The idea of growing bundles of fresh vegetables in an all organic fashion is very appealing, and the products we have been able to harvest and consume from our small organic farm project in Baclayan have been a valuable and delightful addition to our meals here at Stairway, and even more so at the local school feeding program in the mountain village.
However, the conditions for nurturing these beautiful nutritious plants to grow in size can be extremely challenging.
Heavy rains and winds reaching the speed of typhoons will destroy almost any vegetable plot, and we do get our fair share of these weather challenges up on the mountainside.
But recently, with a generous grant from the German Embassy in Manila, we have been able to build 4 greenhouses covering a total area of approximately 250 square meters. One is strictly used to propagate seedlings, while the others are holding a variety of leafy vegetable all the way to maturity.
Given the opportunity to provide a more controlled environment for the crops, allows for new experimentation with a variety of more sensitive vegetable sorts, like cauliflower and broccoli, which potentially could help improve the cash flow into the farm project. It is all very new, but we are very excited about the prospects of the benefits we can reap from the green houses.
Many thanks to the German Embassy!