Birds of a feather ...

There are new additions to the animals in the farm. These are the five geese you see below. Although they were bought from two different sources, it seems like they have always been together. Now this is the literal meaning of the saying "birds of a feather flock together".

I was told that in the earlier years of the farm, before I began to actively participate in overseeing it, there used to be a healthy gaggle of geese roaming freely there. Eventually, their numbers began to dwindle until none was left.

Happily swimming in one of the fishponds of their new home.

Thanks to my dad, they were reintroduced to the farm just a couple of weeks ago. Time will tell if they will increase in number.

Annual visit

I really do wish I could make annual visits to the farm. Although this is something that I could not do yearly, I found out just a year ago that we do have annual visitors.

About this same time last year I noticed these white birds flying in and out of the farm, mingling with the grazing sheep. I think they are egrets. I inquired about this from my father and he said they come during the early part of the year and stay for a few weeks. Cool! The farm gets some wildlife visitors annually.

What other wildlife visit the farm?

Years ago I also learned that fruit bats roost under the canopy of the four mature Royal Palms. This may be the reason why we don't see any fruits from these palm trees. There are also undesirable guests like snakes and monitor lizards that make their presence known from time to time.

Up the garden path II

Lately, it seems that I've been concentrating in featuring plants, structures and projects in the lower garden. What about the garden in the upper area of the farm, particularly the back side?

Although the upper garden plants have been sort of "neglected" they are doing just fine. For some reason they are more independent than their relatives in the lower garden. When it comes to nourishment, they are able to fend for themselves without much human help. This summer alone they have not received as much watering as one might expect they needed and yet they are thriving.

For the past several months we temporarily hired additional help to clean the garden area. As much as the plants are thriving well, so too are the weeds. In fact, the viny weeds have found good structural support from the taller plants almost to the point of taking over, threatening to choke them. So the task of the extra helpers were to clear the grass and weeds around and under the plants, remove dead leaves and trunks and other gardening stuff.

Much of the upper garden is the realm of the grazing animals particularly our small herd of sheep, a few cows and water buffalos. In the small areas where they are not allowed to roam are where the plants are growing.

In the places where the plants dominate, you will find different types of Heliconia, different palms (Foxtail, Manila, Fan, Traveler, Triangle, etc.), Norfolk Island Pines, Indian Masts ("Indian tree"), Plumerias, Ti plants, Alocasias, Cycads (Sago palm), ornamental bananas (Blood, Yellow, etc.), different ornamental gingers (Red, Red Torch, Shampoo, Beehive, etc.),  Calatheas (Cigar, Rattlesnake), and somehow a lot of Crotons. Not to mention are some other plants, the names of some I do not know.

These are the plants that are currently there. The 'greening' of the garden isn't done yet. We will continue to add more plants whenever we could. As much as I'd like the garden to look like a jungle of tropical plants now, I'd have to be super patient since the plants with the capacity to grow tall are still relatively small.

If there is one particular thing that I am proud to say about these plants is that they look strong and healthy despite the fact that they are free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
tropical garden Tropical Garden tropical garden Tropical Garden

Might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb

December is going to be another quiet month in our farm and garden while the people in charge are busy picking up the bits and pieces to restore it as close as possible to its pre-storm state. This would also mean that there would be not much to write about either. Right!

I guess I spoke too soon.

I received an early Christmas present in the form of a text message from back home. A great news!

Photo from Wikipedia. The St.Croix sheep.

Brief flashback: Several months ago our farm applied for another shot at the government's starter sheep dispersal program. They are giving out a limited set of five ewes and one ram of the St. Croix breed to every qualified applicant. This new batch of sheep were all imported from the U.S.A. After the required inspection, our farm was again selected to receive this grant. But we had to wait for several more months until the the sheep arrive from the U.S.

Fast forward to today: The good news I received from my mother says that the sheep are now in the regional breeding station and are getting acclimatized to our local climate. The target release date is early 2011. We were advised to prepare our farm and the payment for insurance.

Insurance? Well, this is another requirement before we can take the animals out of the breeding station. Just like the case with our previous livestock grants, we need to have them insured just in case something goes wrong. But unlike before where the insurance was relatively cheap because the animals were already bred locally, this time it will cost us a hefty sum since they are coming from another country. I guess its time to tighten my belt even more, which unfortunately is already very tight. Ouch!

And why is it a great news? Considering that the amount required to insure all six sheep costs almost the same as buying a single pure-bred mature St. Croix from a local breeder, then that's quite a bargain. Still, the initial cash I have to come up with for the six sheep would be around PH₱54,000.00 (± US$1,260.00). Some may say that that is cheap, but to an ordinary folk (like me) that is a LOT of money. And it must be paid in full, not installment.

