Natural Farming with Sandy & Doc Rey

This was what kept me excited yesterday as it was confirmed that my 1st article

was accepted with minimal revision (2 words!) and that please send our photos

for showing beside the name (sounded real already) and if we can write the next

article already (am still not yet over the awe that it is real).

Someone told me last week that I should have sent several so the editor may have

a wider selection, if not, my material may just be set aside. I shrugged my

shoulder and thought, we wrote what we thought was best for the 1st :)

Final, Mr. Zac Sarian is giving Sandy and Doc Rey a column. I submitted my copy

with SUNSHINE w/ Sandy and Doc Rey as the original column name. When the final

copy was sent back to me, they changed the column title to "Natural Farming

with Sandy and Doc Rey".

Very good timing when Zac asked us, as it was the perfect venue to market PNFI. 

He didn't give me parameters and I can write about anything. Breakthrough for

marketing of PNFI :)

Background:

Long ago, Rey and Zac were going to do a series of books. Soon after we met

Andry, and the idea came to me about the "He saym She says"....why not "natural

farmer says, Vet says"! Great! But, the natural farming protocols came later,

after that probably when it did, our interest on the project waned or Zac was

preoccupied and didn't want to write it. Can't be sure what was the real

reason.

Last week when we were talking....I didn't even mention yet about PNFI as I was

going to give press releases to market PNFI.....he said he wanted me and Doc Rey

to write a column on livestock and poultry. I asked if he was serious and if he

was, can it be about something that was encompassing and closer to our hearts

now...natural farming. Then he said...perfect to bring back my original idea of

"natural farmers says, Vet says" now perfect!

Look at my article's last line :)

join the Philippines for Natural Farming, Inc on FB

https://www.facebook.com/Philippines-for-Natural-Farming-Inc and on the Yahoo

group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/philippinesfornaturalfarminginc/

I am lining up already next articles....Mabuhay ang natural farming. Mabuhay

ang PNFI!

Mr. Sarian just called now...waiting for the photos as the July issue is being

laid out, and asking about next article submission....totoo na nga ito.

Food Bowl Organic Market

This used to be the Food Bowl Night Market.

 The organizers saw the strength of the advocacy, the member farmer groups sticking out late nights Fridays and Saturdays.  Now, they are rewarding the group a Sunday morning market, and now be known as the Food Bowl Organic Market at the Centris Walk at EDSA cor Quezon Ave.

Very convenient and easy to go to.  You can even make a drive thru purchase.  Covered area so safe from rains and on cemented flooring so no muddy feet :)

Now it'll be Fridays and Saturdays at 4-11pm then Sundays at 6am-2pm.  This June 19, Sunday, Father's Day will be opening for the Sunday morning.  It will start off with a Thanksgiving Mass, so for those who would like to join, please come.

Seminars on natural and organic farming are being scheduled.

Please support natural farming!

Breakfast at the Farm

Entering the gate of the farm, we go by fruit trees. The one that we had been waiting for excitedly is the Duhat at this is very sweet and meaty. Doc Rey just had to stop and get some. You think we can wait to eat it?

As soon as he got off the car and put some on his cowboy hat, I got off too and we both enjoyed the sweet and juicy Duhat. We got all that we can reach out to. Whewhhhh...that was a lot of exercising as we stretched up our arms to pluck the coveted fruits.

You think that was enough? Nope. He had to climb and I was there acting as his arm's GPS...navigating and steering as he can't see where the fruits were. Even while peeking around, we really got good exercise here.

See how good my vantage point was :)

By the time we were done walking around the farm, we sat down to a heavenly meal that was from the farm. Naturally farmed fish, kamatis, manggang hilaw, dayap with bagoong, wild ampalaya, boiled talong, okra and kamote. We ended that breakfast with Suha we picked off our tree too!

All in Santiago City, Isabela. We hope more people here see the importance of safe food on the table and do natural farming.

Philippines for Natural Farming Inc, Yahoo Egroup

Does natural farming interest you?

