Sunday, May 3, 2009

Winds of Change

Its been almost two years since we started Daily DOSE Farm and we've learned so much since then. There have been ups and downs. We've been so down that we even thought of putting this project to a halt, but we can't because the happiness it brings us is priceless. The feeling of harvesting your first crop, picking your first fruits, feeding the chicks, and learning from nature is truly a heart warming experience.

We started with salad greens; lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, etc. Then we tried growing chickens, then herbs. We have very few problems growing them all. We only have one big problem - TRANSPORT. We have no easy means of bringing our goods to the consumer. Ten crates of vegetables and herbs are too many to fit in a small car, we have to borrow my dad or brother's truck. But not anymore! We've solved this problem, not by buying a bigger car, but by converting bulky herbs into powder. We are now air-drying or herbs.

We are now focusing on culinary and medicinal herbs and gave the salad greens a bit of rest. Daily DOSE Farm is now planted with lots of stevia (stevia rebaudiana) accompanied by gotu kola (centella asiatica) and bordered with cat's whiskers (orthosiphon aristatus). There are plans of planting more medicinal herbs like moringa (malunggay), saluyot, sambong, turmeric, etc.

3 comments:

renan said...

how big is the organic market in the philippines? is it profitable? i imagine these are sold at a higher price than non-organic produce.

also, what is the level of government support for small farmers? do you get any tax incentives?

since you're drying herbs now, sell them online! :)

i'd be sure to visit your farm next time i'm in town. it looks great.

Gay said...

Hi! I've been following your blog for quite some time. I look forward on your culinary herbs as I love to cook with herbs. Hope I get to buy some of them when I am in Manila. There is not much herbs here in Gen San so I usually horde on planting materials whenever I go home.

beth said...

Hi!I read your experience about your gardening and i must say an interesting article.I look forward 2 buy some of your herbs.Your farm looks nice.