I don't give up easily and I've come up with some ideas to attract people over on Sundays. I will write about it if all goes well, or doesn't, but right now it's still forming in my head.

The other problem I'm having at the moment is that I am not producing enough to tap a wider market. The problem isn't a lack of land area but the people I'm dealing with. Mistakes made in agriculture has big and time consuming repercussions. So its a slow process when things don't go right. One of my farmers misunderstood me and cut off all the branches and most of the leaves off my fruiting cherry tomato plants. Needless to say, the plants are now dying. Bloody idiot. After having to calm down for a couple of days, I thought of a way for this to never happen again. All instructions I give will be written down on the whiteboard before I leave the farm. I also gave each farmer something that he alone is responsible for. Hopefully I've organized things so the farm will run more smoothly.

On the up side, I've been cooking more than usual with all the vegetables I have on hand. Eating something I've grown and knowing how fresh and toxin-free my fruits and vegetables are gives me a sense of well-being. And the flavors are truly astonishing after eating bland tomatoes and not-so-fresh produce for a year. This morning I made some lemongrass iced tea using fresh lemongrass from my farm and organic muscovado sugar instead of regular granulated sugar. Yum!

Hot Weather

The weather nowadays is wilting my poor plants. It is so hot, I've had to put nets all over the farm to shield the plants form the intense heat. Despite the stifling weather my tomatoes are fruiting nicely. The herbs, mustard greens and arugula are also doing well, even without the nets. The problem is the soil dries much faster so we have to water more often and the leaves of the fruiting plants droop and some turn brown. The netting should shield the plants from to much sun. One thing that's thriving in this heat are the African Marigolds. I had more of the marigolds seeded and will plant them in borders. These marigolds are also edible so I'm eager to try them on salads and use them to decorate sweets. What I'm having a hard time with are the peppers and eggplant and the problem has nothing to do with the heat. These plants bear one fruit at a time and take a long time for even that one fruit to come about. I figured it is from the way the pants are being watered. The pepper and eggplant plants do bear numerous flowers but then come to bear single fruits. I think the farmers probably water the flowers off, so I gave instructions to water only the ground around the plants and not the tops. Hope that works. Being in the farming business certainly teaches one a lot of patience.

Sunshine, Water and Compost

These are the three most important factors in growing healthy fruits and vegetables. Sunshine and water are easily determined by your geographical area. Although now-a-days, the changes in weather patterns may adversley affect the farm's produce. But nothing a bit of ingenuity can't solve. More on that later.

In sustainable organic farming, composts take on a whole new meaning. The composition of nutrients placed in the soil can make or break your seedlings. Is there too much nitrogen? Enough potassium? What about phosphates? It's all very scientific. My farmer's were taught a compost mixture that was simply not sustainable, nor purely organic, for my small farm. I want all my resources to come from natural sources, whithout the use of synthetic chemicals in any stage of the process. The problem with the compost my farmers were getting is that one of the ingredients, namely the rice hulls, were not organically grown. I didn't know this until recently. This was acceptable to my ex-consultant because OPTA's (see one of my past entries for more info) rules state that organic fertilizers or compost can use the word organic if 70% of it is organic. This is not acceptable for me.

So, as I was pondering on a new way to feed my plants, something quite unexpected happened. I was sitting in my propagation house when in walks a person I have never seen before. He introduces himself and it turns out he's my neighbor's landlord and he also happens to have a small-scale organic farming operation very close by. I went over and we discussed the finer points of compost and after-harvest production. To my surprise he told me that he came up with his farm as a byproduct of what he really does which is mining clay for a German company. The clay, he explains, contains the nutrients and the absorbing characteristic that is essential in a good compost mix. By absorbing, I mean the mix should be able to absorb and retain nutrients and water for the plant to feed on. But too much moisture is also a problem so other things must be added to make the compost mix have good drainage at the same time. It's a balancing act. Well, he has been doing this and showed me his mix and how his plants grow well with this. He came out of nowhere and now I'm buying my compost mix from him.

Another good organic source for the farm is coco dust. I will be using coco dust as a growing medium for my seeds and as mulch on my beds. Mulching is really important for keeping soil healthy. Nothing worse for the plants than dried out and exposed soil. Not to mention the aesthetic value...

We also found some "black gold" in the garbage heap in one of the empty lots in the compound. Fallen leaves were dumped there and in 3 years it decomposed to make compost. Here are my farmers collecting the valuable stuff.