Join this yahoo egroup, Philippines for Natural Farming, Inc.

Great way to exchange info and ideas :)

Pastured and Free Range Poultry Festival

Food Bowl Night Market

FILIPINO FOOD FESTIVALS

“PASTURED & FREE RANGE POULTRY FESTIVAL”

 

June 3 & 10, Fridays            

5-7                                    MEET YOUR PRODUCERS FORUM 1

                                    CHICKEN – Dr. Rey Itchon

TURKEY – Mr. Gil Quizon

 

7-9pm                                    CHICKEN CULINARY DEMO

                                    by Chef Mike Tatung

                                   

June 4 & 11 Saturdays                        

3-4pm                                    DRUM WOKSHOP / INDIGENOUS MUSIC

INSTRUMENT MAKING WORKSHOP

ARTS & CRAFTS MAKING WORKSHOPS

 

4-5                                    DRUM JAM  - LIVE RAW MUSIC

                                    ORGANIC & NATURAL FOOD FREE TASTETIVAL

 

5-7pm                                    MEET YOUR PRODUCERS FORUM 2

                                    CHICKEN & TURKEY PRODUCTION

 

7-9pm                                    TURKEY CULINARY DEMO

                                    by Mrs. Prime Quizon

 

 

Find out why pastured POULTRY is the best tasting, most nutritious and healthiest for your cooking recipes. Why pastured poultry is the "gold standard" of chicken and turkey. Unlike conventional poultry, pastured are not raised indoors on a diet of grain, antibiotics and growth hormones.

 

Values vs. Costs: It takes extra time, extra labor and extra feed to produce meat on pasture, but resulting to better nutrition and delicious flavor are well worth the cost. 
 

 

FREE ENTRANCE! FOOD BOWL NIGHT MARKET is open every Friday and Saturday, 4-11pm at the ETON Centris Walk, EDSA corner Quezon Ave., Quezon City.  Safe and Healthy Food Choices from organic, biodynamic and natural farming!

 

Oh Sunrise

Let the Sunshine out to pasture!

The demand for dressed chickens had gone up since March.  We thought that Holy Week will dampen the orders.  So glad for the turn from when we started 10yrs ago :)

So today, early at the farm again to check on pens and new loading areas and possible pasture areas.  

Photo above was taken to assess areas when we discuss.  After I downloaded it, the photo struck me as very fresh, clean and alive!

The Sunshines led us to a ranging area for their soon to be new siblings on the farm....but then, they won't meet them, as this is part of the batch to go today :)

Last Early Morning Dew

It rained hard here in Santiago City, Isabela last night.  Such a relief from the heat that the news on the radio and TV had been blurting out on the air.

This morning a batch has to be slaughtered and we walk to the pen quietly. It was so nippy cool and fresh after the rain.  They had not been fed anymore as they are going to be dressed today.  They greet you as they think you are there to give them food.

As I am typing now, there are several around me and literally pecking at my legs and pulling my skirt.  Then giving a look and pointing their beak to crates of food nearby.

Gizzard Of A Pastured Chicken

Chickens don't have teeth to chew on their food.  They peck on their food, gets stored in their crop. The strong muscles of the gizzard grind the food who's nutrients get to the system.

You can't see these in caged chickens, but for newly released pastured chickens, notice how they go to pebbles and eat them? Don't be alarmed, it is normal :)  They will need the small stones to grind the food, with the help of the strong muscles of the gizzard.

This is the gizzard of a newly slaughtered Sunshine Chicken.  Obviously pastured well into time.  Gizzard is big, strong and matured with age. The stones found inside have sort of polished as they worked and ground food that the chicken ate :)

Multipurpose

What is this?

 

Originally, we had several of those made as battery type brooders.  They are the brooders that are like condominiums. Space saver, yes.  But, hard to clean among other things.  

At the farm, we do litter type (on the floor) brooding, inside the poultry building....that works best for us.

