Stuck in the farm

Monday last week, I brought some materials to the farm, drove my pick-up, tagged along my wife and daughter. The trip was fine, cloudy skies but no rain, we reached our caretakers’ house in the barrio, still a few kilometers from the farm.

We went to the farm, the dirtroad in the neighboring farm was a bit slippery because it rained the previous day. Going down a bit to our farm, it indeed looked slippery plus the sky was getting darker, but I thought we’ll just drop a few heavy materials – used wood, galvanized iron, etc. for our organic chicken farm – so I went ahead. It was big mistake. A very big mistake, in fact.

As soon as we unloaded the heavy materials, rainshowers started falling, the dirtroad up was more slippery then I thought. In short, my pick-up got stuck in the mud!

Our 2 caretakers were there to help, but their muscle or body weight (to add weight to the rear wheel as my pick-up isn’t 4wd, just 2 rear wheels moving. They called upon 2 other men nearby, 4 men – and still not enough. By then, the showers became a downpour.

After more than an hour of vain attempts, they called in more men from the barrio. After more than an hour, 5 other men came, they brought 4 steel platforms where the rear wheels can “step” on. It now looks a bit like “people power” to push my pick-up up on a slippery road.


Were they strong enough? Or were they heavy enough if they stand at the back of the pick-up to add more weight for the rear wheels to work?

NO to both questions. Really terrible. We got stuck around 11:30am, we didn’t have lunch, now it’s past 2pm, and about 4 of the 9 men there have not taken their lunch too. That means they have less energy to push or pull the pick-up.

They gathered sand from about 300 meters away to cover the slippery soil. Gathered small stones, etc., all for naught.

It was past 5pm we were still stuck. Two men already left. I said only one option left: go backwards, dare the muddy road back, get the men at the back of the pick-up, get some momentum and brave the slippery ascent. One, two, three attempts, unsuccessful. On the 4th attempt, the pick-up was able to go up! Hurray!!!

But it was only hurdle no. 1. There’s hurdle no. 2, a slippery part on a steep ascent in the neighboring farm. There’s a “pug-pug” or barrio truck nearby (its engine sound is like pug-pug-pug-pug…, hence the term). They also have a long rope, we hoped that the pug-pug can pull my pick-up. But it too was cannot ascend as it’s not a 4wd.


So the men pushed again the pug-pug up. Talking about a supposed solution that can become part of the problem itself.

The men again gathered small stones and gravel to cover the muddy part. Again, I reversed and moved backward to get some momentum, have some men rode at the back of the pick-up, then floored the accelerator on a 1st gear. Got stuck again in the middle, the other men push the pick-up, slowly but surely, until it finally got out of the mud and low-lying area!


It was around 5:45pm when we finally got out of the farm, or we’ve been stuck there for more than 6 hours. Some of the men suffered minor scratches from flying gravel or small stones as the rear wheels were burning the tires.

My daughter has been staying inside the pick-up for most of the 6+ hours because it was muddy to walk around, and there were still scattered rainshowers.

What a bad experience! My extra money, I gave away to the men who endured hunger, the rains, mud and some flying small stones.

On a positive note, I saw and experienced again how the guys in the barrio would help. Especially for us who have to travel back to Manila, 4 hours away from the barrio.

The food that was supposed to be our lunch at 12 noon became our dinner at past 6pm. What an experience again in the farm with my old but reliable, 12+ years old pick-up.

My treehouse, May 2009

My treehouse is now surrounded by tall and thick mahogany trees and a few fruit trees. When we were building my treehouse more 5 ½ years ago, those trees were still young, though they were planted about 10 or 12 years ago. Now that the trees are tall and thick, sunlight can hardly penetrate in some parts of the wooded area, it gets dark even in the afternoon. What is dangerous is that mosquitoes tend to abound, these insects like dark and shaded areas, they don’t like direct exposure to sunlight.


And to think that those mahogany trees lost many of their branches just 12 months ago in a strong typhoon, local name “Cosme”. That typhoon also toppled and killed at least 3 mahogany trees near the house, good that it was structurally strong, it did not tilt when one tree fell on it. The removed trees gave some open space for sunlight near my house.


Notice the top of the mahogany tree where my house is perched. That picture was taken nearly 3 weeks ago. Now the leaves on that same spot are thick. The roof was just repaired 3 months ago.