Gaia's Garden Produce FAIL

I just left my farmer, Ador, at the Organic Market to sneak a few hours more of sleep but now that I'm home I'm wide awake. So here I am blogging away.

I'm selling mostly herbs this time as my tomatoes, eggplant and peppers were a failure. I fired my consultant, or rather I will as soon as he finishes fixing my water pump, which should have been done weeks ago, hence the crop failure. I took all my seeds back. What was left of it. Apparently, half the seeds I had with him he seeded and was also a failure. Then he tells me he is making my farm his priority. What is he talking about?? NOW its a priority?? Good riddance.

We seem to be doing much better without him. I had the rest of my seeds planted and most are sprouting healthily. So for the meantime I have a whole bunch of herbs to offer at the Market.

lemongrass
basil
purple basil
Italian parsley
curly parsley
Shinjuku chrysanthemum leaves
cherry tomatoes
chives
arugula

These greens look gorgeous! If I do say so myself...

What's New In My Garden

An anonymous comment by a reader has brought me back to virtual reality. Why was I gone so long? Well, where do I start? For one thing, my computer is down so I have to travel to my mother's house whenever I need to use her PC. And may I warn one and all who plan to transport their PC from abroad - DON'T. It will break down and you will loose ALL your files. Ok, enough said about that. Let's get back to gardening.


I am now on my second batch of vegetables to be harvested. The first being the edamame. On 1000 square meters, I was able to harvest 80 kilos of edamame. They were delicious. Sweet and addicting, the plump beans were a hit. Especially with my mom who ordered and ate 20 of the 80 kilos I had. Edamame did well during the rainy season so will be one of the vegetables I will be planting during that season. As for now, I have several varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and culinary herbs. I had a small problem with tobacco mosaic decease so now the garden is a non-smoking zone. Apparently, the nicotine from the smoke and fingers of the smoker causes this decease and tomatoes are very sensitive to it. But that's ok, only few plants had to be uprooted and burned. My garden is actually abounding with tomatoes!

Some things I need to change about my garden:
1. Cover exposed areas with covercrops, companion plants and beneficial plants. I see too much soil exposure which tells me more nutrients are being depleted unnecessarily. There is not enough diversity in one given area which causes an unbalanced insect population, ergo - some of my plans are being devoured.
2. Landscape design. My garden has to look pretty.
3. All herbs, except those used for companion planting, will be potted.

Gaia's Garden

Have I been gone for 2 months already? I have been reading up on organic farming and marketing, not to mention actual visits to my lovely garden. I will start to regularly post and treat this site more like a farm journal. I am learning more and more about organic farming and would like to pass this on to whomever might find this useful or simply for a good read or anecdote. As soon as I get my new gas range, I will also start posting more recipes.

My farm is looking nice with neat rows of vegetable beds and terraces. Here are before & after photos





For harvest in November:

Edamame

Salad Greens:
Sylvetta Arugula
Bau Sin Mustard
Mizuna Mustard
Rosette Green Tatsoi
Purslane
Bronze Arrow Lettuce

Potted Herbs:
Mint
Thyme

I will have a stand in the Organic Market at the Legaspi Park on Sundays starting Nov 6. It’s called Gaia’s Garden and this is what my flyers will say:

Gaia’s Garden is an organic kitchen garden located in Antipolo. We grow gourmet vegetables, fruits and herbs. The variety of produce we have are specifically chosen for their flavor and nutritional value. Gaia’s Garden is organized using sustainable, environmental and organic principles.



All my seed orders arrived a week ago and we will start germinating next week. I should have a new batch of fruits and vegetables available in January! In the meantime its freshly-picked edamame and salad greens every week at the market. I’m trying to organize a mid-week delivery for those who want fresh vegetables during the weekday. But one step at a time. I still have so much to do for the market!

Organic Standards

It is very unfortunate that there are no laws requiring organic certification for farms or ready-made food that claim their products organic. Anyone may say they are selling or growing organic produce even if they are not. Anyone may claim organic standards based on their own definition of organic.

I'm learning about all of this as I was innocently buying organic produce wherever a grocer claimed it. When I spoke with Mara Loinaz, a proponent for organic produce and organizer of the Organic Market, she said that most who claim organic are actually not. Mara inspects the farms who want to sell their produce at her market to make sure they are up to her standards of organic. But what exactly are the Philippine standards of organic? The Phil. government has a body that certifies farms and ready-made food, but it isn't required. As I understand it it is used by organic farms that export their produce because the importing countries require certification. I did a little research and found a brief explanation of organic standards by the Department of Agriculture. Similarly, the Agribusiness & Marketing Assistance Service and MASIPAG, "a farmer-led network of people's organizations, non-government organizations and scientists working towards the sustainable use and management of biodiversity...", have both written their standards for organic farming.

