Sowing A Seed To Reap

She was sitting in a couch big enough for her to drown in it. She feels comfortable squatting in it. In front of her are two laptops, she borrowed her father’s laptop since he is not using it yet. Again to multi task on short links for her faucets. Hahaha. But turning left and right is kind of tiring for her. So she removed her glasses and just relaxed for a while, stared away from the screen and looked at the calendar hanged just above the desktop table she is at.

Thinking. And here goes…

It’s been seventeen days that we’re staying here at our hometown. And it is also been almost two weeks that I haven’t written anything, how much more to post here. I might have been taking my time in a vacation mode, just living the small town life, away from the rush in the city. Or maybe I was just slacking off. Any way that would be, it’s just my excuse again anyway. I’m sorry for that. Haha.

Sadanga, the name of my hometown. It is a small village, in a bowl- like place surrounded by rugged hills and mountains characterized by a steep and deep ravine slopes. Located far from the city, and estimated 25 kilometers away from the capital of the province, our place seemed detached from civilization. But life here is great also, simple is the right word. And our place is rich in natural resources, with hot springs, falls and bountiful water resources. So we get by.

The main source of livelihood here is farming. The farmers also makes “kaingin” a somewhat like that of a wide garden, or according to the internet is a slash and burn agriculture technique, located in the forest, as an additional source of needs at home. What a simple kind of living we have here. And though some of the modern technologies are being used here, we still use indigenous practices in our daily lives. And some of the cultures we have here are still in tact. I just hope the future generations will preserve most of it.

Half my life, I’ve been living here with my family and friends. My siblings and I just went to the city, a 6 hour drive from here, to enroll in a university. So that started our journey through adulthood. Haha. My siblings are staying at the city because of work there, and for me, because it is more convenient for my child, since his father works at another city, he can always come visit his child. Unlike if we’re staying here at our village. It will be a long traverse down the rugged roads. Also my child is studying in the city so we only come home during break periods and holidays.

But being here now in our small village, I get to think back about my good days here. When I was younger, I go to the rice fields with my father or sometimes my mother and my siblings. We usually go there to prepare for the planting of rice. We remove weeds from the fields, and burn it to make fertilizer, or get sunflower plants then we cover it with soil together with the ashes from the burnt weeds to make an organic fertilizer for the plants.

And during lunch time, we eat together. It’s the best lunch out there in the fields, because in my experience, it makes the food more delicious, knowing you worked for the day and get rewarded with food. Do you follow me? Hehehe.

After we’re done with the meal, we then continue with work, then go home. We tend to leave the fields at three or four in the afternoon, because the walk home is almost an hour and we don’t want to walk in the dark as the pathways are narrow, we might fall into the ravines.

Those days were just one of the memories I have here. The things I’d love to do again, sometimes. Haha.

Planting and reaping rice is a long process, filled with patience and hard work. After weeding the fields and creating rice grain seed beds, the rice fields should be filled with water until they are ready for sowing and until the plants grow and ready to be harvested. So the farmers need to go to their fields almost daily, to check on the water supply of the rice fields and to pull weeds growing around the rice paddies. It takes at least 7 months from planting seeds to harvest times, and while the farmers are waiting, they sometimes make “kaingins” and plant legumes there or tend to other chores they need to do.

This mono cropping farming system is practiced and observed here in our village. And rituals are also observed based on our culture. See, we still have customs and beliefs associated with our daily lives. Not just in our life cycle, there are also with agricultural and economic cycle.

She now has a lot in mind to wander to. One of which the history of their place, how their customs and beliefs were borne. It will be a sad scenario, to look back and be ignorant of one’s culture.

Oral traditions though were passed from their ancestor to this generation, but this needs the element of accuracy such as dates, sequences and details of events, which can only be accomplished by printed words.

It is a seed to be planted to the future generations. As for it to not be forgotten.

The knowledge planted will spring clear insights and hope contributory to their lives in this fast changing world.

Hey, y'all! Thank you for reading until this stop!+_+