Farm

July 15, 2021

 What do you do when laziness strikes? Of course, nothing. It’s laziness at its best. 😁

I’m feeling lazy writing articles for read.cash for the past few days. I’ve been meaning to write an article a day but then laziness strikes and writing is put on hold.

I haven’t visited also articles of friends and new ones coz, yeah, I am feeling lazy.

I am still feeling lazy but upon checking my account, I am not even halfway on my goal for the month, so I have to let this fingers start working.

For this article, I will write about my small farm in the hinterland of Negros mountain.

I was informed by my house staff that the lot beside their father’s property is up for sale. It was around 6,750 sq.m. for only Php 95,000.00. Quite cheap at Php 14.00 per sq.m. It got me interested. But what really bought me was that the lot has several mango trees, some bamboo trees, acacia trees and lots of coconut trees.

So on May 2019 we travelled to San Carlos City, Negros.

We left our house at 12 midnight and drove down to the port of Toledo. This was a three hour drive and we arrived just in time to catch the first ship for Negros. We arrived at the port of Negros past six in the morning and looked for a place to eat. We went to McDonalds as it was about to open at seven.

After having our breakfast, we met up with the owner of the lot, went to an attorney’s office and have our documents prepared. Once all documents were signed, gave the payment to the seller and closed the deal, we were then on our way to the property.

Yes, I am that crazy… paying the property before seeing it.

The travel by car from the city proper was just a few minutes away. But after parking the car, we started travelling by foot as the car can’t go up the mountains. There was only footpath available. It took us more than two hours to arrive to the property. We have to go up and down around three mountains. Now I know the reason why it was so cheap.

But once we reached the property, all the tired soles and back aches were gone. It was so beautiful at the top.

Another bonus on the purchase was that water from the spring was right inside the property that I just bought. The only disadvantage of buying the property was the path in going up there and it is so far. Hopefully, if their local government officials are not corrupt, a road will be built someday.

On our way up the mountain, we met a father and son carrying their crops down the mountain by balancing two sacks tied to a bamboo and carried in their shoulders. We call it “sinangay”.

Per queries, that is the only way they bring down their crops. It was quite a burden for them. After further inquiries I learned that a horse can do a better job in hauling the crops down the mountains as the horse can carry more than two sacks, around 10 sacks exactly.

After a lot of thinking, I finally decided to buy a horse. Another crazy idea, but it will help them ease their burden during harvest season.

I ask my staff’s father to look for one and to negotiate the purchase.

And again I got another bonus on the purchase because after a few months we learned that the horse is pregnant.

Can you see how the good Lord works here? I was only thinking of easing their load and He blessed me with another horse.

We named our horse, Sugar and the foal, Petra.

In summer of year 2020, all the mango trees bear fruits. A contractor sprayed insecticides for the bugs to leave. They wrap each mango fruit and they will also be the one to harvest. Our sharing would have been 3:1. Meaning, for every 4 mangos, 3 goes to them and I get 1. Or 25% of the total sales.

Unfortunately, a strong typhoon came and the mangos were damaged. They were able to harvest some but it cannot be shipped out to Cebu for us to enjoy when ripe because of the lockdown, no ships were allowed to enter to and from Cebu. So the mangos were given to neighbors and for them to consume.

For now,  our income from the farm mainly derives from copra. Copra refers to dried coconut kernels from which the coconut oil is expelled. They collect fallen coconut and remove the coconut kernels before drying them. Once dried, they deliver this to copra buyer down the mountain.

So we planted more coconut. We also planted cacao and avocado.

The last time we were able to visit the farm again was in February 2020. The newly planted cacao, avocado and coconuts were above knee tall already. I don’t know how tall they are now. Someone also comes from time to time to remove the grass.

Hopefully soon, we can visit there again. We planned to build a small hut using the bamboo at the farm.

Just reminiscing travels made as we cannot travel for now.

Thanks for dropping by.

🧡🧡🧡