A Weekend of Fun Farming Activities

We are so disconnected to the earth. And this does not come as a surprise considering that most of our lives are spent inside buildings, in front of our computers, barely seeing any green. Especially so if you happen to live in Metro Manila. So when I saw the Move to Change Foundation (M2C) call for volunteers for some farm activities last weekend, I happily signed up.

Nestled in a private lot in San Juan is M2C’s small urban farm which is being developed to be a farm lab. The day started with harvesting which for me was the easiest among the tasks in store for us. Lettuce and cilantro were assigned to our small group. We simply had to uproot the leafy greens, give it a wash, weigh it (for monitoring), then it will now be ready for storage or for cooking. Some of the harvests were prepared for lunch.

Transplanting came next where one has to carefully transfer tiny seedlings from seed trays to plots. I was glad I worked on eggplants which are relatively resilient because I was not sure I was careful enough not to damage their roots as I removed them from the tray. I can only hope that at least a half of them survives.

The plot preparation was the most physically demanding of all the activities. It entailed removing grass, crushing the soil, adding decarbonized rice husk and vermicast (fertilizer made up of organic matter broken down by earthworms), watering it with fermented fruit juice concoction (this is meant to kill bacteria), then covering it with a plastic sheet.

Finally, we sowed some seeds and learned about how to prepare concoctions. We then happily enjoyed lunch together feeling accomplished. Being with nature, working with soil which mind you activates happy hormones, is truly a good way of spending the weekend.

One of the kids said he would not want to do this again realizing the amount of effort farming requires. Another commented that farmers should be paid more. The good thing about participating in food growing is you gain deeper appreciation for food and for those who labor so that we can be fed.

Photo Credit: M2C

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Go home and plant ‘kamote’

I remember back then when exasperated teachers would blurt out, “Go home and plant kamote,” for students who wouldn’t be bothered to make an effort in their studies. It’s sad that farming is looked down upon but in times of crisis, when food is scarce, we realize that we should have been planting kamote all along.

As most parts of the Philippines is currently on community quarantine due to COVID-19, decreasing food supply and imposed limited movements have made our situation more challenging. Local government units distribute relief goods but thankfully, there’s a clamor for fresh produce not only to support farmers (#SupportFarmerspH #ReliefPH) but eating fruits and vegetables to keep healthy is another defense against the disease.

Advocates of home-based gardening have also started promoting the #TipidTanim Challenge encouraging households to plant now to enhance local food production for family consumption. Agriculturists and experts have conducted online lessons on basic vegetable gardening. In support to this, #IAmHampasLupa is crowd sourcing where the public can get free seeds. Local government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, some cities and barangays, and even individuals have already initiated seed-giving efforts.

During this time of the COVID-19 crisis and also as a response to the impact of climate change which we continually experience, let’s reconnect to the earth, reconnect to our food, and promote food security. And as we continue observing physical distancing and washing our hands, let’s stay home and plant kamote.

 

 

 

Just Eat Your Veggies

We know that eating fruits and veggies is good for the health. We were told that in school and at home since we were young. This must be true as we see people reaching the age of 90 or even 100 claiming that a plant-rich diet is the secret to long life.

We’re discovering how our meat-heavy diet is killing the planet and us, too. And yet we find it hard to diet for climate or say good-bye to bacon.

We rely on fad diets where we starve ourselves, or get rid of carbs, or binge-eat on meat and fat, when simply reducing one’s meat intake and eating more plants would have been easier.

Or maybe it’s not as easy as it seems. Colorful and tasty artificial treats are served in schools. Home-cooked meals are replaced by convenient fastfood. Powerful ads have brainwashed us to keep on consuming these so-called healthy products spewed by evil corporations. Local crops are disappearing. And we’re starting to forget what real food tastes like.

On June 17-23, we celebrated the World Meat Free Week and July is the National Nutrition Month in the Philippines. These events put a spotlight on food and how it affects our health and the environment. These are opportunities for us to make changes in our eating habits. That means as much as we hate veggies or don’t like the taste of it, we have to train our tongues. It takes a bit of self discipline and though we can’t really tell people what they’re supposed to eat, eating right is common sense.

Photo from: https://imgflip.com/i/1wrf0n

Diet for Climate

To explore how our meal habits and choices affect the climate change movement, a panel discussion dubbed, “MKS Room: Diet for Climate” was organized by MakeSense together with Greenpeace and #IAmHampasLupa Ecological Agriculture Movement.

