Organic Farming and Gardening

Organic farming has long been introduced since the birth of Gawad Kalinga and as it moves forward to a phase of self-sustainability for its home owners, it was all the more encouraged.

Organic farming and gardening in between homes of GK Dumanjug (JP Garcia GK Village)

There's a lot of work to do in rehabilitating the
GK Dumanjug  organic farm

Cebu GK Villages have been on a trial and error when it comes to organic farming. This time, home owners have been very cooperative in rehabilitating their organic farms as well as in other livelihood initiatives. People nowadays are getting more health conscious than ever to the point of getting more meticulous on what and how every food landing on their plates were prepared. Thus, a portion of the society are making efforts to eat healthy and careful on how their food is prepared or produced. Now, 

that starts with preparing it with organically produced food! Although using organics has become a growing trend, a lot of people still find it expensive to regularly use such food and products. This is why one has to begin with a small organic farming or gardening right at their homes if financial constraint is the reason for not opting organic products. This means planting or farming right at your backyard or even in a small garden plot or pot only needs simple watering of the herbs or plants you want to grow without the necessary pesticides and other chemicals to mix with it. Of course, we have to consider though the place or location and if the plants and herbs you want to grow are feasible to live in your area. Anyway, there's a lot of websites to start with on what to plant and grow which depends on where you live. So, better try organic farming and gardening and see what it  takes! :)

Cheers! :-)

How I Started My Organic Craze

Some are asking how my passion for organic products started? Well, I should say my full understanding of it started through Gawad Kalinga. I have mentioned in my previous blogs last year about it. The Human Heart Nature which employs beneficiaries of the GK Payatas 13 for their merchandise as well as giving and improving productivity programs for organic farmers by buying raw materials from them. Human Heart Nature or Human Nature is an organic brand from Gandang Kalikasan, Incorporated formed by Camille Meloto and Anna Meloto-Wilk, the daughters of GK Founder Tony Meloto. Together with Anna's husband Dylan, they formulated the idea which should be 100% natural,organic and 100% Philippine-made. Most of all, it is available in "pocket-friendly" prices as they say at the back label of their products.

For two years now, I have been religiously using their products together with other Philippine organic products (which I will be discussing also in my next few blogs)and so far, I am satisfied with it. Not only that, every time I purchase any of these products, I actually help in improving the lives of Gawad Kalinga's poorest of the poor and our Philippine farmers. In fact, last December, they have donated 100% of the profits of their Citronella Bugspray to the Citronella Farmers of Labo, Camarines Norte, yes, not just a portion but 100%! According to the Human Heart Nature Newsletter, it will be used to buy additional machines and land to be able to produce more citronella. One more thing, the Citronella Bug Spray is the top selling product of all Human Nature products. The best and definitely not the least! So, they donated almost a million pesos to them. Not bad for a starting social enterprise huh?!

Most of all, I am confident that the products I use does not have any harmful chemicals in it. Thus, my love for organics was born!

I will be talking more about it in my next blog!

Cheers to health!