Casual Uniforms

With all the travelling that we do, the barong polo jacks we use for uniforms look very good, crisp and clean.

BUT hard to be carrying around garment bags when we fly.

Good I found this company that does 100% cotton knits. Cool as it absorbs moisture, and you can't be so crumpled looking....as you have to "gusot" it, to actually give back its body, after you sort of get it deformed.

Doc Rey has polo jacks, and regular polo shirts. I have my so comfy tennis dresses (read a previous post) and polo jacks too.


Now you can call us for airplane trips in a minute's notice. I have prepared and packed carry ons....with our NEW uniforms, they are possible :)

Thank you to Emy of Nook Ltd's patience with me....see them at the 2nd Organic Pinoy Festival at AANI FTI Weekend Market, May 29-31.

Old And New

Just back from a whirlwind 3days-2nights trip.

First stop was Iloilo: About 1week ago, I got a call for an order of chicks to be picked up in Iloilo to be grown in Guimaras. I suggested that before we send the Sunshines, they may do the seminar in Iloilo. Yes, they went to the seminar and we even visited their farm. Monday, he starts with a trial batch.

The buiding shown above is an old chapel inside the hacienda....I wonder what Zac Sarian and Doc Rey were discussing as they entered :)

The crowd we had in Oton was very receptive and interaction was good during the seminar. I would say we had a 50/50 mix of expats and locals present.

One of growers in the area was a pleasant surprise when he showed up. I may have misunderstood him when he said that farm was quite a distance, I thought he can't make it. I saw Zac Sarian in an animated conversation with him, and taking notes and a photograph...I hope it makes his pages soon :)

We visited also another farm, Dawn's...she does contract growing of white broilers, but practices natural farming around with veggies to keep the flies away.

Lunch was a hearty spread of seafoods.

I have to thank Erik for setting up the seminar with Joachim's The Bazaar Cafe.

Stayed at Grand Dame Hotel in La Paz. Great hotel! Clean, comfortable...highly recommended.

Next day was Bacolod. First time that we took the fastcraft. One of my real friends, Mabol, was there waiting with her van to drive us around Bacolod.

Happy again with the choice of hotel. Planta Hotel is the newest and also by the same owners of Business Inn, so I knew it will be at par to standards. Can't complain :)

We tried Jo's Inato for lunch. Took eons to get our lunch, but it was worth the wait. Binacol (like tinola, using buko juice as water and buko strips) and the inato tasted different from the usual inasal.

Rushed for time, we were late arriving for the Bacolod seminar. I hate being late, moreso when you are pressured by a slow acting power point to unfurl its contents...then you get a non responsive projector cables....but...patience...all is well. We got a Bounty guest. Thank you to Walter and Fely for arranging the seminar venue.

Dinner was at Aboy's...wow.....this left us breathless....no space after all that great food! The simplicity of the cooking enhanced the freshness of the ingredients. I reprimanded Mabol for not taking us there in previous tripsto Bacolod.

Next morning, we invited Walter and Fely for breakfast as a "thank you" for the arrangement. We ourselves didn't eat much as we were going for lunch at Mabol's family's house in Sta Clara. We went around the Pacifica Agrivet branches and did our courtesy calls, went to the tissue culture lab of Tita Julie...then went to their house for lunch. She and Zac were old friends from the garden and orchid societies....so Mabol and I had time to chitchat.

While we were doing the seminar at Silay (thanks to the LGU), Mabol and Zac Sarian went to visit their farm in La Carlota. Not much space..just 800 hectares...and just 4 hectares as backyard veggie farming :)

We have to go back real soon and take a more leisurely trip....with old and new friends, old and new growers, old and new dealers :)

Are We Tired?

Surprising how many people do visit our blog. Well, surprising shouldn't be the right term, as we get website statistics and surely we are able to gauge our visitors in terms of their location, what they read, what time of the day etc. You may not believe this, but these days we get over 550 pages read every day, by about 150 visitors daily. The statistics show average. So that is from day1, when there were no readers.

I get comments from people I just met, who upon realizing the product represented (well I am always in uniform), blurt out that "I read you a lot". They are from food industry, farming, hobbyists, entreprenuers and yes, from bored people also, whose source of entertainment is sufing :) Almost 30% of daily visits are from returning readers. Thank you :)

A lot of you comment that we are all around, all the time. How do we do it? It must get tiring!

Well, for some points:

1) The company we keep when doing the trips to farms, is always enjoyable. Its just like dinners and lunches, I don't do business stuff. So, rule #1, make sure it is a pleasurable group...the business aspects should just fall into place, and NOT the core of the company. IF it has to be....ok...we may travel in separate cars :)

2) Always look at it as pasyal. Long drives...time to enjoy the scenery. Have you really taken time to drive down old and coastal roads? Instead of doing all the fast express ways that offer you field fires as views?

3) Opportunity to eat and discover new things. I love going to the markets, or stopping by the roadside stall to buy sea salt or dried seaweeds. Asking vendors how to best enjoy it, how to prepare them.

4) Meet your growers upfront. Does a lot when real rapport is created. Let them know you. At the end, you get other insights and learn a lot....that takes away your aching muscles from the trip.

5) You may travel comfortably. I have mastered packing the things we need, and doing it lightly. On the plane, we take a big suitcase half full and stock the carry on with the projector and laptop inside. When we get to the location, I still have a small case with wheels to lug around my laptop and projector. Going home time, they fit back inside the check in luggage.

6) Lastly....the first step is, know that you WILL LOVE IT!

Hmmmm just thought about a travelogue. Why? I just got an email from a travel agency, if they can post an ad on our website hahahaaha.

Going Around

Eating the regional delicacies and learning about the place's articrafts, used to be a sidetrip whenever we go around for seminars or when joing friends in farm visits.

Lately, because of Organika and our other weekend markets, we find ourselves looking forward to going to the local markets and sourcing new ideas and products to sell.

Interesting to buy a few of food items that takes my fancy. Finding out sources, how it is made, ingredients that go into it. Taking small bites, then bigger mouth fulls :) Tasting the difference and relishing the taste. Wanting to distinguish it from all the others of the same name.

I have to blame this sourcing for all the weigh gain. As if I didn't have my saddles even before all these trips!