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The previous posts may seem negligible to some, but it is the small steps that mean a lot to us...it got us to our present location and will navigate us to our destination. Hmmm...seems I am relying on my GPS too much? weheehheeh

Where we are now...merits thanking everyone and everything in our midst. Everyone means customers, growers, friends and media partners. Some media partners have transcended and became friends :)

Blessings come mostly masked as hurdles. But we work hard and strive too, and together with support from everyone around, we get to chirp at the end of the day.

Thank you for 2008. We will be working harder for 2009.

Solraya's ORGANIKA

Yes, we got the name :)

Short, easy to recall..Like it?

Aircon had been installed, freezers stocked, we are in business...though waiting for the signs as we can't act without our DTI approval.

Solraya's ORGANIKA, Regaldo cor Quirino Hway, right across the Regalado entrance of SM Fairview.

Open 8am-6pm, daily. We are ready to serve the wholesale customers anytime of the day, for their convenience.

Sourcing

Solraya's ORGANIKA, Regalado cor Quirino Hway, right across the Regalado entrance of SM Fairview. Daily 9am-6pm.

As mentioned, we will only sell products that we ourselves use.

To date, 08 December 2009, this is what we have:

1) Of course our banner product, Sunshine Chicken
a. dressed PHP200/kg
b. adobo - home cooked, comfort food PHP150/pack
c. roasted, great for your soup stocks &/or pulled meat for salads and sandwhich fillings PHP150/pack
d. eggs from grass fed Sunshines PHP300/30s tray

2) Pork from pigs that are naturally grown - We are calling it HERBaboy. Brought to you from an alliance of two women, Jojie and Sandy. Jojie Lim from Davao, practices what Andry and she preaches in seminars, in their own farm. Since the pigs are fed fruits based juices and given plants for snacks, the name HERBaboy fits us :) PHP300/kg

3) Coconut products
a. sugar - may be used by diabetics. Has this very pleasing caramel flavor, not bitter. PHP100
b. vinegar - comes in plain and spiced variants PHP60

We will be adding selected products for you.

WE DELIVER to key Metro Manila areas.

Sunshine Pics Made Me Smile

I didn't realize my last post was Monday yet. Must have been a hectic week. What did I get done? Buried in a lot of paperwork, I was able to squeeze these as respite.

1) Picked SOME cute things to decorate the indoor booth at Agrilink, but did a LOT of eating at the mall

2) Visited the Poultry Show at Megamall (same day as #1), and decided to peep at the Nike Sale next door.

3) Checked on the rooftop work.

4) Coordinated seminar schedules.

5) Asked Mitos to pick up uniform's buttons for me.

6) Couple of more errands.

7) Makati Supermarket ( I love groceries)

8) Planning how to fix booth at AANI.

Then I got a text to check my mail...pleasant to see Roxas City's 35days and 14dayolds

Moises' Sunshine in Roxas City

The original telephone call was for an inquiry about dressed chickens. Since they were based in Roxas City, I referred a grower in Bacolod. I think they needed more that what the grower in Bacolod was prepared to raise, so they wanted to see if they can practice raising with an initial order of 100 heads.

That was the Aug11 hatch. They were real beginners, excitedly informing me that they vaccinated the day old chicks w/ B1B1 a couple of hours after it deplaned :( Well no major problem, but I felt that the Sunshines may have been threatened.

September01 hatch had them reordering 200 heads. Future bookings have been made to make sure they have the Christmas season supply :)

I am glad that after the texting and guiding, they seem to have learned a lot in 21days.

I like the movable posts for the brooder pens/ranging area...see the concrete foundations and steel posts? Easy to wheel around and transfer pens.


They are marketing the dressed chickens to barbecue stalls :)

For those who have tried the Sunshines as inihaw....am sure you know why his marketing idea is feasible.

Tuguegarao's Franz

Franz got about 30 chicks from the hatch dated 11 August. He knows he wasn't diligent in feeding them and still making changes to his new lifestyle with Sunshine in his life :)

FREE SEMINARS - Updated Seminar List

1) AGRILINK 2007, Oct 4-6, World Trade Center:
October 05 2007, Friday, 2:30-4:00pm, Seminar Room #1
October 06 2007, Saturday, 10:30am-12:00noon, open Seminar Area

2) Planning on setting up in Angeles, Pampanga in October.