Angelo Abcede, an environmental advocate and a vegan; Virginia Benosa-Llorin, Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaigner of Greenpeace; and Drei Castillo of Good Food Community became part of the panelists.

The Panel (l-r): Drei, Virginia, and Angelo (Photo by George Buid)

Virginia gave an overview of the Diet for Climate Campaign of Greenpeace. She explained that Filipinos are eating more meat and less fruits and vegetables because of the notion that meat is nice, necessary, natural, and normal. This, however, is leading to health problems and negatively impacts the environment. She also mentioned that 30% of crops are grown for animal feed and 14% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from livestock production.

Lessening one’s meat consumption or having meat-free meals a few times in a week already helps. For Angelo, having undergone multiple brain surgeries due to brain tumor, he believes that shifting to a vegan diet that upholds the principle of compassion paved way to his speedy recovery.

As someone who works closely with farmers, Drei said that the organic movement is growing but it’s still a struggle on the production side especially related to value chain. To contribute to the campaign, she encouraged constant conversation on the issue, getting to know our farmers, and changing our habits.

During the event, Angelo also introduced easy to prepare meat-free recipes – classic hummus made by blending chick peas, cumin seeds, roasted tahini garlic, and olive oil; and mushroom pulao, a sort of Indian fried rice cooked in spices.

Angelo demonstrating how to cook mushroom pulao (Photo by George Buid).

Climate change might be too big an issue but our collective action through our individual food choices can already contribute to the solution.

Follow this link to learn more about the campaign: http://bit.ly/2G1AlS7 

Minimalist Me: Food

Buying groceries can be challenging for me because I have this mental checklist, a criteria that I base my decision on, before buying something. Ideally, it should be organic or natural, environment-friendly, locally produced, and has less packaging.

I always check the ingredients list. If I recognize most of the contents, none of those words you can barely read, then I’ll buy it. I used to eat a lot of junkfood but now, I mostly eat fruits and nuts for snacks! Occasionally, I buy sweets and pastries but I’m also trying to lessen my sugar intake (and the same goes with salt).

I remember a chef saying that you should train your tongue to eat real food. Kids hate veggies because early on, they get used to artificial food bathed in too much salt or sugar or flavoring. Once your tongue gets used to natural flavors, you’ll realize how, most of the time, the food being served is too salty or too sweet.

For me, minimalism in terms of food could also mean lesser meat and more plant-based diet. It is ranked as number four among climate change solutions. Reduced food waste is third in the list so no to food waste, please.

Minimalism is about mindfulness. Being mindful about the food we put in our bodies is something we should strive for. We should change the mindset that eating healthy is a punishment or is a way of robbing yourself of the good stuff because it’s not.

Musings on the ALGOA Organic Foundation Course

With people becoming more concerned of the state of the environment, who are also clamoring for safe and healthy food, the organic movement is slowly gaining attraction worldwide.

I got to learn more about the movement when I participated in the 2018 Asian Local Governments for Organic Agriculture (ALGOA) Organic Foundation Course. ALGOA is a project initiated by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)- Asia.

This year, there were 27 participants from 12 countries namely Korea, India, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Bhutan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

The course participants with the LGU officials of Goesan  County (Photo from IFOAM-Asia).

Goesan County in Chungbuk Province, Korea was the perfect place to have the training program with its natural and beautiful environment. It is one of the birthplaces of organic farming in Korea. It is almost isolated that not so many Koreans themselves know of the place but it turns out that this could be an advantage for the preservation of nature and for organic agriculture to thrive.

Goesan County, Chungbuk Province, Korea

During the Welcome Ceremony, the Mayor of Goesan said that he had three presents for us – the fresh air, organic food, and sticky corn. We, the participants gladly enjoyed these three.

Organic agriculture, as defined by IFOAM, is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. In its core are the principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care. These principles were evident when we talked to local farmers, visited farms, and went to Hansalim, a cooperative established by both producers and consumers. One farmer we talked to said that they provide safe and healthy food for consumers and in turn, the consumers ensure that the producers can continue to make a living through farming. It was truly inspiring to see this sense of community built on mutual trust. It was also equally inspiring to meet young farmers. Young people would not normally choose to go into farming and prefer to work in offices in the city but it’s amazing how these individuals chose a road less traveled, so to speak.