So why is it a great news again? Because not everyone who applies for the grant gets approved. In fact, because of the limited number of livestock the government can give out, very very few applicants are chosen. It would be unwise not to accept a rare privilege such as this.

So while my belt is already too tight due to the recent setbacks (read this and that), I have to tighten it more by one notch. Financially I'm already hurting, so I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

Beast of burden

One of our mother water buffalo suckling her young. From the looks of it she seems to be saying "A little privacy please?"

The domesticated water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a common but precious livestock in the Philippines and parts of South and Southeast Asia. Like the cow, it is also a source of meat and milk. Although its meat (called "carabeef") is not as prized as that of the cow, its milk is considered superior in taste than that of the cow's.

In rural Asia, the carabao (another name for the water buffalo) is employed to plough fields prior to planting rice, corn and other crops. Known for its inherent strength, it is also used to carry or pull heavy loads. While the West have completely shifted to machines for farm-related tasks, rural Asia continues to stick to its trusted ally, even though it's much slower than its mechanical counterpart. Plus, it is much cheaper to buy and take care of this animal than to purchase and maintain mechanical farm implements.

Some of our carabaos grazing on the grass in the lower garden.

They are also used for transportation. In typical countryside scenes, it is very common to see adults or children (or both) seated at the back of the carabao for a leisurely ride. Normally, it has a gentle and very slow stride but a little whip near its buttocks and it will move faster, a hard whip and be prepared to literally hold on for dear life.

Reproduction is very slow. Gestation takes 9 to 11 months and after giving birth it takes almost two years before the adult female is ready to reproduce again.

Other water buffalos grazing in an open space in the upper garden.

Feeding is easy. All it needs is a fresh supply of green grass. A lick of salt will endear it to its master. I remember on my last visit to the farm, I was astonished why our carabaos would come close to my Dad whenever they see him and start licking his hands. Dad explained that sometimes he would handfeed them a little salt and they just love it.

The water buffalo, another livestock species that still roams with relative freedom in our small farm.

Home-made

"A good home must be made, not bought."
Joyce Maynard, "Domestic Affairs"

When Mom and Dad were on a quest to find mates for the Boer doe and the Anglo-Nubian buck, they had the opportunity to go to commercial goat farms and observe the way things are done there. What caught Dad's eyes were the pens housing the goats, how squeaky clean and organized, made of top of the line construction materials. How Dad wished we could have the same set-up in our farm.

A commercial farm's goat house.

Ours is not a commercial animal farm (well, at least not yet) and technically it's just categorized as a "backyard farm". Without access to a solid financing, we must make do with what we have and put to good use whatever available resources we can get hold of.

The structure that houses our goats. Most of the time they're outside grazing.

When the time has come to move the goats out of their current grazing ground to make way for the plants that need to go there, Dad had to build a new house, a better home for the goats. Since the area where they can move about has been drastically reduced in size, the goats' house must be cozy and roomy enough that they won't feel the need to roam out far. Their food must now be brought to them instead of them looking for it.

The new house for our goats, constructed of materials already in the farm.

Taking into consideration what he saw from the commercial farms he had visited, Dad and his crew built our goats' house out of locally available materials. It may be a cheap housing unit, mostly made of wood and bamboo, but when it comes to comfort and function, our goats' new home is certainly at par, if not better than those found in commercial farms.

Inside the goat house.

My impression of the house Dad build for our goats is that it's cute, cozy and warm, unlike the sterile and cold vibe I got when I saw a picture of a commercial farm's housing units.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

This is a timeless proverb which simply means that someone thinks he would be better in any other situation than where he currently is.

But sometimes this saying is also true in the most literal sense.

A lone young Plumeria tree, a companion plant and some unknown weeds growing side by side.

The grass on the side of the fence where the animals graze are almost non-existent. With the ruminants' voracious appetite for grass and weeds, the enclosed areas seem like they have been meticulously mowed.

Wild grass overwhelming the young palms and other ornamental plants.

On the other side however, wild grasses and weeds are madly growing, competing with the plants for any available space and nutrients in the ground. In some areas they are even taller than the ornamental plants we transplanted a few months ago.

There used to be a dirt road beside the row of plants, now almost covered with grass just after a few days of rain.

Even the dirt paths are under siege. If not cleared of vegetation, they will soon disappear under a new growth of different wild grasses and weeds. And now that the drought is easing its stranglehold over the land, more wild grasses will soon awake from their slumber.

Maybe it's time for the animals to "jump the fence"... literally.