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.

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.

A Crock of Manure

It seems wherever I go and mention organic farming a discussion on the meaning of organic arises. Yesterday, Sister Rosalie called to ask if she could give my private number to Doris, a member of her foundation, Vibrant Earth, of which I have recently become Vice President. In the process she began to tell me that on her last trip to the provinces she found out that one of the biggest producers of “organic” fertilizer, the Elizaldes, uses chicken manure from their chicken farm. Their chickens are not organic or free-range but are raised the conventional hormone and anti-biotic way. We do not consider their fertilizer organic and would not use it on our organic farms. After talking to Sister Rosalie, I got a call from Doris, she wanted to know if I was interested in buying carbon rice hull from her. Rice hulls are the outer covering of the rice grain and carbon rice hull is rice hulls that have been incinerated and turned to a usable fertilizer. Rice hulls can also be used as mulch in gardens. Our conversation went like this:
I asked if her rice was organically grown and she said it was not.
I told her I plan to use only organic fertilizers in my farm.
She said it was ok to use this fertiilzer because it has been incinerated and all the toxic chemicals are no longer present.
I’m not quite sure about that being scientifically correct but aside from that I told her that I try to promote organic agriculture and therefore cannot use her product because that would be condoning conventional agriculture especially since there is organic fetilizer available.

So ok we ended that topic and naturally moved on to organic standards. Doris grows organic fruits and vegetables and is a member of OPTA (Organic Producers Trade Association). She says that OPTA allows the use of conventionally raised chicken manure on fruit trees because the toxins it may have will not reach the fruit but remain in the trunk of the tree. Needless to say, I was skeptical. Why not use organic fertilizer on everything and she said it was too expensive considering the amount that is used on her farm. Is there a cheap and effective alternative? I must find out…
It is disturbing to know that organic producers may be using so called “organic” fertilizers and then considering themselves organic producers. What then is the standard for produce to be called organic?

List of local plants

Some plants and/or seeds I will be getting in Los Banos:

Local Fruits & Vegetables:

Papaya - I like the firmer and sweeter orange fleshed one compared to the yellow which tends to get mushy when ripe
Banana, 3 kinds – Latundan (pale orange in color, similar in texture as the African or South American Chiquita banana) ,
Lakatan (pale yellow in color and very creamy in texture), Saba (needs to be cooked to soften, normally
used in cooked desserts or savory dishes)
Pineapple - I have to make sure I get the less fibrous kind...
Pechay (similar in looks and taste to Swiss Chard) - Is it Swiss Chard?
Sayote - can eat both the fruit and leaves which are delicious made into a salad
Malungay - is actually a tree with edible small dark green oval leaves, good with eggs and in soups
Ampalaya (Bitter Melon) - has a bitter but oddly satisfying flavor, good with eggs and mixed with meat dishes
Camote (similar in taste to sweet potato, has cream colored flesh with deep purple veins) - really yummy fried with sugar
or used in bread mmmmmmmm!
Ube - I think this deep purple root is endemic to the Philippines, it is used to make a delicious pasty jam, cake or in ice
cream. I plan to experiment and use it to make bread...
Calamansi - a sour lemony citrus used to make juice and as flavoring in sweet and savory dishes
Pili Nuts - another edible endemic to the Philippines?
Calabasa (Squash)

Beneficial & Ornamental Plants: several varieties of Bamboo, Marigold and other plants I find interesting and aesthetically pleasing. I have to see whats available.

Herbs: Dill, Basil, Coriander, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary and other herbs I might find.

It would be nice if I had a book that listed all the local fruits and vegetables. Most of what we find in the groceries were brought over from either the US or Europe. I would definately like to add more of the local varieties in my garden.

Final Plans

I finally met up with Renato, my farm manager, after a 2 week delay. He was stuck in Bicol province waiting for the rains to die down so he can supervise the harvest of crops and come back to Manila. He’s cell phone was out and there was no way to contact eachother for a couple of days. I was beginning to worry about how serious he was taking our project! So, last night, we made the final plans for the garden/farm. We decided to start with local plants as they are readily available. This weekend we go to Los Banos to purchase bamboo plants, flowering plants, ornamental plants, fruit & vegetable seeds and seedlings, butterfly larvae, and chickens. I’m quite excited!