During the training, we learned about JADAM organic farming (low cost agriculture); biodynamic farming (farming that follows the rhythms and cycles of nature); Organic Guarantee Systems; value chain; innovations; and marketing methods among others. Our minds were fed and our bodies, too – with organic produce that is local, fresh, and diverse.

Local, fresh, and diverse organic food.

To cap off the course, we attended the 4th ALGOA Summit, which brought together local governments and the private sector to discuss policies and ways to promote organic agriculture.

David Gould of IFOAM Organics International said that all of the Sustainable Development Goals can be linked to food. We must then realize the connections between healthy people, healthy food, and healthy farms. It’s still a long way to go for the organic movement to be truly embraced but through our collective efforts, we can work together towards a more sustainable future.

 

 

 

Diet for Climate: How your food choices can mitigate climate change

Climate change impacts food security which can lead to hunger.

This was stressed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive Director Yeb Saño during the “Ship Ahoy: Diet for Climate” event on February 15, 2018 held onboard the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior Ship.

The said event aimed to promote eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat because a plant-based diet can mitigate climate change as it generates relatively low greenhouse gasses compared to the meat industry.

According to DOST Asst. Scientist Dr. Imelda Agdeppa of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, there is a problem of under and over nutrition as well as nutrient deficiency in the Philippines. This is due to the decrease in the intake of fruits and vegetables; and in contrast a slight increase of meat intake.

Greenpeace Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin mentioned that in a commissioned survey, seven out of ten Filipinos are meat eaters with meat being tasty as one of the reasons why they prefer it over vegetables.

To demonstrate that food can be healthy and tasty at the same time, Rainbow Warrior Chef Daniel Bravo, Chef Giney Villar of Feliza Taverna Y Cafe, and TV personality Love Añover-Lianko showed how to prepare meatless recipes.

Chef Daniel said that whatever is good for you is good for the environment as he presented his version of ceviche or kinilaw using mung beans (mongo) as the main ingredient. He called the dish “fruits of the earth” and described it as a nutritional symbiotic ecosystem.

Chef Giney encouraged the eating of raw, “living” food; to be familiar with the food that we eat; and to eat local. She created a fruit chocolate dip made from tablea, fried and green pinipig, and muscovado.

Meanwhile, Love Añover, as a mother, stressed the importance of making healthy food attractive for kids and teaching them how to eat and prepare healthy dishes. She came up with a salad dressing using honey, mustard, calamansi, pepper, and salt.

“Ship Ahoy: Diet for Climate” was part of the Greenpeace Southeast Asia Philippine Leg Rainbow Warrior Ship Tour. The tour will be highlighting the real impacts of climate change in the country and, at the same time, celebrate solutions towards climate resilience and resistance.

 

Chef Daniel Bravo, Love Añover, and Chef Giney Villar

“Healthy Eats and Treats” with Holy Spirit National High School students.

“Ship Ahoy: Diet for Climate” performers – Catholic Filipino Academy Homeschool Orchestra, Kultura para sa Kalayaan (KULAY), and Safe Cities Youth Theater Advocacy Group (SCYTAG)

“Fruits of the Earth” of Chef Daniel

Tablea chocolate dip of Chef Giney

Tasty and tangy salad dressing of Love

Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior Ship

Hating on Veggies

Why do kids hate vegetables so much?

Chef Giney Villar said it’s because they’re not really exposed to it. Busy parents resort to easy to prepare processed food and convenient takeaways. The influence of fastfood advertising doesn’t help. I remember attending a baby’s christening celebration held at a fastfood chain. Children learn early on that unhealthy food is the best for them.

To promote healthy and sustainable eating among parents and school children, demonstrate healthy and sustainable ways of cooking food for children, and come up with simple doable list of activities for children and their parents on how they can eat healthy and help in climate change mitigation with their food choices, #IAmHampasLupa Ecological Agriculture Movement together with Greenpeace organized the “Healthy Eats and Treats School Caravan” at West Fairview Elementary School on February 3, 2018.