3) Will be in the Kalibo/Roxas City area in February.

If you want a seminar in your area, coordinate with us. Gather a group of interested individuals/organizations and we will go to the area. Let us discuss how we can go about it.

Masarap nga talaga

TJ had been getting texts that the chickens he delivered last Sunday were really good.

Jop, the other half of Krukukuk Farm was also texting me how to cook it "inihaw".

Last Sunday, I bought four dressed chickens from Krukukuk Farm. Two of which I gave my mom and the other two we had for dinner, cooked two ways :)

The first: Tinola. I had simply boiled in low fire with three stalks of tanglad (lemongrass) that we had pots of in the driveway, some ginger and salt to season. Just before we turned off the heat, we added a bunch of sili leaves. Sarap, the meat was firm but tender, you know no liquid seasonings, just real chicken taste.

The second was an experiment: Never did inihaw before, but since we had sure Tinola already, experimenting was allowable. We rubbed it with rock salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set it on hot coals (not fire). Juiciest inihaw chicken I had ever tasted. And the taste...simple and good.

I wanted to take pictures....but I opted not to spoil my momentum in eating for that first try :)

The weekend is over?

Do you sometimes have a million errands to do over the weekend, then realize you are waiting for Sunday dinner, Farmer TJ's Chicken...w/c will be another topic :). The weekend is over, you did everything on the list and say "that was it? tiresome, fruitful and enjoyable!

Saturday morning had me doing the mundane errands of picking up our sando bags from my favorite plastic packaging company in Pasig. After lunch, trip to hatchery to check on final count of chicks. Preparing invoices, tallying orders and packing the deliveries kept us busy Saturday night. Alarm sounded at 12midnight for deliveries to three airline cargo offices.

Slept at 4:30am. Alarm woke me up at 6:30am. Was at AANI by 10am. Grabbed a quick shawarma before the seminar during the Farmers-Traders Expo 2007. It was a fruitful afternoon of sharing and storytelling on raising Sunshine Chicken. Met interesting people.

Then now I think how the weekend can be over? And that no pics? It totally skipped me as the afternoon was fast paced.

Till the next seminar at Agrilink :)

A lady who attended the seminar said she can give us accomodations in Camiguin when we teach her to raise Sunshines in her farm....that looks like another pleasure w/ pleasure.

IDs

We are changing uniforms for all our staff, growers who assist us for seminars and for ourselves.

The uniforms may differ but the unifying factors will be these patches :)

No more guessing game when you see us.

The pack of cigarettes was photographed just to show sizing. Patches are no doubt highly visible.

An Upcoming Seminar, A Favorite Business Forum & A Gardening Thread

These three elements that kept me busy and entertained yesterday made me think of what I can have inside my AANI booth after the seminar on September 02.

Last seminar left me hungry as men don't really eat and it was hard to order as it interrupts conversation. Mika, TJ's princess, am sure also wanted nice sweets while listening to adults talk chicken, rare fruit trees and bolahan.

My sweet tooth, Mika's image, wanting to spruce up a rather drab looking booth while in the process of fixing it (we got the next door space too so just in time to plan the new design) led me to order these plants :)

Phase One

Several days of rain and being able to work between...this is how we partly cleared the rooftop and installed some sheds for the Sunshines

EGG DROP

I get a call this morning from the farm that we had an egg drop yesterday :)

They are now going to do the mixing of the males and females.

Exciting...it's like waiting in the delivery room area.

Weighing In

Batch Aug11 was at 110g day7

Batch July21 weighed in at 465g at 28days.

How did your Sunshines do?

This Urban Farming Is Keeping Me Excited

We made a quick visit to the rooftop yesterday as we were checking on security risks for ourselves and damage that clogged drainage may bring.

Been toying with the idea of making the rooftop a showcase.

Everthing fell into place this time: unscheduled visit upstairs, 50+ chicks ready to range from 21July batch, need for a showcase at how Sunshines may be kept at minimal costs.

