When You're Harvesting the Fruits of Your Labor, It's Happiness

In 2020, a few months back before the Pandemic hits the country and the world, we were busy in our small lot in Batangas province. The area is like the size of a basketball court, with nothing but grasses and a small Ipil-Ipil tree. I was like thinking then, where do I want to go from here?

Until I started something great.

The process is not easy, but painstakingly challenging and complicated. We were still residing in Cavite that time. What we only have is a motorcycle and it takes about two to three hours of driving from Cavite to this remote place in Batangas province, my hometown. I remember the quarantine protocols induced by Covid-19 restrictions posed a lot of difficulties in putting up this small lot from dry land to now a thriving farm and garden of lively creatures.

In the beginning, we plant whatever plants we have grown in Cavite. So early Saturday morning, as early as four o'çlock, I am all geared up and my motorcycle all packed up with these plants. The driving adventure starts and just right after the sun rises, I am sipping my coffee beside my mini tent in the farm. At around eight, I'm tilling the soil and layering dried cow manure in the planting pit. The entire day is all about planting.

It was totally exhausting, tiring, but really enjoyable. I love what I'm doing, to be honest.

The process repeats for about a year. Each weekend is an adventure. There are times when travel time takes a bit longer than usual due to checkpoints. There are days when I am not able to go due to other priorities. Some days when me and my wife are together doing the farm stuffs. Rain, shine, typhoons, intense summer heat, we are there. And we did not give up doing this routine.

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We did not give up our dream of having a farm. And in some regard, we made it this far. And the best thing is, we keep on going and going.

Our fruit trees are starting to bear fruits - avocado, pomegranate, jackfruit, guava, guyabano, cacao and coffee. Yes, we do have all of these trees right in our farm. Then our Ilang-Ilang tree keeps giving off the sweet smell, as well as its cousin the Sampaguitas. The fragrance is try relaxing, plus its free. We have banana and papaya that shares their fruits at anytime of the year. Blessings from Above are starting to pour down on our farm.

And our ornaments, whoa, you won't believe how beautiful to see them everyday. We have this plant called Songs of India. They're as high as the rooftop now. Then the Birds of Paradise, it always give us that feeling that paradise is just around the corner of our farm. The bamboos, oh goodness, look at them now. They give off shade to our farm.

Almost every living creature inside the farm have now the connection to thrive for sustainability. They communicate in a way that the common goal is to bring life to people living in this place.

Birds keep on coming. Butterflies keep on visiting. Insects we've never seen before are jumping from leaves to leaves. In summer, these dragon flies and fireflies are there playing around. What a lovely sight, indeed. Then in our rose garden, I couldn't imagine roses are red, white, peach, yellow and pink. I mean, the colors are truly fantastic to witness. Our zinnia, marigold, and irish flowers is truly a wonder. The gumamelas and the bougainvillas of different variety and colors is an absolute scenery.

Almost everything has grown up. Our Elephant Ear plant has grown up. Our Fiddle Leaf Pig has grown taller than us. Our Alagaw tree is huge now, which at first we taught it was a tree of no use. But good thing my Lola Sayong introduces to us the benefits and uses of the tree, and they're many. It can cure itchiness, can wipe out skin diseases, can heal stomach problems, and a lot more.

And the coconut trees, goodness gracious. They're not just amazing to look at, they're also a testament that bad neighbors will be kept off. Well, need not to expound on that, but those coconut trees really serves as our fence, the demarcation line that signals no trespassing to people and animals with intentions to bring harm or destruction to our farm. The coconut trees are not yet bearing buko, but in a few years time buko juice definitely is just one hop away.

Almost three years passed, living things are getting livelier. We are on our fourth year and our passion to build a food hub, create an artistic park of ornaments, cultivate food for the community, and bring inspiration to people who has the same taste and perspective as ours; it keeps on going.

We have beds of ginger, ube, kamoteng kahoy, sweet potato, chili, pechay, eggplant, lemongrass, and plenty more of vegetables and food for the household. We harvested a lot and from here is where we are getting most of the food we bring to our own table. We sell some. we give some. We continue to plant for we know this will bring us not just food, but friends.

May this post become an inspiration to you. You too can build great things from nothing. Our farm-garden can be your reference model. A lot of things has changed here. I'm still driving my motorcycle and my family is over here helping one another to thrive. Happiness is what we have here.

We are now expanding our farming venture to a nearby lot. And the good news is, we will invite people to come in and see what we have in here. Hope to see you there, soon. For now, have a look of what we achieved thus far.

What is JN Farm Garden?

Photos on this post are taken from our lovely farm garden in Batangas. JN FarmGarden is our online shop. You can visit our Facebook Page to learn more about our products and offerings. You may also go this sites Our Products page to see our latest line of products.

What is Project Pilipinas?

Project Pilipinas started in 2011. This blog site promotes Filipino culture ingenuity, hospitality, and beauty. Hundreds of blog articles have been posted in this site by the Noriel Panganiban since 2011 and the goal is to open up to the world what Philippines is really all about. Visit Our Bloglist page to discover more.

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