The battery types are kept for emergency brooding, or works well  as isolation pens for chickens and even piglets......and is a seedling nursery, safe from predators ;)

Say It As It Is

Make it easy for caretakers to understand.  

Our farm concoctions are made by our store crew, as they are much easier to receive instructions and monitor what the farm needs, basing from population of poultry houses and timeframes.  If the ordering is left to the caretakers, it will always be delayed as they love to wait for the last minute when the supplies were needed yesterday.

When the concoctions are sent, we make sure everything is labeled in big letters and say exactly what it is for.  The farm had been using it for years, but they mix up datas and informations.  Great that the natural farming concoctions are safe to use, but we want to make sure that the animals are getting what they need :)

Think like them, so work will be easier for all.

Wild Ampalaya

Doc Rey had been motivated by his test results as his sugar, cholesterol, uric acid etc had been going down.  Thanks to 3C , OHN (with video in our links) and Fermented Ampalaya, that he now takes religiously.  People who are privy to our refrigerators know that we are always fully stacked with those natural concoctions.

In our discussion on FB with some of our natural farming advocates, the existence and or the absence now of Wild Ampalaya came up.  I was asking our farm's caretaker to watch out for it as we need it to make our herbal concoctions.  She said she has seen those in the garage.  The drivers had been picking their Ampalaya supply from there as it was so good.  

Hearing that, Doc Rey who now vouches for the concoctions, was excited as he hasn't seen them for a long time now.  He drove by the garage and came back with these  Wild Ampalaya:  The orange ones are not flowers.  They are ripened Ampalayas that pop and show their seeds.  Nature knows how to take care of oneself.  The wild and plants of yore, ripen, pop and replant themselves.

Fermented Ampalaya to lower your blood sugar :)  Be guided by this proportion:

3kgs Ampalaya (wild ones are better because they are more bitter, if none, settle for pesticide free ones)

1kg Coco Sugar or Honey

Slice the Ampalaya and layer the vegetable and sugar/honey in a container.  Layering makes sure that you are able to coat the vegetables well, ending with sugar/honey.  Cover and keep in a cool, dark place to ferment for 7days.

You can take about 30ml 2x a day.

Doc Rey takes all three:  3C, OHN and Fermented Ampalaya...mixes all up in one glass :)

Stay healthy!

TLC

TLC is not an abbreviation for a natural farmer's concoction.  Yes, you know it all along...tender loving care :)

We spray our soil with IMO, our trees with FPJ and when during the turn over stage to flowering and fruiting, we use FFJ so that their fruits are large and sweet.

The last typhoon feel almost all our Mango trees.  Thought they were all gone!  But I guess our soil was good and trees were healthy :)  They didn't die on us.  We didn't prop them up anymore as we let the course of the wind tell us how we should plant in the farm.

The Chico is far from ripe.  The fruits are soooo big and still getting bigger :)

Our Duhat fruits are almost like plums and tastes so sweet :)  The Guayabanos are  juiciest I ever tasted and is a lot more sweet than sourish.

Another one we are so proud of is our Langka.  We had pruned the fruits already, to give way to better nutrient distribution, but we still got a very good yield.

In our other farm, we have just been diligent in IMO there to revive the land.  Our citrus trees have started to give us Oranges.  Not yet juicy, but over sweet....I can imagine what it will be like after we focus on those trees there.

Water Lily, Quiapo and Azolla

I got a call yesterday asking if what he has in his pond, that looks like small flowers, are Azolla?

Promised I will post a photo here soon so he can distinguish.  Fate had it that when we parked at our farm in Santiago, Isabela this morning, they were all there....

Water Lily, Quiapo and Azolla :)

Fermented Oregano

Tastes great and does wonders for you if you have cough or asthma.  Try it as a drench for your pigs, goats...and add on to drinking water of your chickens when they are at the onset of colds or difficulty breathing.

What do we need?

3kgs oregano leaves, tear it apart
1kg or 1lt honey (my personal choice), coco sugar if you are watching your bloodsugar, or muscovado.  If for farm animals, use molasses.

