Sunday, October 28, 2018

Aloha from Palawan!

Photo by Dada Mercado

We've been on the road since early October, I didn't have time to write a blog about our Palawan trip. But now I have a couple of hours write a short piece before we leave for Zamboanga del Sur later this morning. 


Oh yes, Puerto Princesa, Palawan (finally)! We were greeted by the friendly staff of Aloha House when we arrived then we were introduced to Keith Mikkelson. He was teaching a vermiculture class at the moment. 

Aloha House, a Christian ministry, is the first orphanage in Puerto Princesa. The urban farm design grew out of the need to have healthy and nutritious food for the kids and the staff. Eventually, the property was transformed into a 2800 square meter foodscape. Everywhere you look there's plants, trees, vegetables, and even livestock! The property was so dense with activity one would be confused where to look first.

The highlight was the aquaponics system that Keith designed using permaculture principles. We noticed that he was very methodical in how he grows his crops. His activities and experiments are all well-documented and he is very generous in sharing what he knows. 

He operates Aloha House together with his wife, Narcy, Aside from being an orphanage and urban farm, Aloha House is also a bed and breakfast where visitors can stay and eat good food. 

A 40-minute drive from Aloha House is another property called Aloha Ranch and Organic Farm, the site of his eco-village project. It's still in a work in progress but a lot of things are happening there like this rammed earth house that they are making (see photo below).

Keith and Narcy are quite well-known in Puerto Princesa for their social and environmental advocacy. We wish them all the best and we hope to visit again soon!


Want to visit them? Checkout the links below:


You can download Keith's book, Sustainable Agriculture in the Tropics, for free by clicking the link below:
Free e-book

The PRPH team with Keith at Aloha Ranch and Organic Farm. Photo by Keith Mikkelson.



Thursday, October 4, 2018

Permaculture in Sixty Minutes



"Permaculture in Sixty Minutes" is a casual conversation on what permaculture is all about and how you can immediately apply it once you get home.

It is also our way of sharing to the public our learnings and experiences in the field.


The activity will serve as a good appetizer if ever you plan to take a full 7-day Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course in the future. There will be one in Bay, Laguna in November 8-14, see link below:


To be more fruitful, only 10 slots will be available per session (first 10 FB confirmations!). But don't worry, we plan to do this activity on a regular basis (on Saturdays) so more people can start practicing permaculture design in their living and work spaces. 



Special thanks to Sierreza - Los BaƱos Community-Supported Agriculture for providing a venue plus food and drinks for the event.


Proceeds will be donated to Permaculture Research PH (PRPH) to fund more research on permaculture designs in the Philippines. 


To know more about (PRPH), please visit our website at http://permacultureresearchph.blogspot.com/

If you want to donate to our research, you can visit our crowdfunding campaign here: https://gogetfunding.com/designing-food-security/

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