These pictures and videos will show how it looked when we first stepped "up". Hopefully we can transform it little by little into a haven for Sunshine and our tired spirits :)

Livelihood

If you are thinking of giving livelihood to your own household, employees' families, neighborhood,organization etc, let us discuss how we can make Sunshine work for you.

No such thing as capital requirement, as we will custom it to your needs.

Tj's flexibility outdid Sunshine :)

I came from an 8hr drive, had a 2hr sleep, had a hilarious nightmare about the seminar, woke up relieved that it was not real, texted TJ to wake up, got ready to go, drove myself as the "tamiya" will have to go to AANI too for the stocks for the booth.

As I parked, I opened the back, NO LAPTOP NO PROJECTOR! I thought "wow, the vet driving the tamiya must have been extra nice to make sure I didn't carry anything" :)

I called and inquired....nope he didn't do it! I walked slowly thinking how to tell TJ. The moment he saw me and was informed, he called his partner Jop to make sure he brought his flash stick and good thing the venue had a laptop and projector.

No one noticed that we lacked paraphernalia of pics from all batches...TJ was best under pressure. Doc Rey commented, the best seminar he had ever seen for the free range chicken. It came straight from the heart and was done in layman's terms.

One thing I noticed...no one from the audience had any smart alecky questions nor comments.

Blood Testing and Hatchery Check

Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) had done the routine blood testing today for the June23 batch. The hatchery inspection for biosecurity reasons was done earlier this week.

FREE Sunshine Seminar - at AGRI-KAPIHAN AUG 5, Sunday, 9am

We will have a talk about Sunshine Chicken during the Agri-Kapihan on August 05, 2007 at 8am, AANI Herbal Garden and Livelihood Center.

To tackle the FAQs, our speakers will be first time growers, who have not had real experience in the poultry business nor of growing. That way, they will be able to speak from a point of view that will be similar to most of the attendees. They themselves were just introduced to Sunshine Chicken thru the PCARRD forum.

We will also have a sheduled seminar during the AGRILINK Oct4-6, World Trade Center.

No fees for both seminars.

See you :)

Sunshine in Camp Farm, Palayan, Nueva Ecija

Yesterday we had a quick visit to our booth at AANI Herbal Garden and Livelihood Center and were set to visit the breeders and a client's farm, on the way back to Isabela.

The visit to Camp Farm turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Client described their farm as small and a weekend activity for them when I started communicating with her over the phone and when we met the couple when they picked up their Sunshine Chicks. OK...so I know they were supplying the S&R chain, but the visit didn't prepare us for what we were to see :)

A dirt road guides you through fields where you see goats, sheeps, cows etc. You see an arc that says "CAMP FARM"....soon after you see a man who steps out of his shed and asks who you are and your purpose. While he radios and several different voices reply, he gets a knapsack and sprays your tires with disinfectant.

As you are asked to park along side other parked vehicles, near a cozy looking structure that turns out as the dining area, you notice that the farm employees all sport colorful yellow uniforms. Soon after, the farm manager and the poultry caretaker run to you from different directions (I guess everyone heard the guard's radio inquiries). They took us to one of the Suzuki Minicabs parked, to be shuttled to where the owners of the farm was.

More dirt roads, and climbing mountains. I even said I didn't know the Suzuki was capable of climbing. We ended up beside parked vehicles again and walked to see people taking pictures and discussing about a future house.

That was the start of a warm afternoon with the family....after you get a cold feeling from the security at the gate :)

This was like a Safari! You forget that we are problematic with a drought, as you see happy and healthy animals. The ostrich pens showed majestic looking big birds. Peacocks were free to to roam around. You can tour on horse back. And your guide was a pleasant family. Take note, as a group, they were all nice. No wonder everyone looks forward to doing family weekends together in the farm.

It was capped w/ merienda. We hated to leave, but we had to make a long trip yet and so did they, as we all had to head back home.

I almost forgot...their Sunshines are doing great :) And will go the route of unmedicated feeds too to supplement foraging. This time, they will be able to offer healthier eggs to S&R clients.