Friday, December 06, 2013

Trees for Harvesting

The farm in Pangasinan that I am helping to manage is owned by the Millora Enterprises (Millent). After many years of continued spending, the firm wants to get some revenues. I started going there in 1992 and started planting a few hundred tree seedlings that year, assisted by the farm caretaker, Nong Endring Paragas.


Millent will sell the bigger trees for lumber . Prospective buyers of lumber will get the necessary permits from the DENR in Dagupan City, shoulder the cost of cutting and harvesting the marketable trees, at least 6 inches diameter at breast height (dbh). There are 400+ trees in the farm that have attained this minimum size, mostly mahogany trees. 


As of this writing, one prospective buyer has already made an inventory of those trees, how many have 6 inches dbh, 8 inches dbh, up to 14 inches dbh. If other details are worked out between the buyer and Millent, and after the necessary permits from the DENR and the barangay are secured, harvesting of the bigger trees should start, maybe next month.



For every big tree there that is at least 6 inches dbh, there should be at least 10 more younger and smaller trees nearby that are waiting to be given the chance to get more sunlight, more minerals from the soil, more space, to grow bigger and taller too.



Trees just within 15 meters from my treehouse, the side near the creek.


One prospective buyer came to the farm a few weeks ago. Even if they have not initiated formal talks with the officers of Millent, they started marking the big trees with white paint for possible harvesting. That is a wrong approach. They should have talked to the officers of Millent first before making such move.


Thursday, December 05, 2013

Water Impounding and Irrigation

Last Sunday, December 01, our farm caretaker, Nong Endring Paragas, showed me his newly-repaired water impounding project to irrigate the rice field in front of my treehouse.


It's a combination of cement bags filled with sand and soil + rocks and stones + cogon. The sand in cement bags impound the water, the rocks and cogon support the bags from being pushed down by the water.


The impounded water goes through this small canal, also dug by Nong Endring many years ago.



Down here...

And irrigate his rice field, in front of my treehouse, seen from the 2nd floor.


Trees, treehouse and rice field.


See also:
My swimming pool in the farm, 2005, June 10, 2011
Creek, canal and irrigation, September 05, 2011