The roof

The original roof of my treehouse is cogon. It was neatly made, as shown in this picture. After 5 years, some of the roof were attacked by the termites. The mahogany leaves from the top of the tree that fall on the roof, plus rainfall, make the leaves-covered roof always damp and wet, and some termites that managed to go up were nibbling the cogon and wood.


Later it was leaking bad, we have to replace the cogon roof with galvanized iron in one side of the roof. Problem solved.

Cogon roof will work best if there is no tree top above it that endlessly produces fallen leaves, that partly covers the roof from direct sunlight. Here now is the new roof – galvanized iron on the right, and cogon on the left.


Notice young branches sprouting up.


The next problem will be the forever-rising tree top that is pushing up the roof trusses.

Silica mining in Brgy Laguit Padilla, Bugallon, Pangasinan

I was informed by our caretaker that the mining company of Mr. Versoza, Northern Mining I think, is planning to resume their silica quarring and mining activity in the barangay soon. Two weekends ago, a representative from their company, along with the barangay officials, called for a meeting the owners and/or caretakers of private lands where their bulldozers and heavy trucks will pass by.

I texted Brgy. Captain Palma last May 20, about 9am, to ask what is the update of such plan since the company of Mr. Versoza has not talked to the owners of the farm, Atty. Millora. Kapitan Palma texted back saying that they have not given their endorsement yet, the permit will require MOA by the barangay and approval by the municipal council. I thanked Kapitan Palma for such update, and informed him that I will blog this activity since I have a number of friends here in the country and abroad, who are engaged in farming and environmental activities, and they read my blog.

Kapitan Palma replied back and assured me that before they will give their endorsement, there should be proper consultation and permission by the affected parties (especially private farms), that no one will complain later.

Bringing whatever adverse results to the land and the communities to local media can also be one option. The local radio and tv network in Dagupan City are willing to cover such expose when they are properly informed.

One of the conditionalities for granting mining permit is that the mining company will later cover the mined site with soil and plant trees there. I think this is a very loose condition. Tree planting is very easy, it requires only half day or one day activity, including picture taking and picnic. But the newly planted tree seedlings can die the next week if not properly monitored, weeded and irrigated, and replacement planting is done for those seedlings that died.

I doubt that the mining permit will require "tree growing" and not just "tree planting". The former is the more appropriate activity; otherwise, all those hundreds or thousands of tree seedlings that were planted can all die within a few weeks or months after the planting activity. Vines and grasses alone can choke and deprive the newly planted seedlings of space, sunlight and soil minerals.

Commercial piggery

Commercial piggery, at least the medium-sized one as pictured here, produce really big animals, on average twice the size of the native pigs of same age. Feeding for the commercial variety like landrace is quite intensive. After about 120 days, the animals attain at least 80 or 90 kilos, and they are sold. The price per kilo live weight is higher if the pigs are 80 kilos or heavier, compared to those that are lighter.


A swine farmer preferably needs to have his own rice milling facility in order to cut feed cost. Because if he will buy the rice bran to mix with feed concentrate (assuming he does this and not buy packed feeds), the price is high, from P6 per kilo and higher, depending on the season. Rice harvest season, the price is low.

One feedback I have heard about commercial piggery is that the animals are very delicate and have little resistance when diseases strike them. A case is in the province of Pangasinan. Swine flu -- the flu affecting the pigs, and not the disease that affects humans -- has killed many pigs in the province. People have also stopped buying pork, so the swine farmers are losing money.


Organic and native pigs grow slow but they have strong resistance against diseases. They are also cheap to maintain as they eat practically all sorts of vegetables and fruits. And they fetch a higher price per kilo compared to the commercial pig varieties. But I haven't seen or heard much of swine farmers using the native varieties for commercial operation. Could be the longer time for the pigs to grow big, hence longer waiting/harvest period.

Bananas, camote tops for organic pigs

I visited our farm more than a week ago. Our caretaker has planted more bananas around the new hut where our backyard organic piggery is situated. These pigs eat various types of raw vegetables and fruits. They eat banana fruits, banana leaves, sweet potato ("camote") fruit and leaves, rice bran, etc.


Our caretaker, also our wedding godfather, Ninong Endring, is very industrious. With the early onset of the rainy season that started middle of April last month, he plants at least a dozen new banana saplings every week, depending on how frequent the rains are. He also expanded the sweet potato field. He also plants other vegetables -- eggplant, stringbeans, chili, etc.

Here, our pigs eat camote tops. They like this vegetable especially when freshly harvested.