That is the ratio, so if you are using 600g of oregano, then you will need 200g molasses.

Place it in a container, layering oregano then molasses, oregano again then molasses. To ensure that the leaves are coated well....ending with the molasses.  Or you can have the leaves in the container and add your honey/sugar/molasses and mix.  Problem with this is that you put to waste some honey and molasses that will stick to your mixing.  Better to do layering.

I make sure that all leaves are submerged and check on every 2days to spin the container :)

Ferment for 7days. After 7days, you may transfer it to the refrigerator for a refreshing throat remedy (for human consumption). Some use it as sweeter for their Tarragon tea :).  For animal consumption, you can leave the harvested fermented oregano in a cool dark place.

I take 2Tablespoons when my throat is itchy. I find no need to remove the sludge of oregano leaves as they have been reduced in size and adds a bite to my remedy when swallowed. 

For our pigs, we drench with 10ml, 3x a day.  Don't include the sludge when you drench as the small leaves may clog the syringe.

Sweet Smelling Farm

SNot sure how these trees got to the farm, but I always thought that they were wild ones.  There are several of them around, no fruits, so I doubt that we planted them.  When we cleared Water Lily from the ponds, we transferred them to the near areas and thought of them as mulch.  The tall grass were down in no time at all, after mulching and spraying if IMO, so we had more space to walk around the farm.

Aside from the fertile space now for planting vegetables, as we walked around to look for what wild vegetables we had around....there was this sweeettttt  smell that my nose had to follow.  I had to step closer to these trees, initially sceptical as "they can't smell that good"....they were always thought as "just trees".

But they were the ones...such a mild, quiet, sweet scent:

You know what it is called?

Fish Amino Acid (FAA); Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ); Calcium Phosphate: The Videos

On our last episode on Mag-Agri Tayo, we discussed how to make Indigenous Micro Organisms (IMO), video was  shown earlier.

The second portion of the episode showed is teaching Fish Amino Acid (FAA), Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ) and Calcium Phosphate (CalPhos).

Take a walk with us in our journey, with the iterinary of natural farming in the Philippines :)

IMO Video

Pleased to bring you the instructional video for Indigenous Micro Organisms (IMO)

Mag-Agri Tayo, March 19

We are resuming the Mag-Agri Tayo segments on instructionals for natural farming.   

Mag-Agri Tayo, NBN Channel 4, March 19, Saturday, 9am.  We will feature Indigenous Micro Organisms (IMO), Fish Amino Acid (FAA), Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ), CalPhos and intro to pasturing pigs.

Videos will be uploaded by magagritayo in youtube, so you may share with others.

Food Bowl Night Market at Centris Walk

Press release sent for Food Bowl Night Market: 

FOOD BOWL NIGHT MARKET: Safe & Healthy Food Choices Within Reach
 
Now, a marketplace for safe and healthy fresh produce and products made 
available to the public --- from vegetables to grains to animal and fish 
products. A marketplace that works on the concept of accessibility, 
sustainability, and fair trade practices to capture the bulk buying demand and 
promote sustainable lifestyle. 

 
“We have invited almost everyone in the organic and natural industry to join us 
in this endeavor. Big groups of organic and natural farming practitioners have 
signified their interest to support by joining the market: The Organic Producers 
Trade Association (OPTA), One Organic Movement of the Philippines with the 
Agri-Aqua Network International, Inc. (AANI), Go Organic Philippines, 
Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organizations (INOFO), Philippine 
Development Assistance Program, Inc. (PDAP), Kasama Ka Organik Cooperative, 
Aquarius Agricultural Source Corporation (AASCORP), Magsasaka at Siyentipiko 
para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikutura (MASIPAG), the natural farming advocates under 
the Philippine Natural Farming, Inc. (PNFI), Organic na Negros Organic Producers 
and Retailers Association (ONOPRA), biodynamic farms under the Agrikultura 
Natural, Inc. (ANI) Mo, Cosmic Farm of Benguet State University, La Trinidad, 
the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) under the Department of Agrarian Reform 
(DAR) and the Agribusiness Marketing Assistance Service of the Department of 
Agriculture (DA-AMAS). The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of 
Tourism (DOT) were also tapped by the organizers to support through an 
information campaign to reach its target buyers" said Ms. Sharon Tan, 
co-organizer of the Food Bowl Night Market.       
 
