Lorenza's Garden & Food Forest Farm - Isabela's Hidden Gem

Photo by Jabez Flores (Shot by DJI Ryze Tello)

After 11 days of rest (we had to reschedule a couple of our trips due to Typhoon Ompong), the PRPH team was on the road once again, this time travelling to a start-up permaculture farm in San Manuel, Isabela. Joining us for this trip is Erickson Tabayag, a birder and graduate student from SESAM, UPLB.

Lorenza's Garden & Food Forest Farm is a unique study site for the research because work in the farm just began this year (2018). Compared to the first four sites we visited, this is a very young design with small projects peppered here and there--a vegetable garden, a peanut patch, a small house, a nursery, etc. Though the obvious advantage of this place is its location: upland with a nice view of a lake; a thick forest edge protecting the perimeter of the property; a small creek trickling below; and and a rich biodiversity of plants and animals (Erickson was able to ID at least 10 endemic species of birds during our first day in the farm). And the farm is conveniently in the middle of a sloping forest clearing!  

Blue-headed Fantail (Rhipidura cyaniceps) spotted in the farm. Photo by Erickson Tabayag

Enrico Navea, a graduate of the basic and advanced Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course at Cabiokid Foundation (2017), is the designer of the property. The overall theme of the design is DIY EVERYTHING! From their house to the garden to the food they eat, the plan was to really do everything by hand and learn as many skills as possible (as evidenced by his NC-II in Organic Agriculture and Food Processing to go along with his PDC certificates).

We finished early with our data gathering so we volunteered to help with some chores around the farm. We mulched some raised beds using bamboo leaves and cogon and also constructed a berm made out of branches and banana trunks. Enrico also asked us to plant tree seedlings before we left as part of his advocacy to reforest the entire property. He named each seedling after each PRPH team member! 

We would like to extend our thanks to Enrico for sharing his life in the farm with us! For the full story, you have to wait for the vlog in 2019! But we will post original and exclusive content on our Facebook and Instagram pages every now and then. Please follow us at @permacultureresearchph.

Enrico showing the team around the farm as Jabez does his vlog while Brian shoots his documentary film.

Home-scale Permaculture Design in Jubileeville, Bay, Laguna

A small fishpond serves as a habitat for diverse flora and fauna.

The second and last site of our Laguna leg is in Jubileeville, Bay. Unlike the 3 previous permaculture projects, the Bonita-Foronda household is an example of minimal work, home-scale permaculture designed for a small family of three and a household of around 5 people. 

Perennials were their primary long-term design investments (most of the trees were planted by Edu's father-in-law) but for the meantime they benefit from the land by foraging berries, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. They also have a small vegetable garden and fish pond in Zone 2 and a series of swales in Zones 3 & 4 designed to control erosion, catch water, and slow down the flow of water before it heads out to the nearby creek. 

Though Edu hopes to spend more time improving the site to fully sustain his family, the current design (4 years since his PDC in Cabiokid) is still able to produce food with minimal work. Thank you for sharing your home (and your swimming pool!) with us! We wish you more success.

A series of swales designed to catch and store water in the ground.

Tara Farms - Home of the Nu Wave Farmers and the Baeboys

An herb garden in Zone 2 provides herbs for their bottled sun-dried tomatoes.

Tara Farms is the first permaculture site of our Laguna leg. Founded in the 1970s by the Sandoval Family, the farm is now managed by Paulo Sandoval (a 3rd generation Sandoval) of the Nu Wave Farmers together with his uncle, and also organic pig raiser and chef, OJ Gomez. 

The permaculture site serves as the home base for "Baeboys" and venue for the Farmers' Field School for sustainable pig production of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI). Tara Farms is also home to the Nu Wave Farmers, an agri-youth movement co-founded by Paulo. 

Tara Farms will host a permaculture design certificate (PDC) course in November in cooperation with the Philippine Permaculture Association as a prelude to the 2nd National Philippine Permaculture Convergence to be held in UPLB.

