Singer Yeng Constantino and husband Victor “Yan” Asuncion are now into vegetable gardening, turning a portion of their house in Manila into a sustainable source of food.

Constantino devoted an episode on her YouTube vlog about her vegetable garden, Aug. 18.

“Simula nu’ng nagkaroon ng pandemic (ay) ang dami talaga naming realizations ni Yan and isa sa mga narealize namin, eh, gusto naming magkaroon ng sustainable na lifestyle. Gusto namin na kami ang nagpo-produce ng sarili naming food, makatipid kami sa kuryente at maging minimalist,” Yeng said in the video.

(When the pandemic started, I and Yan realized many things and one of them is that we want to have a sustainable lifestyle. We want to produce our own food, to minimize our electricity consumption, and become minimalists.)

“For the first three months ng pandemic, nag-quarantine tayo, ini-spend namin ‘yung time namin sa aming property sa probinsya at doon sinimulan namin ni Yan ang aming pagbe-vegetable garden,” she said.

(For the first three months of the pandemic, we were in quarantine and we spent it in our property in the province. There, I and Yan started our vegetable garden.)

They did enjoy the gardening and it gave the couple “a preview of what life would look like in the future” for them. After the lockdowns were eased, the couple returned to Manila and continued in the city what they have started in the province.

Showing of some of their veggies, she said, “Meron na kami ditong talong, okra, ampalaya, kalabasa, sitaw, kamatis.” (We already have here eggplants, okra, bitter gourd, pumpkin, beans and tomatoes.)

Among those she also showed were malunggay, calamansi, papaya, basil, ginger, rosemary, spring onions, tarragon, avocado and orange.

“Ang plano talaga namin ni Yan is ‘yung 50% ng gulay na kakainin namin ‘yung gulay na galing sa aming vegetable garden,” Constantino said. (Our plan is to source 50% of the vegetables we would eat from our vegetable garden.)

Constantino credits her husband Yan for being able to grow the veggies faster.

“Sobra akong bilib dahil ang dami niyang alam gawin. Tinulungan ko lang siyang mag-plant plant diyan, maghukay, pero the rest, siguro 90% of the labor came from him,” she said.

(I was so amazed because he knows so many things. I just help him plant and dig, but all the rest, maybe 90% of the labor, came from him.)

While they have already started the garden, Constantino wants it to flourish even more in the future.

“Hindi namin alam kung kailan mangyayari yun, 50% ng food namin makukuha diyan,” she said. “Pero at least ginagawa namin ‘yung small steps para ma-achieve ang aming dream [of] a sustainable lifestyle.”

(We don’t know when will that happen, when 50% of our food would actually come from our garden. But at least we’re already doing small steps to achieve our dream of a sustainable lifestyle.) JB

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