"The potential for the organically grown produce and foods is growing both 
domestically and abroad due to the increasing health, environment and social 
concerns. Food Bowl Night Market will highlight crops and commodities of 
Philippine “SUSTAINABLE AGRIBUSINESS”. Its quality should also meet the demand 
for its quantity. The Crops, Commodities and Technologies Section will showcase 
farmers, fisherfolks and organizations providing safe and healthy food to 
Filipinos and present the value chain: production, processing and marketing. 
This will be a good start for the farmers to program their production to meet 
the requirements of institutional buyers especially from hospitals, restaurants, 
hotels and food caterers" she added.
 
Other than natural, organic and biodynamic farm produce which includes 
vegetables, fruits, rice, fisheries, live stock, native free ranged pastured 
poultry produce and products, Food Bowl Night Market will also feature food 
operators and wellness organizations, ornamental and herbs producers and the 
eco-friendly product manufacturers.  
 
The Food Bowl will be launched at the ETON Centris Walk, Quezon Avenue, Quezon 
City starting March 18. It will open every Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 12mn. 
ETON Centris Walk is directly under the stop of the Quezon Avenue MRT Station 
with a commercially accessible area and ample parking for the target 
institutional buyers. 
 
The World Agape Association, Inc., with the owners of DS Pinoy Organic and 
Herbal Store organizes the Food Bowl Night Market. The World Agape Associationis 
a group of young professionals whose primary objective is to provide leadership 
seminars for public servants with focus on public school teachers and farmer 
leaders. 

Sunshine is Here

People had been asking why did we stop the Sunshine Chicken.

It tickles us to think that the name Sunshine Chicken became synonymous to free range colored chickens.  Reality is Sunshine Chicken is our branding, and whatever we produce in our farm is Sunshine Chicken.  When we chose that name, we thought about natural way of raising chickens, so our dressed chickens will always be named Sunshine.  

In our advocacy on pushing natural farming in the Philippines, we are in search of ways of giving cheaper and accessible food for all.  A problem with importation we had before due to bird flu in France, led us to try pasturing the white chickens that always been connoted with commercial raising with chemicals.

We got very good results...plus the great find that by pasturing white chickens that are cheap and easy to find, we are giving cheaper source for all interested to farm them.  Clean, cheap and accessible. The big bonus is that the white chickens have Grand Parent Stocks (GPS) in the Philippines.  The GPS produce the Parent Stocks (PS) who in turn produce the day old chicks we use as broilers.  That secures the supply in the food chain :)  Now, that means, your source of pastured chicks are NOT dependent on one or two suppliers that raise the prices.

How we farmers decide to raise them is what is important.  The health benefits and taste has nothing to do with the color of the feathers of the birds.  Now, our consumers are very aware of the benefits of naturally raised chickens. 

To recap:

1) We are not selling the dayold chicks, as it is cheaper and easy to get in your area.  The bigger poultry supply stores sell retail.  If you need volume, contact the distributor in the area, you may find out from the poultry division of the companies who the persons to contact in your area.

2) We have not stopped teaching people HOW TO pasture chickens.  This is our advocacy.  In a larger picture, we are teaching natural farming, with our expertise in pasturing chickens :)

3) Sunshine Chicken is not gone.  This is our brand and thank you that we are associated and synonymous to free range chicken.  

4) We continue to give you a good alternative for clean food, with a very fair price.  You are cutting out the middlemen by dealing with your farmers directly.

We are planning bigger things for our journey in natural farming.  One of which is educating you to grow your own food.

Please please please...let us all support our natural farmers.  Grow your own food, or buy from farmers in your area practicing safe natural farming.  You have to know to trust your suppliers :)