Demo farm

Last Friday, a caravan of three vans full of people from a neighboring province came to visit the farm. Those in the farm were not surprised by the sudden deluge of visitors since they have been informed weeks in advance about this "invasion".

It turns out our guests were new recipients of the government's sheep module program. And they have been advised by the local office of the Department of Agriculture to visit our farm. They wanted to observe how our farm raises the sheep we received years ago from the government's livestock program. Dad escorted them during their entire visit to answer their inquiries.

Because of our success, ours has become an unofficial demo farm. In a way, this trip was to inspire the new recipients to strive in their new endeavor knowing that success is possible.

Let's have a quickie

Nope, this is definitely not about the secret tryst that goes on inside some establishments of ill-repute.

This is just a quick update of a mishmash of activities in the farm.

The temporary pens for the goats and sheep are almost done. In a few more days, the animals will no longer roam freely around the farm. And free from foragers, it will be safe to transplant some of the landscape plants to their new location alongside the dirt road.

In the meantime, they are waiting for another pregnant doe to give birth to an upgraded kid. The five upgrade baby goats I mentioned in my older post are now a rambunctious bunch of young kids.

The plants for landscaping are also doing well and growing in number through cuttings and divisions. In fact, for the first time in the garden, a few of the lobster claw heliconias are in bloom. As for bought plants, there are no new purchases to report of at the moment.

The drained ponds are getting filled with water and restocked with fish. The two leftmost ponds have been drained next for fortification and to remove the silt that accumulated through the years. They will then be combined into one bigger pond.

Lastly the little mango orchard has been sprayed with bloom inducer by a third party under a contract agreement with the farm. Hopefully the yield this year will far exceed the yields of the previous years, which were dismal!

There you go, the quick update just went by so quickly.

In the grand scheme of things

A good friend who has long been reaping the joys of farming curiously requested some current pictures of the farm. I hope he won't be disappointed when he sees a sea of wild grasses and weeds growing unabashedly underneath the feet of the few grazing ruminants.





Well, as you can see from the photos above, that is what's currently on the upper side of the farm. Just think of this sparse piece of land as a blank canvass, waiting for the skillful touch of a master's hand to gracefully paint it with hues that depict the colors of life.

The lower, smaller side houses the fish ponds, a mango orchard, a few other fruiting and non-fruiting trees thriving here and there, and the pens for the pigs and poultry animals. The lower part also is where the ornamental plants we have been painstakingly collecting and propagating are temporarily located, safe from the voracious appetites of the grazing animals.

Eventually, a part of the farm will be transformed and dedicated to organic herb and vegetable gardens. We will also keep the small orchard of mango trees. The grass feeders will be corralled in one sizable area, and the rest of the ground will then be landscaped into a lush oasis of tropical plants, complete with water features and structures where hopefully, one can find temporary respite from the elements or rest from the daily grinds of life.

Just thinking about the enormity of this plan, this may be a grand scheme and quite ambitious at that. But hey, as long as imagination is still free, why not imagine the possibilities.

Of good governance

The government through the Livestock Development Council (LDC) under the Department of Agriculture has a very noteworthy project in assisting livestock farmers improve their means of livelihood.

Any qualified farmer is loaned with a male farm animal of choice as a breeder to improve the breed of his/her existing livestock, otherwise the agency loans the farmer a pair of male and female animals to start with. In exchange, the farmer promises to return one (or two) female offspring of the animals they received from the agency (per year for goats and sheep) for a specified period of years. Different return procedures are followed for different livestock animals since not all species breed at the same rate.

The reason why the farmer has to surrender a female offspring is so that other farmers may also benefit from this project. The animals they surrender are then given to new farmers and a new cycle begins.

To help the farmer succeed in his/her endeavor, the agency provides trainings, sends technicians and veterinarians to check on the progress and health of the animals. The animals are given free grooming (if applicable), annual inoculations against diseases and dewormers too.

This government project is truly worthy to mention with approbation for all the benefits it has provided to countless of farmers.

NOTE:

• The statements above are based on the actual experience we had with this project, and as such may not be the same for others.
• If interested in availing of this project please contact your nearest LDC office.

The animals are roaming

As it is today, the farm is an animal farm. Here is a video of how it looks today with all the animals that are currently on it. Please bear with the quality of the video as this was taken without the initial intent of publishing.

Hopefully the pigs won't feel left behind. There was no video of them to begin with. At least they're on the same boat with the hens.

Thanks to my brother who took the video clips. Easy on the coffee, the videos are a bit shaky.

I will try to upload more videos (as they become available) and pictures (some in stock) in the very near future as I try to catch up with the current developments happening on the farm.

Have a great day my friend!

video background music: "Turning" by Suzanne Ciani