Weekend Fruit-Picking at the Farm

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. — Epictetus

It's a beautiful and sunny day for a week already.

A week full of sunshine after the recent typhoon and flood.

So, two days ago I went to the orchard to begin working again, but I saw evidences that someone might have also visited it, too. In difficult times, we must keep in mind to share whatever we grow, because they might need it more than we do.

I continued the work on extension of the permaculture garden, which was originally covered by the fallen Mango trees.

Since there are no other shrubs growing there, the plant debris were carried away by the flood—including some of the wood that I used in the raised beds.

When I arrived, the wagon almost broke because of the weight I was pulling, it was a large sack of sand. Adding sand to the muddy and eroded soil will help lessen compaction during the sunny days.

The work was pretty straightforward, just layer with more plant debris, sand, and more garden soil. It seemed so easy, but I was only able to finish half of the raised bed.

Even though it was still far from complete, I sowed peanut and chili seeds. I also sprinkled in some Marigold flower seeds in the raised beds to act as a natural pest repellant as it grows.

In two more weeks, the whole permaculture extension should be completed already.

Hiking at the Mountain Orchard

This one is just a very short update.

AND I can still feel the aches and body pains now after the hiking and the unplanned weekend fruit-picking.

It's another summery day, yesterday, so I went together with my mom and sister to visit the mountain orchard. We passed by the orchard where my food forest and permaculture garden is, but we needed to continue walking because it was almost noon already.

Probably unknown to most non-farmers, there is a highway through the rice fields and the thickets in the mountain. This ancient mud paths link ancient settlements from the lowland to the highest points in Mongbong, Ginsamayan, Bagakay, and Puting Bato.

These ancient settlements were once used as hiding places during the Seconds World War, then later used as Coconut and Abaca farms later on. When the Abaca virus ravaged the country, many farmers stopped growingit due to the heavy loss.

Back to our weekend fruit-picking activity...

When we arrived at the mountain orchard, we temporarily parted ways as we go on with our different plans. I rested under the Rambutan groves and lighted two mosquito incense to drive off pesky blood-suckers.

Then after resting, I went to climb one of the Rambutan trees to harvest some of its ripe fruits. In this orchard, there are two varieties of Rambutan, the one I was harvesting is the sweeter and red variety, but only edible when fully ripe.

My mom was also harvesting from a different Rambutan variety, using an improvised 'Dughit' using a long bamboo pole. That variety is edible even if still yellow-green in color, but it gets sweeter when fully red and ripe.

Once I filled my bag and was full from the Rambutan buffet, we left the orchard and continued the hike to the farm to continue another set of weekend fruit-picking, it is still about a kilometer away.

Its quite a difficult journey, so it might be another month before I can visit the mountain orchard again, or maybe months.

Hiking to the Farm

We passed in the 'Kubkub' River, also known as the Guimbalot-an River, and through the rice fields again until we reached Aurora Hill at the farm. I picked two coconuts fruits that fell during the recent typhoon.

The farm has different varieties of coconuts, ranging from dwarf to tall varieties, and different colors such as green, yellow, and orange. I climbed one, but can only reach the mature ones, so the juice wasn't sparkling like the younger buko.

Really, I have fear of heights though I also enjoy climbing trees and picking fruits whenever I want to. The coconuts were in copra-level, but still edible. The coconuts are due for copra harvest by the end of this year.

Around the farm, I also found some native fruits, including 'Barombong' which comes from a tall ginger-like plant and its fruit taste like a native guava. This isn't so popular yet, but I also don't really know if it's truly edible but we eat the fruit anyway!

UPDATE: I searched online and found the closest possible identification of the wild plant. On some places, it is called 'Bagumbong' and sometimes 'Tagbak' For more medicinal and folkloric information, checkout Wikipedia and StuartXchange.

After harvesting some fruits and vegetables, we rested for a few hours, and we start hiking again through the 'Buyud' Hill and down to the lowlands until we arrived home.

Next time, I shall come prepared with a bigger bag and maybe some DIY fruit-picker. Although unplanned, the weekend fruit-picking went well, I was full and also my bag was full when we left.

It was an enjoyable but also an exhausting hike, I doze off as soon as I arrived home.

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About Me

@oniemaniego is a software developer, but outside work, he experiments in the kitchen, writes poetry and fiction, paints his heart out, or toils under the hot sun.

	Onie Maniego / Loy Bukid was born in rural Leyte. He often visits his family orchards during the summers and weekends, which greatly influenced his works.

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© 2022 Onie Maniego and Loy Bukid

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