Hello All!

Here is an intro into where in the world we get our food in the tropics. There pictures show our first garden, pigs and composting techniques that we have learned from a wonderful NGO named, “Bountiful Harvest.” BH is operated by a Mr. Simon Gill and his lovely wife Jinky (yeah awesome name right?)  Krystal will later post about the palengke or marketplace that we get our other foodstuffs

To the left here we have what are known as Sili peppers or as they are known to my dad as, "the peppers that if you rub them and then rub your eyes by accident will nearly kill you" They are delicious when used in proper quantities :-) Right, our garden


Left we have the first three rows on Okra that I planted. Each row was planted about a week apart so hopefully we will have a staggered harvest instead of having to eat nothing but okra for a couple of weeks.Right a closer shot of the seedlings coming in.


Underneath the okra seedlings on the right side, we have the round mounds where I have planted my "talong" or eggplant. They are not coming in as quickly as the okra but we have small seedlings now that I will post later.

Below left we have our papaya tree which is growing like crazy and to the right we have two malunngay plant/trees. Malunngay leaves have little taste but can be added to nearly anything because they are very nutritious. To grow them you simply lop off a smallish limb from an adult tree and stick it into the ground. It'll do the rest from there haha.

  Below is the backyard garden looking the other direction. The ground was sloped before so I had to dig and place the wood logs on the right side to get a  flatter planting area. They are now slowly but surely being eaten by termites but there are alot of fire ants in the area as well which keep them in check. Its like a Lord of the Rings battlefield or something like every other day.

The pictures to the left and below are the kitchen waste composting system that Krystal and I used. We can compost anything organic in the blue barrels from fruit peelings to chicken and fish bones. The brown colored stuff in the white barrel is called, "Bokashi." It is made with several different ingredients and "EM" or effective microorganisms that help break down everything you put in. Takes about a 2 wks to one month until it is ready to be used. To the right is me with my neighbors pickax which if you look closely is simply a pickax head with a tree branch stuck in it.

 

And finally the pigs of Bountiful Harvest! EM is also used here to help keeps waste and flies managed as well as to keep the pigs healthy. In tagalog they are called "baboy." These pigs have long been served up onto people's plates (including our own) except for the blue eyes one in the top left picture. If I remember correctly he was the runt of the litter and is still fattening up.
At the Youth Rehabilitation Center that is soon to open we are developing an Organic Farming Center (OFC) where we plan to raise pigs and grow crops using many of the techniques that Simon does. Progress is already being made on the OFC with several staff and myself taking a course in basic organic gardening and livestock offered by Simon. And, knock on wood, grant funds and other donor support are being lined up as this is being typed. Soooo fingers crossed everyone!!