“Bahay kubo, kahit munti,
ang halaman doon ay sari-sari,
Singkamas at talong,
Sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani;
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa
at saka mayroon pa
Labanos, mustasa
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya
sa paligid-ligid ay puro linga.”
It was in his book called Tagsibol (Spring Season) where Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, a lawyer, farmer and once the Chief Food Security Officer of the land, said that a beginning farmer should start small and begin with easy to grow vegetables such as those in the Bahay Kubo song, a traditional folk song.
This made me think. What should we grow in this small farm?
First off, I think that we should have fruit trees, vegetables and animals on the farm. Animal wastes can give us manure which we can turn into organic fertilizers through composting and the grass / waste products of plant production can be fed to the animals. (Note to self, learn about Zero Waste farming techniques and composting.)
FRUITS
Some fruit trees are already existing in the said piece of land. From our quick scan of the property, we saw:
- Mango – around 6 trees of varying sizes
- Coconut – 7 trees
- Langka (Jackfruit) – has fruits now
- Banana – around 30 plants, some with fruits
What else should we have?
- Calamansi – which is a good source of Vitamin C and can be used to make juices and sawsawan with patis, toyo for almost any Filipino dish
- Papaya – I saw two seedlings but am unsure if it’s Papaya or just weeds
- Guapple – A mentor switched from calamansi production (there might be an over supply already) to this fruit, also a good source of Vitamin C
- Avocado – a favorite of my wife
- Lanzones – I wonder if this attracts too much fruit flies and smells when rotten, but apart from that, I love lanzones!
- Watermelons – hmmm… love these!
- Cantaloupe (melons) – ahhh… yessss, but very seasonal
VEGETABLES
Cash crops or for our own consumption, these are the ones we like to grow and eat:
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Ampalaya
- Upo
- Kangkong
- Siling Labuyo
- Green/Red Pepper
- Sinkamas
- Potato
- Other herbs
GRAINS
- Corn – I added this Grains classification because we all love to eat corn. There’s a portion that’s low and we may be able to grow corn there.
FLOWERS
Not only for aesthetic appeal but also to attract various insects that will kill harmful bugs and help in pollination.
- Sunflower – it looks great in a farm!
ANIMALS
- Goats
- Cows
- Chickens
- Ducks
- Quails (?)
- Dogs – to breed Goldens, Labs, German Shepherds, and askals
Ok, a long list. Apart from dogs, we have no experience with most of the above. Time to look for training seminars, preferably free to shorten our learning curve.
Camp Le Merry 