My Farmer Chronicles

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Written by
1 year ago
Topics: My Story, Food, Foodie, Farming, Plants, ...
Some people plant flowers in their allotments. These poppies were beautiful but they were actually from an abandoned plot. They thrived on their own.

Good morning readers. My topic today is not my usual travel blog. Today I will be sharing with you the time my friend Ermy and I ventured out into farming! Yes you heard that right! The nurses became a farmer Joes. We did this during our first year in Guernsey as we were needing some past-time and hobby and because we figured why not have our veggies free. Ermy is from the Mountain Province, and I am a farmer's grand daughter and had some farm experience as a kid. That is about all our farming experience so far.

Flowers in the farm.

So the first thing we did was find an allotment for rent, as we were not land owners and cannot afford to be so. The cheapest one we could find costs 120£ for a year. That is 5 plots including free water and free horse manure for fertiliser as the owner's sister owns a ranch. Then we moved on to finding farming equipments, boots, plant tents, seeds and seedlings. Some we bought and some we asked from others.

Resident cow who sometimes stomps on our crops.
Overgrown weeds. Before our toil.
After weeding and hoeing!

When we got all the equipments we proceeded on to cleaning and weeding the plots which I would say was the hardest part of the whole farming process. As the plot we got was overgrown with weeds and some old root crops which were very challenging to remove. It was back breaking I tell you, but we finally saw soil! We tended to the soil breaking them down and making them softer and adding fertiliser on it so it is ready and optimal for planting.

Our strawberries 🍓
First plot with baby plants. On a tent to protect it.

We planted strawberries, blueberries, pumpkins, cucumbers, beans, onions, potatoes, herbs, rocket salad, pak choi, and other random things. We watered it every chance we got. Ermy and I were alternating depending on our work schedules and sometimes we both come together. And after a patient waiting period of 2 months our crops were thriving and ready to harvest. It was the best feeling seeing the literal fruits of our labour.

My turn to water them. I prefer manually doing it than with the hose as it was my arm exercise.
Signs of growth and life.
The kales.

Initially, we harvested for our own consumption. We enjoyed beautiful organic meals and fresh mint teas to our hearts content. Then we realised we just cannot consume them all. So we started giving them away to close friends and also selling them for cheap.

First strawberry flower!

The Filipino community in the island is very helpful. Someone was advertising our crops freely on the Filipino community group. They love our pak choi 🥬 or pechay as we commonly call it back home. It is very hard to find it in markets and shops Guernsey. In fact the odds are almost NEVER and they usually cost a fortune too.

Our giant sunflowers growing. And down below when it's fully grown.
I enjoyed couple of selfies with them ❤️
Beautiful pea shoots ❤️

Some people came to our plots to personally experience harvesting veggies and get pechays! And some just ordered via online messaging and texts. We harvest for them and deliver it by foot if they live close by, and we ask them to collect it from our apartment if they live quite far.

Our potatoes ❤️
Our deformed carrots
Our salads

Unfortunately we had to stop farming as the weather started turning harsher. Winter was coming. Also, our work load became too hectic and exhausting that we just could not manage our time anymore.

Beans and Cucumbers ❤️
Pechays
Since we were planting organic food and not using chemicals. Slugs do sometimes take a nibble of our crops.
Our pumpkin 🎃

Overall, we did love our farming experience. There is a certain sense of fulfilment from eating and earning from something you have worked hard for. It is not an easy job and it does not pay so well considering all the effort you put into it. That really made me develop a higher appreciation for the professional farmers who feed the masses after this plight.

Onions ❤️

I do wish to do this again in my own backyard when I am able to afford a house. I want to live sustainably off the land someday! That's all. I hope you enjoyed this article. Cheers!

Dishes from our crops ❤️

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Comments

I really enjoyed reading about your allotment. You and your friend did an amazing job there! I have an allotment too, but I'm not doing nearly half as good as you. Now the season has ended, but what happens with your plot next? Are you planning to grow stuff there again in new season?

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Awww I am quite curious what crops you planted in yours. Unfortunately I am leaving Guernsey so I cannot continue planting there. Hopefully I can do so again in the UK mainland.

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Ohh, that's a shame. A lot of great work went into it. Hopefully someone will take over that plot. In mainland I had to wait 2 years for allotment from the council. Then another year of swapping the plots until I got the one I like ;) If you scroll back through my posts, there are a few about allotment :)

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Oh that is fabulous I will be scrolling for it :)

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Haha, I see you found some already :)

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Ang cutie ng Sunflower, sarap talaga mag ka farm

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Uu I love sunflowers. Dream ko nga mag quit ng nursing at mag farm girl. 🥳

$ 0.00
1 year ago

I liked the change up. 🤔 maybe the sunflower pics in your previous article were a clue 🤣 Eating, giving, and selling the crops would be fun. I have about 15 meters of land I could plant but it would have to be next year.

$ 0.02
1 year ago

Yeah it can be your third job seeing as you have so many jobs. Free food, good for fitness, and source of income too.

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Oh it would be a stash for me and other family members. Not near enough room unless I built some plant boxes and used the side of back yard. It would just take away from time here

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Your plants came out so beautiful. I keep eyeing the potatoes

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Our carrots looked squished. I wonder what we did wrong. But I am proud of the works of our hands.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Would you mind sis if I ask you like where are you from? It's night time here looks like you are from USA, I hope you guys have enjoyed doing farming

$ 0.01
1 year ago

I am from the Philippines but living in UK sis.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Wow that's interesting haha, but the price was really cheap though, 120?? Must have been a great experience huh? I too have some farming experience as a kid. My mum used to own a small farm back then, planted all of our vegetables.

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Yeah only 120£ for a year of rental. Pretty reasonable considering we earned it back from selling our crops.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Wow, it's a win-win situation all the way then

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Wow grabe ang dami sis. Ang ganda ng sunflower sis. Ang laki tas na amazed ako sa Pechay. Ang tataba sis. Ganda tingnan. 🥰

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Hee hee fruits of our labour sis. I miss farming.

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Oo sis nakakatuwa ka naman.🥰❤️

$ 0.00
1 year ago

Love it! It is a wonderful and detailed pictorial post on farming!

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Thank you. I enjoyed writing this :)

$ 0.00
1 year ago