Hello All, I'm about 1.5 years into attempting to build a food forest. I have about 4.5 hectares of mountain side in a remote area. To give a rough idea - Most folks have no CR (bathroom) and cook using 3 rock fires. We have 30 foot pythons and wild monkeys. The land is actually 3 properties. The largest is the most remote and is more then 3 hectares (Around 100 to 300 meters elevation) with about 400 - ~20 to 80 year old coconut trees and about 26 mature mango trees. It is very hard to access and is about 2 kilometers from the local village. I recently harvested about 1000 kilo of copra here. The second property is roughly 1 hectare on a relatively steep slope at about 650 meters elevation. It has 20+ coconut + a few jack fruit, avocado trees, and mahogany trees but has mostly been used to grow corn and some bananas. So far I've planted 100 banana, 200 coffee plants, 200 pineapple and a few coconut. I tried some vegetables unsuccessfully. Most of the area has very full sun and a water source is available. The area is about halfway between the local village and the lower property. The third property is adjacent the barangay hall in the local village. It is basically ridge top and steep hillside. Size is approximately .5 hectares. Due to security reasons this is the only practical area to build a house at this time. Previously area had been used to raise corn but was not being farmed recently. I recently planted about 200 trees mostly citrus (calimansi, lemoncito, giant lemoncito, American lemon, African lemon, lime, mandarian orange, and pumelo). I also planted Jackfruit (20), Papaya (30) and about 5 each of: Rambutan, Lazones, Santol, Cinnamon. I also planted a couple apple mangos and Durian. This is the area I'm most focused on for the time being. Next I plan to develop a water source at the top (hopefully a well), build some swales and terraces. Add shrubs to stabilize steep portions of the mountainside (Flemengia, and hopefully Pidgeon Pea and Chick Pea if I can find them). This week-end, I'm about the plant moringa, centrosena, fleamengia, and stylosanthes. I've ordered some giant bamboo (will plant in area with heavy drainage) and will used for local constuction needs. I have about 16 pigs, 10 goats, 100 native chickens, and one water buffalo. I'm new to farming but I've got the internet, Mollison's Designer Manual, Gaia's Garden, one of Holtzer's books and a local family that helps me. The government resources are also very helpful. (Will be getting soil tests done soon at a very reasonable rate, and are very helpful in many other ways). Cheers, advise and suggestions are always welcome and here's to the adventure....
Hello Vincec, Your properties sound like many people's idea of heaven! What's the well going to be used for, drinking water? How's your rainfall? Any thoughts of water catchment instead of a well?
Yes for drinking water, lots of rainfall and mist, some dry season. My idea is to build a series of water catch and containment as I progress down the hill. Also there are a few natural springs that I will try to develop. I was also planning to use the well during the dry season to help fill the containment areas during the dry season. I'm also planning to build some terraces and swales. The ridge top is the only part of my properties that is really safe for building a house so this is also the reason for the well. Also the would serve as a community resource in times of water shortages. So far I've been spending about $1000 US per month (5 of my girlfriend's family are living here and I come from the city on the week-ends) but I'm hoping I can get the farm to break even in the next year or two. My biggest on-going expense has been feed for the pigs. I'm hoping to build a house early next year. The area I'm in was not accessible for years due to a large presence of New People's Army (NPA). A military base was put a few years ago and this has now changed. It's really straight out of National Geographic. I love the place and the people. Hopefully what I'm doing can eventually help improve the quality of life for some of the local community over time. I guess I'm not a hardcore permie yet, but I grew up with a father spent his lifetime as a fish and wildlife biologist. He always said he was a conservationist not an environmentalist. I can see how a permaculture approach makes for a much more resilient platform especially in an area where if a single crop failed people would starve. I believe in science and what I see with my own eyes. Anyway sorry for babbling. Heaven, for me yes. I'll post pictures when I'm allowed. If not, I'll create a facebook site for the farm.
Looks like I have upload rights, but my uploads failing. I'll figure it out later. I'm off to pick up Moringa cuttings, citronella, neem trees, bamboo, and a few santol trees. Cheers...
If you can't get the uploads to work here, you can always try a free photo hosting website like photobucket or perhaps flickr. Then you can insert the images into your posts from there. Can't wait to hear more
Update Planting about 50 Moringa Cuttings. I didn't realize that the local's really ate Moringa (Locally known as Malungay) until I wanted to plant it at one the the remote sections and I was told don't bother, the kawatans (thief's) will eat the leave off the cuttings and the cuttings will die. I finally found black pepper (Piementa) and purchased two plants (bloody expensive). I also picked up Burmese Mango (Need very little care), Neem Trees, Citronella (After I bought it, I was told "Oh, that grows locally you should have got it from the neighbors yard"), 4 varieties of Tambis (Green, Yellow, White, Red), Santol, and some dwarf coconut. I'll try to post pictures later today or tomorrow.
Philippine Prices For the Plants and Trees I just planted.... ~ 42 Philippine Pesos = $1 USA 5 Hot Pepper Plants @ 25 Peso Each 5 Sword Pepper Plants @ 25 Peso Each 3 Santol Trees @ 150 Peso Each 10 Dwarf Coconut (Belaka) @ 100 Peso Each 2 Lemoncito @ 150 Peso Each 1 Brunei Mango @ 250 Peso Each 25 Moringa Cuttings @ 5 Peso Each 3 Citronela Pots @ 80 Peso Each 6 Neem Trees @ 150 Peso Each 4 Tambis Trees @ 150 Peso Each 2 Black Pepper Vines @ 400 Peso Each 1 Seedless Lazones Tree @ 200 Peso ------------------------------------ Total: 5,115 Peso