We already started our organic poultry. I forgot to take a picture of the chickens' new house. It has cogon roof, the fence is the native bamboo variety "bulo", and used fish nets above so they won't escape flying out. We feed them fine corn, rice bran, some vegetables, and they also find some crawling insects on the ground.

A year without summer

About two centuries ago, during the "Dalton Minimum", there were nearly 30 years of global cooling, world temperature dropped by around 2 Celsius from their normal levels. And there was one year of almost full year of snow in the temperate zone, and lots of rains in the tropics. That was called "a year without summer". There was massive crop failure, resulting in mass hunger in a number of countries. Crops and vegetables cannot withstand prolonged cold season, they wilt, they die.

This year in the Philippines and many other countries, there is an obvious change in climate. Before it was "global warming" literature all around. This does not look consistent with current weather development. Summer months are March to May. But it was often cloudy with occassional rains in many parts of the country from March to April. The almost daily rains phenomenon started especially in mid-April up to this week, the 1st week of May. Many people, including me, bring an umbrella almost daily because the rains can come anytime. It can be sunny in the morning and suddenly turn cloudy by noon or afternoon, or evening.

The 5th typhoon of the year, locally named "Emong" has already entered the country's area of responsibility today. Tomorrow it is forcast to make landfall in Pangasinan, a province north of Manila. This will be among the few typhoons that come from the South China Sea and exiting towards the Pacific Ocean. Normally it's the reverse. And having 5 typhoons in early May is too many, considering that regular rainy season starts in June, and the peak of typhoon season is August-September. Also, average number of typhoons that visit the Philippines is 20 per year. What would this mean, we will have 25 or more typhoons this year? That should be too much.

Some climate scientiss who are skeptical of the dominant "global warming" prediction by the IPCC and other scientists, environmental NGOs, etc. are predicting that the planet is approaching the "Dalton Minimum" this year and the coming years. Up to the next 30 years.

The current weather pattern is bad for tourism and farmers for dry crops. Tomatoes, water melon, peanuts, corn, other summer crops suffer low output this year because of the early onset of the rains. But current weather is good news for rice farmers. They can plant early and harvest early.

Of course communities have to grapple with prolonged rainy season and its sometimes undesirable results -- flash floods, landslides.

Farm lands, California

April 29, 2009

I took the Amtrak train from Sacramento to Emeryville, SF. I sat on the upper deck, so the view is better and wider. Thus, I was able to see a number of northern California’s farm lands and rural areas, something that I won’t see clearly if I am riding a car.

Like most farms in rich countries, the farms there are wide and flat, I did not see a farm on rolling hills, except pasture land for cows. One will not also see a person walking or working on the farm without any tractor or machinery. Unlike in most farms in the Philippines and other poorer countries where manual labor is predominant.


The irrigation canals are also wide, so big volume of water can be transported to several farms. There is an open space between the gully of the canal and the planted areas, at least 2 meters I guess. I think this is a government regulation to keep this area open. Also an allowance for tractors and farm machineries to make a U-turn.

From a distance, near Suisun-Fairfield station, I saw a wind farm, several dozens of wind mills for energy generation.

Global cooling period

It's now April and the sky above Metro Manila and surrounding provinces is dark and cloudy. The government's weather bureau says there is a shallow low pressure area (SLPA) south-west of Manila, and there is a cold front affecting the north-eastern part of the country.

Low pressure area and cold front, in late March and early April! These months are typically hot, noontime temperature would normally hit 36 Celsius.

Today is the 9th (or more) straight days of cloudy skies over Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, sometimes the entire archipelago. Noontime temperature is only 32 to 33 Celsius. Over the past 9 days, it rained at least 5x, some are short rains (10 minutes or less), some are longer (an hour or more). There was even street flooding in our neighborhood several nights ago.

I do not know if the same weather pattern is experienced in other neighboring countries in east Asia, I will have to ask my friends in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. But current weather in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces is definitely "abnormal", abnormally wet and cold. I don't remember having this kind of weather in the past 10 years or more.

The astrophysicists and other scientists who presented papers at the 2nd International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) that I attended in NY last March 8-10, said "global warming is over", the peak of warming period was 1998, and all other world temperature was lower after 1998. The lack of solar activities (solar irradiance, sunspots, etc.) would mean global cooling, and they predict the cooling for the next 30 years.

If current trend of Philippine climate is any indicator as I am not a scientist to fully support or challenge the claims of the scientists that I have heard, then I am inclined to believe that global cooling is indeed upon us.