Escape to Antique

View of the sea, the house, the garden, and the restaurant at Alpas. Photo by Dada Mercado.

First of all, our trips to 12 permaculture sites around the country is finally over! We've been on the road since August 31. For the next 20 days we will be in our "office" processing all the data we have collected. There's quite a lot. And we're excited to work on this phase of the project. Plus we have to catch up with the blogs, there's 5 more site including this one. It's just about sharing our experiences, no scientific data to share yet. You have to wait for that in 2019!

We went to Antique via Iloilo last October 15-16. It was all our first time in this place, specifically in Tobias Fornier (formerly Dau). Our Antique respondents, Kim and Ken, have been helpful with promoting our research endeavor on social media in the months leading to this visit. Prior to this trip, we haven't been to a permaculture site on a beach! It was either in the middle of a rice field or a peri-urban area.

We arrived safely in a place called Alpas. Super thanks to Kim for making all the arrangements. Alpas is Kim and Ken's project to provide people with a place where they can just be themselves and experience the peaceful beach, good food, and great company...and also the cute dogs. When we got there, the couple and their staff were working on their all-bamboo restaurant which, by the way, will open on December 1! So if you're around the area, be sure to give them a visit and experience Ken's cooking. 

Studying this site was our closest to having a vacation. The pace of life was slow and relaxed. True to its name, Alpas, it was a place to get away and be free. Maybe the sight of the sea helped us relax. We toured the small town of Tobias Fornier, ate local food, walked on the beach, played with the dogs, did some hiking, and data gathering, of course. 

The town is an agricultural community. People here are either farmers or fishermen. But only a handful practice organic farming. So hopefully Kim and Ken would be able to influence the community by making Alpas a source of inspiration and ideas. They've been here for only a year but we love their energy, enthusiasm, and hope for the local community.  Wishing you all the best!

We would also like to say thanks to Feedspot for compiling all the best permaculture blogs around the world. We're happy we landed at number 26 out of 50 blogs! So we would like to thank all our followers on Facebook and Instagram, our subscribers, and our readers here on Blogger. We're hoping to post at least 1 blog article a week to generate more content on the local permaculture movement.

If you're a permaculture designer from the Philippines, please do send us your story at permacultureresearchph.blogspot.com. Thank you!

Fishing boats docked on the beach. Photo by Jabez Flores.