While some of my friends took in the view of a Tuscan vineyard and thought about the romance it evokes, a voice behind them declared: “It’s just a farm.”
For Jill Sandique, any place that grows anything, whether plants or animals, is really just a farm. She herself has fruit and rubber tree farms in Cotabato.
Farms require hard work. You are at the mercy of nature and sometimes, rebel groups.
Going to a farm has always been an educational adventure for a city girl like me. At Jill’s family farm I learned how rubber is tapped and processed, and how you can tell the number of seeds a mangosteen has by counting the petal-like formation at the bottom.
There were two farms in Palawan that we toured, both growing organic vegetables and raising animals the proper way—with simulation hills, for instance, for the goats.
There was also the Davao cacao farm, rehabilitated by the Puentespinas, and their goat collection that gives Olive Puentespina raw material for her excellent Malagos cheeses.
It was in Iowa where I learned that much of the corn and soy growing in the farms we passed on the highway were not for human consumption but for animal feed; and how United States government agencies at the time were still sorting out what makes for an organic farm.
In New Zealand, it’s standard procedure to locate the farm where the kiwi was grown and where it was packed—as indicated in the barcode of the products.
In Napa Valley, California, a vineyard isn’t just a farm but a tourist destination. Wine tours are well-established there and, of course, wine tasting is the more attractive prospect than gazing out into rows of gnarled grapevines.
Costales Nature Farm
So, it was a no-brainer to say yes to Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat’s invitation to visit Costales Nature Farm in Majayjay, Laguna, about two hours from Manila.
The cool air and constant water supply from mountain streams serve as the ideal environment for a farm. The hard work is demonstrated—preparing the ground, planting, natural fertilizing with the help of worms (vermiculture), cleaning up the place especially where the pigs, chicken, rabbits and fish inhabit.
Visible at once are vegetables growing everywhere such as recycled plastic jars.
Ruben Costales, his wife Josephine and son Reden are part of the endeavor. They give lectures and tour visitors around the farm.
For the Costales family, a flock of tourists is good but what’s great is when visitors buy the veggies. The farm has partnered with major restaurants and shops. The team-up has been successful, and the Costales family says there is a supply shortage due to high demand.
Before walking around, we had our lunch of salads, lechon from organic pigs, pancit, and tilapia cooked in coconut milk. We were refreshed with a cucumber drink.
Many greenhouses bear family names because the farm welcomes partners who supply the structure; then the farm and investor split the earnings of the produce.
We helped out in the chores such as making the composting materials called bokashi mudballs, mixed with a product called “Effective Microorganism.” They clean up fishponds and can even be used to clean restrooms. We fed the rabbits with kangkong; underneath their cages were containers to catch their waste and to feed worms. But perhaps the best part was the harvesting.
Fat organic chickens were running around in a contained area. We were told not to stress them, which probably meant we were not to run around with them.
We placed their eggs into trays; later we bought some of the eggs we harvested, thinking of having poached eggs for breakfast the morning after.
At one greenhouse, we were told how to pull out the lettuce properly. We placed romaine and green ice in our bayong. Then we went to the tomato vines and those of us tired from all the walking just asked the assistants to get some for us. It was like a point-and-harvest game.
The family offered to bring us to Majayjay Falls if we wanted a dip in the cool waters, but the city people we were found the exercise already worth a whole week of physical activity. So we went home through that long, winding Laguna road with our harvested prize.
I can still hear Jill’s voice telling me, “it’s just a farm.” The adventure is for the visitors, but those who work there have to deal with day-to-day backbreaking work. Yet, if what they do inspires visitors to do the same, even if only one of them participates, then the farm would have achieved its mission—to spread the good news.
For tours or overnight stay, contact Costales Farm at tel nos. 0939-9640808 and 49-5763824. E-mail the columnist at pinoyfood04@yahoo.com