Part of the event was a cooking demo by Chef Giney who introduced how to prepare tasty tofu patties. Just mix ground tofu, a little flour, grated carrots, chopped onions and onion leaves, plus salt to taste. Then it’s ready for frying. Chef Giney likewise showed how to make spaghetti sauce out of real ingredients – a mix of tomato paste, eggplant, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, sugar, and oil. Really, this aversion towards veggies can be prevented if we try to be a little more creative with our cooking.

 

 

During the school caravan, I asked the participating students about their favorite fruit and vegetable. Their answer, apple and squash. The most hated veggie, as expected, is ampalaya (bitter gourd). All of a sudden, a group of kids started chanting “chicken joy.” We had fish and pinakbet (Filipino vegetable dish) for lunch and I noticed not a lot of the kids finished the pinakbet. These say a lot about the current generation’s eating habit.

It’s not too late, though. As Chef Giney said, we can actually train our taste buds. Our tongues are so used to artificial food with high salt and high sugar content but we can start lessening our intake of these and slowly transition to healthier more plant-based diet. We do this for the sake of our bodies and the planet.

Advocating for ecological agriculture and mindful consumption

Last year, I was inspired to learn about the positive side of technology in Rappler’s Innovation + Social Good event. This year, I got to actively participate in the Social Good Summit (SGS) as I was able to share the campaign of #IAmHampasLupa.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video:

Rappler also wrote about our story here. Thank you, Rappler!

The SGS with the theme, “#HackSociety 2017: Innovate with purpose, leave no one behind,” focused on media and democracy; environment and climate change; peace, governance, and local development; and public health and well-being. It featured innovative solutions to society’s real life problems. It was also an opportunity for different groups to showcase the projects and the work that they do contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking of SDGs, The 2030 Project organized “LEADERS Unite 2017: #OurGoals.” This is a youth initiative committed to supporting the attainment of the United Nation’s 17 SDGs Agenda by 2030. For this activity, I was invited as a Youth Champion for SDG#12: Responsible Consumption and Production where I discussed how our consumption behavior can contribute to climate change.

Both of these events were a reaffirmation of how this generation, branded as indifferent millennials, is actually doing its part to solve the problems of the world. So despite all the negativity these days, it’s nice to know that there are still a lot of good things happening around us.

 

Legazpi Weekend Getaway

“How can something so beautiful turn out to be destructive at the same time?”

This was what came to mind when I first saw a glimpse of Mayon Volcano as the plane descended at the Legazpi Airport. The volcano, completely visible except for a small patch of clouds covering the top, took my breath away.

According to Wikipedia, Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines erupting over 51 times in the past 400 years. The most destructive eruption was in 1814 that buried the town of Cagsawa. Aside from volcanic eruptions, Albay is also frequented by typhoons. But the province is a model for disaster resilience and zero casualty for their impressive disaster preparedness efforts.

Arriving so early in the morning, I got to walk around Legazpi, also known as the “New Albay,” which is reminiscent of a quiet, sleepy town but contrasted by a cluster of malls in the area. It was around 6 AM and all the shops were closed and most activities were centered in the market nearby. For me, Old Albay District had more charm with its old structures, quaint cafes, and hip and modern restaurants.

As a first timer in the place, having a perfect view of Mt. Mayon was the goal. For this attempt, we went to Daraga Church, Cagsawa Ruins, and Camalig (where Japanese war tunnels and the chocolate hills of Albay are located). Too bad, the volcano was not at all sociable and hid behind a veil of clouds the whole time.

Despite, this, we comforted ourselves with Albay’s one of a kind culinary offerings – traditional Bicolano dishes from Waway’s Restaurant which used to be a turo-turo (eatery); Bicolano fusion options from the famous Small Talk Café; and sili (chili) ice-cream from 1^st Colonial Grill which also offers other interesting flavors like kalamansi (lime), malunggay (moringa), and tinutong na bigas (burnt rice).

The following day, we got lucky as Mayon finally displayed a full view of it’s perfect cone, its unbelievably symmetrical conical shape. What better way to enjoy Mayon but through an ATV tour with Your Brother Travel & Tours. For someone who doesn’t drive and can’t even ride a bicycle for the life of me, riding the ATV was a lot of fun as we threaded through rocky slopes, a river, and long and winding roads.

Legazpi is definitely a must-visit place. You get to go sightseeing and do fun activities, you’ll enjoy the food that will surely satisfy your palate, and you’ll revel in Mayon’s grandeur. How about that for a quick weekend getaway.