Organic native pigs became the focal point of their design system upon its introduction last year.

Cabiokid - A Permaculture Learning Site in Nueva Ecija

Aerial photo of Cabiokid by Jim Cano using a DJI Spark drone. Follow him on Instagram at @canospark

Cabiokid, the site where many permaculture designers in the Philippines first learned about permaculture design. Most of our respondents for the research took their Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) here. 

It's hard to imagine that this dense patch of land is located right in the middle of hectares and hectares of rice fields. The contrast in the landscape is very striking (see the photo above). You can definitely see how a permaculture design differs from a monocropped farm.  Cabiokid's integrated design features perennial crops, fruit trees, livestock, aquaculture, an organic garden, a bamboo workshop and guest houses made from materials sourced onsite. 

If you want to know what permaculture is all about, this is one of the first places you should visit. It's a great place to learn about organic agriculture, Filipino food, culture, and values, ecology, and the environment. 

Many thanks to Luzviminda Lopez for taking care of us while we were there. The team enjoyed the place, the food, and the company! 

All the best for Cabiokid. We hope to do more research in the future!

Visit their website here. And follow them on Facebook.

Cabiokid will appear in Episode 2 of our PRPH Vlog in 2019. 

Photo by Dada Mercado using a Ryze Tello drone by DJI.

Permaculture Research PH Vlog Series [Teaser Video 1]

Ito ang Pilipinas na hindi ko nakikita Ito ang Pilipinas na hindi pinag-uusapan Hindi nababalita Hindi nakukuwento Hindi pinapansin Magaling ang Pilipino Naniniwala ako At lahat ng kelangan natin ay nandito Ang permaculture ay hindi bagong konsepto Alam ko Marunong ka nito Marunong tayo nito Dahil lahat ng kailangan natin Ay nandito. Clips from our trips to Pitogo, Quezon; Cabiao, Nueva Ecija; and Bay, Laguna. Thanks to Bittie and Weng Glinoga of Glinoga Organic Farm; Luzviminda Lopez of Cabiokid Foundation Inc; Paulo Sandoval of Tara Farms; and Edu Forona from Jubileeville. Special thanks to the Philippine Permaculture Association, Nu Wave Farmers, Kayu, Enimal, and our crowdfunding platform, Go Get Funding. If you feel compelled to help our cause please click this link: https://gogetfunding.com/designing-fo... Any amount will help our research for years to come! See you soon, Marikina, Isabela, Mt. Province, Antique, Cebu, La Union, and Zamboanga del Sur! Music: Axletree - Leaned My Back Against an Oak After the Water is Wide (freemusicarchive.org) Video footage from Ara Bagunu, Dada Mercado, Michael Reyes, Jabez Flores

Let's Go, Pitogo!

​Aug. 31 - Sept. 2.

Some brief reflections: 

• Permaculture is not just about farming...it's a life you live. It's not just about the application of knowledge but the internalization of values.
• The designer and the design have a close relationship. Through experience and observation, the design evolves through time. 
• People are part of the design. Every living thing is part of the design. Even typhoons are a welcome part of life. 
• Nature has a way of organizing itself and the designer must understand how nature works. 
• Permaculture design "follows the water". Where there's water, there's life. 
• Permaculture is planned "katam" or "katamaran" in Filipino. Once the system is in place, there isn't much work to do. 

• Glinoga Organic Farm opened our eyes to a lot of things. We don't even know where to start. Food is so abundant and creativity is overflowing. And the people in the farm really know what they're doing. 
• Thank you to our gracious hosts, Nenieveh Fortun Glinoga and Bittie Glinoga and the staff for taking care of our team. This was a truly memorable experience for us. 
• Watch out for PRPH Vlog Episode 1: Glinoga Organic Farm on January 2019. 
• Our full report will be available by 2019. 
• Support our team by donating any amount to our Gogetfunding campaign: https://gogetfunding.com/designing-food-security/ 
• Visit our official blog for more information about the initiative: http://permacultureresearchph.blogspot.com/​