Layog Country Farm: Learning from the Wisdom of Indigenous People

Focus group discussion with members of the Layog clan. Photo by Michael Reyes, Jr.

Our last destination for our permaculture journey is LayogCountry Farm in Tadian, Mountain Province. We were supposed to visit in mid-October but Typhoon Ompong prevented us from doing so, thus the trip was moved to November.

We travelled by van via Ilocos Sur (a first for all of us) and arrived a few hours before our expected time of arrival. We were greeted by Tex Layog, a proud Igorot and member of the Layog clan. He is the brother of Flordelina Layog Olaussen (or Flor)—a permaculture designer who studied at Cabiokid, Nueva Ecija together with Enrico Navea of Lorenza’s Garden and Food Forest Farm in Isabela. Flor, an OFW, was our initial contact for the trip but she had to go home to Norway to be with her family.

The farm entrance. Photo by Jabez Flores.

We weren’t the only visitors in the farm at that time. There was a trio of American students and a German couple volunteering at the farm. They found the farm on the internet. After a delicious lunch of pinikpikan (a special chicken dish for special occasions) we proceeded with our usual farm tour with Layog cousins Jeremy and Max. This was the highest permaculture farm we have visited (around 900 meters above sea level) and going up and down the mountain slopes was very challenging! As we went up the mountain side we passed by native pigs, vegetable beds, a fish pond, fruit orchards, lots of coffee trees, and native trees we couldn’t even recognize. As the air was becoming thin, we finally arrived in Olaussen Permaculture Park—Flor’s pet project bearing her surname. It was a beautiful sprawling garden strip with a rock garden at the end. The team decided to gather data from this area because we couldn’t study the 27-hectare property in 3 days!

Culture and food. These were the highlights of our trip here in Mountain Province. The Igorots are permaculture designers and organic farmers by default. They may not have a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) certificate but they have a special relationship with nature. It speaks to them and they listen. They know how to respect nature and the food they eat. And they know how to give back what they take. This natural cycle of life is already part of their culture.

Researchers, Ara and Jabez, gathering data at Olaussen Permaculture Park. Photo by Michael Reyes, Jr.

The question now is do indigenous people still need to learn permaculture? Do they need to hear about a new concept? The answer is both no and yes. Permaculture is mainly derived from indigenous knowledge and is packaged for the consumption of our homogenized modern society. This was a point made by Marit Parker in her article 'Why My Farm isn't a Permaculture Farm.' Permaculture brings people back to nature. Even indigenous people are not immune to the lure of modern living, that’s for sure. But what permaculture can offer to people like the Igorot is affirmation that what they have done in the past is certainly the way forward toward a sustainable and regenerative future. What we may call ‘permaculture’ today is simply  the ‘culture’ of some people.

Orientation with Lex Layog and the volunteers and staff of the farm. Photo by Michael Reyes, Jr.

The vlog episode for Layog Country Farm will premier at 8 PM on YouTube and Facebook on February 21.

Side Note: On our way back home, we passed by monocropped farms of high value crops in Benguet. It was a stark contrast to the permaculture design of Layog Country Farm which blends practices such as agroforesty and organic farming. It’s disheartening to see whole mountains converted to single crop desserts. We hope that Layog Country Farm’s success would influence its neighbors to practice sustainable and regenerative ways of food production.