Hoe hoe hoe!

Weed – any plant that grew out of place. Right now all plants that are growing in the farm are considered weeds. Sad to say, we have to get rid of them. But none of these plants will go to waste. Most, if not all of them, will become compost. We have an average sized pond beside the future site of Daily DOSE Farm. Since it’s a dried up pond, we decided to turn it into a big compost bin. It has more than enough space to fit all of the leaves and trunks of the plants we’re going to gather. Weeds that are growing outside of the area were spared since it will serve as the buffer zone for our farm. Initially the area intended Daily DOSE Farm is around 1000 square meters, no need to hoe beyond that range.

It is important to have a plan before starting any venture. So please, DO NOT remove any weed in your farm or property if you have no plan on developing the site yet. Doing so will destroy the soil food web. Weeds will probably grow back anyway if you do nothing. Better plant a nitrogen fixing plant or cover crops to preserve and develop the soil and at the same time suppressing weed population.

Water – source of life

Our first project for our farm and what I think is the most important to consider is water source. Our location is blessed because we have a shallow water table, less than 20 feet. We used two 20 feet pipes to get fresher water, with a low TDS (total dissolved solids) reading. The locals are actually drinking deep well water for years now.

We installed a one horse power pump to suck the water up. The water is then stored in the small pressure tank and then distributed with a piping system around the farm. We then built a house for our pump to protect it from the sun’s heat and rain. The house will also serve as our tool shed (more on the tool shed soon).

We like to think of our pump as the heart of our farm and the water it supplies as blood, running through its veins – the pipes.

What Started It All

The Farm

See that picture on the left? A patch of land neglected for years. Neglected by humans that is, but not by Nature. Some of you might see a land full of weeds, with some bananas and cassava which are uncared for. For us, we see what’s beneath all those plants. What we see is rich living soil with a healthy soil food web. We can only imagine the activities taking place secretly under those leaves. All those insects, worms, nematodes, protozoa, fungi and bacteria, working together to create a balance only nature can orchestrate. This is the perfect location to start a diverse, organic, sustainable and eco-friendly farm.

The View

This piece of earth is located at Candelaria, province of Quezon, 117 kilometers from the busy streets of the metro. The farm has a view of Mt. Banahaw, a dormant volcano and considered to be sacred by the local residents, beside it is the mysterious Mt. Cristobal.

This might not be the right time to invite you guys but if you live nearby you are very welcome to drop by. For you guys surfing the web, we will try our best to show you how we’re going to transform this patch of land into a small farm producing healthy, clean and safe food.